Proto-punk MADNESS from Ladbroke Grove! The complete studio works of the most dangerous band in late-60s Britain - three albums of teeth-grinding, psychedelic rock that make the MC5 sound like a boy band. Mick Farren and his merry gang of social deviants laid the blueprint for EVERYTHING that followed: punk, Hawkwind, Motörhead, the whole bloody lot. This is where it started. 

The Social Deviants emerged from London's underground in 1967, fueled by the agit-prop satire of the Fugs, the sonic terrorism of Zappa, and a healthy contempt for straight society. Farren - writer, White Panther, counter-culture provocateur - led the charge with Sid Bishop (guitar, sitar), Cord Rees (bass) and Russell Hunter (drums). They were proto-punk when Johnny Rotten was still a spotty twelve-year-old.

Ptooff! (1967) is ground zero. Funded by millionaire's son Nigel Samuel and distributed through the underground press network before Decca picked it up, this is a fantasy of adolescent nightmares - the historical balance point between garage trash-rock and the social commentary of the Fugs. "Deviation Street" stretches to nine minutes of hallucinogenic vomit. "Garbage" steals its riff from the Pretty Things' "Defecting Grey". "Nothing Man" is a tribal technological nightmare. "I'm Coming Home" hits with the raw punch of early Stooges. Recorded at Sound Techniques with Duncan Sanderson replacing Rees halfway through. To describe this album as rough and ready is an understatement. ESSENTIAL.

Disposable (1968) pushed further into experimental territory. Recorded at Morgan Studio, produced by Stephen Sparkes with Farren. "Let's Loot the Supermarket" is a hymn worthy of the Fugs. "Fire in the City" is comic-book apocalypse. The political edge sharpens, the sound gets wilder. Bishop's last album before marriage pulled him away.

The Deviants (1969) - their masterwork and swan song. Canadian guitarist Paul Rudolph replaced Bishop, bringing serious chops to the chaos. Produced by a young Roy Thomas Baker (yes, THAT Roy Thomas Baker) for Transatlantic. "Broken Biscuits" is HIGHLY proto-punk. "Billy the Monster" rocks like nothing before it. But "Metamorphosis Explosion" - eight minutes of underground rock at its absolute finest - is the one track to remember. When the vocals fade and the band kicks into gear, this transforms into something transcendent. Tony Ferguson (Harmony Grass) adds organ. A US tour later that year proved fatal - Rudolph, Sanderson and Hunter split from Farren, eventually reuniting as the Pink Fairies.

Farren went on to solo work, wrote that prophetic NME essay "The Titanic Sails at Dawn" that predicted punk in 1976, organized the legendary Phun City Festival with MC5 and William Burroughs, wrote lyrics for Hawkwind and Motörhead. He died with his boots on in 2013, collapsing on stage mid-gig. Like a rockstar.

A huge influence on the Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, and every band that followed with a bad attitude and cheap amplifiers. You won't find Ptooff! in those "1001 albums to hear before you die" books, but it should be. Japanese mini-LP sleeves on high-fidelity SHM-CD, with liner notes and translations. Box available with purchase of all three titles.