Hawkwind thread.

[Stephen]

Here's a whole load of info I found about Text Of Festival.

Quote Disk 1 - BBC Sessions 1970-71

The first 12" is a collection of the 1970-71 BBC Sessions which are not taken from BBC tapes so their inclusion is legally questionable to say the least. The sound is poor, being mono, lacking sonic width and covered in hiss. It wouldn't surprise me if I learnt that the taper had simply placed a microphone in front of the radio speakers during broadcast. It does however collect the early recordings all into one place which gives it continuity and completeness, whereas the appearances of these tracks elsewhere just seems odd. The full list of the known available early BBC sessions are:

· 18 Aug 70 - Maida Vale - Hurry On Sundown (Brock) 6:20 - appears on Text Of Festival, Weird 6, Anthology Volume 3, Dawn Of Hawkwind?

· 05 Nov 70 - Paris Cinema - Paranoia (Brock) 3:00 - appears on Text Of Festival

· 05 Nov 70 - Paris Cinema - Seeing It As You Really Are (Brock) 8:50 - appears on Text Of Festival

· 19 Apr 71 - Playhouse - We Do It (Brock) 13:45 - appears on Text Of Festival, Weird 6, Anthology Volume 3, HW Friends & Relations 2

· 19 Apr 71 - Playhouse - Come Home (Brock) 2:00? - appears on Weird 6, Anthology Volume 3

· 19 May 71 - Maida Vale - Master Of The Universe (Turner/Brock) 6:00 - appears on Text Of Festival, Dawn Of Hawkwind

· 19 May 71 - Maida Vale - (Visions Of) You Know You're Only Dreaming (Brock) 4:15 - appears on Text Of Festival, Weird 8

· 19 May 71 - Maida Vale - You Shouldn't Do That (Turner/Brock) 5:52 - appears on Text Of Festival, Weird 8

The band on these recordings were Nik Turner (vocals, sax and flute), Dave Brock (vocals and guitar), Dik Mik (electronics), Terry Ollis (drums) with bass duties split between Thomas Crimble (1970) and Dave Anderson (1971). Huw Lloyd-Langton makes a solitary appearance adding lead guitar to Hurry On Sundown.

The 19 May 71 session starts things. These offerings are not live but from a one day studio affair giving the opportunity for overdubs, as is evidenced by Turner simultaneously singing and playing sax. It's typical In Search Of Space era but more aggressive. The Anderson/Ollis rhythm section is impressive and at times, as on Master Of The Universe, damn funky. Master also boasts an additional vocal passage for the middle section by Turner. Turner offers some nice flute touches to You Know You're Only Dreaming which showcases a refinement that perhaps diminished the following year. An otherworldly organ that's more Floyd than Hawkwind bridges into You Shouldn't Do That. A female voice exclaims "David! Stop it! Naughty!" and You Shouldn't Do That fades out, which is weird and it has crossed my mind that the taper's mum has just walked into his room, seen what he's up to, and succinctly pointed out the copyright in these sound recordings is owned by the Britsh Broadcasting Corporation and unauthorised copying, hiring and lending is strictly prohibited. Or perhaps Brock or Anderson was getting over amorous with Stacia in the studio. This is an excellent session and makes me yearn to hear it with clarity.

The first side ends with the track most fans associate with the birth of Hawkwind, Hurry On Sundown. The original demo version with Mick Slattery had more of an electric psychedelic slant compared to the album's acoustic folky take with Huw Lloyd-Langton. This version, from their first BBC studio session, rocks out with Huw wading in with some scorching electric lead while Crimble gives it some heavy bass. Elsewhere Dik Mik's electronics make it sound like a radio recording with signal interference and Brock's acoustic intro meanders well off course.

The second side offers two In Concert live performances. We start with Paranoia Part 1 rising and falling followed by Paranoia Part 2 also rising and falling, then some breathy slow pulsing leads us into Seeing It As You Really Are which ups the pace. It feels like some underworld creatures menacingly creeping up on us and then we're off onto a high speed chase through the caverns. Then the pace slackens, maybe we've lost the creatures, but I can still hear them plodding around in the background. Oh no, here they are again, and we're off on one final chase. There's an abrupt ending that comes out of nowhere that spoils this illusion. Perhaps the producer was pointing at the clock and circling his other arm in a "wind it up boys, time's out" fashion. I've just realised this is one of my favourite Hawkwind titles, I used to love the Roadhawks version of this.

We Do It, I Do It, You Do It, Everybody Does It. This is a lengthy mainly instrumental jam centered around a good bass motif that mutates and keeps going. And going. And I'm sure it was still going at the Watchfield 1975 festival. This is repetitive mantra like music aimed at inducing trance-like states. Yep, we're back to the drugs again. Some simple repetitive group chants give some focus, the electronics take the centre stage at an early point, Brock f***s about on his guitar and Turner gives it some in his own fashion. But this is about Anderson and Ollis dominating things with a pounding rhythm. On the 13 minute mark Anderson ups the ante for a finale which fades on this recording. Listening to this again, it reminds me an awful lot of the Jah Wobble / Jaki Liebezeit groove from the Solaris gigs which was only a few years ago. There's a place for this kind of music today, but this is not it.

Come Home is listed as the final track on this first set but doesn't actually appear here, which is a shame as it would have fully completed the early BBC sessions. It does appear on other releases, so for completeness sake and the fact it's never been recorded elsewhere, I'll offer my opinion here: It's a Yee-Ha slap your thighs hoe-down with Brock doing a comedy vocal concerning a salacious Big Fat Mama. This is a mere oddity, but there's some very impressive whistling.
Disk 2 - Colchester 19 Feb 71

The second 12" comprises part of a gig at Colchester Technical College 19 Feb 71 and is a significantly superior sound, boasting stereo and good sound definition. The band at this gig consisted of Brock, Crimble, Turner, Dik Mik and Ollis. The first side, labelled 'Sound... Shouldn't... Improvise' is actually You Shouldn't Do That, and the second side labeled 'Improvise... Compromise... Reprise' is The Reason Is? and Be Yourself. It strikes me as being back to front as The Reason Is? is the beginning of the suite that comprised the bulk of the first album.

Two minutes of electronic priming and we hit the rhythm of You Shouldn't Do That. I hope you're familiar with the extended version of this track, and I hope that you've picked up on the tenor of the band's repertoire at this point, as this is more of the same. Ollis and Crimble draw the line through the middle and the others are hanging on, Brock doing his choppy guitar thing, Turner concentrating on flute and Dik Mik giving his own. There's no vocals except on the bleated 'chorus'. And the lock groove goes on, this is rhythmic music, we're back to the mantra. After 20-odd minutes it fades without resolution. As an aside, it certainly gives credence to Crimble's claims that he deserves a writers credit for this, and Ollis too I would have thought, but that would surely apply to a lot of the titles on offer here.

The Reason Is? is an ambient piece designed to set the mood and draw you in. And if you're turnipped enough to spend half an hour staring at the skin of an orange in deep contemplation, this may well draw you in. But I'm not, I'm stone cold sober, and this ambience goes on for 11 minutes. 11 minutes! 11 minutes of moaning, splattering of cymbols, swooshing electronics. OK, time for an epiphany.

'Be Yourself! See Yourself! I Can See! Others like me!' That's really deep man, but the vocals are bleeding all over the side. And then it stops, the audience are a bit unsure and start to clap. But wait, here comes Ollis pounding around his drum kit like a tribesman possessed. Crimble is in there holding it up and Brock is doing his percussive rhythm playing but this is a showcase for Ollis in what starts to sound like a drum solo, but we'll never know as the track infuriatingly fades (again! there are loads of fades on this collection). This is the highlight of this set, but has always been omitted from the CD versions

The tracks as listed here all appear on my CD version of this vinyl listing apart from the last one as he mentioned.


The Boxset that I have is called The Entire And Infinite Universe Of Hawkwind and contains many errors in the track titles, also on the front is written "3 CD Collectors Set" even though there are 4 Discs in it.

[Stephen]

This is as much info as I have about Space Ritual Volume 2.

Space Ritual 2

First issued May 1985. Recorded at Brixton Sundown, 30/12/72

This recording is part of the performance that was processed for disc 2 of Space Ritual. Here it is in its original state, with no edits or overdubs, notable differences being a different middle section to "Orgone Accumulator", "Paranoia" included as the middle section of "Time We Left This World Today" and "Wind Of Change" leading into "7 By 7". "Space Is Deep" and "You Shouldn't Do That" / "Seeing It As You Really Are" from this tape were released on Hawkwind Anthology.

1. "Electronic No. 1" [listed as "Space"] (Dettmar/Dik Mik) – 2:15
2. "Orgone Accumulator" (Calvert/Brock) – 8:45
3. "Upside Down" (Brock) – 2:45
4. "Sonic Attack" (Moorcock) – 2:50
5. "Time We Left This World Today" (Brock) / "Paranoia" [unlisted] (Brock) – 13:20
6. "10 Seconds Of Forever" (Calvert) – 2:10
7. "Brainstorm" (Turner) – 12:00
8. "Wind Of Change" [unlisted] (Brock)
"7 By 7" (Brock) – 8:50
9. "Master of the Universe" (Turner/Brock) – 7:40
10. "Welcome to the Future" (Calvert) – 2:55

[2066]

Way to go, Rob!

[my breakfast.]

Thanks Robobo, the keys to Motorway City are all yours.

[Stephen]

I'm glad you mentioned the Gagarin one Alan as it made me reassess that whole box set and, overall, it's not as bad as I originally thought, I just would advise people not to pay silly money for it if they see it.

[my breakfast.]

£3 is not exactly silly money!

[Sonic Destruction]

To be honest, I do really like "Text Of Festival"; it is just not a first stop for an aspiring Hawkfan, and it annoys me that it has been re-released so many times with different names, when albums like "Live '79" are so hard to get.

I had a cassette of "Festival", but it got eaten, and the CD version I have (released as "Hawkwind Live 70-72") misses out the "Improvise/Compromise/Reprise" medley that is "Be Yourself"

I also get annoyed when these fanatics-only tracks are released with titles like "The Entire And Infinite Universe Of Hawkwind" because that makes them sound like "best-of" collections, which they definitely are not!!!

Best tracks for me on "Festival" are "Hurry On Sundown" (not necessarily as good as the version from their first album, but still cool, with whistling electronics and Huw's stylish lead guitar) and "We Do It" (aka "I Do It", aka "Do It"). "Visions Of You Know You're Only Dreaming" is also very cool.

Someone mentioned "1999 Party" (1974 live recording with Lemmy) - this is awesome and is a must have. It is also easier to find than some other albums, and the sound quality is reasonably good. Make sure you buy the two disc version though, not just the edited single disc.

[Beowulf]

No mentions of 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' thus far. Is it just me who rates that album then?

[Sonic Destruction]

No mentions of 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' thus far. Is it just me who rates that album then?

I'm afraid I don't rate it that highly, Beowulf. It wasn't just the absence of Lemmy, it was also the absence of any kind of spacerock or space-themes (despite a spacey title, and excellent cover art). I wouldn't say I actually dislike it, but for me it was their least interesting album up 'til that time, and their second worst official release of the 1970's (the worst being "The Hawklords").

[2066]

No mentions of 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' thus far. Is it just me who rates that album then?

I liked that album! Calvert was an engaging frontman. I really liked his "punky" vocal style.

[Massed Gadgets]

No mentions of 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' thus far. Is it just me who rates that album then?

It's not a bad album, but like Pat said, it was kind of turning point, and had Hawkwind easing away from their classic space rock sound into more of a somewhat psychedelic hard rock direction. But I wouldn't put it amongst their classics. Steppenwolf is a pretty good tune, I must say, but overall it's just not that strong an album, I don't think. And it also happened to fall between two much better albums, Lemmy's swansong and one of my favourite Hawkwind albums, Warrior on the Edge of Time and the quite excellent Quark, Strangeness and Charm.

[zag]

I´ve said this before but I like "Zones" album. "Running Through A Back Brain", very hypnotic piece, is perfect to listen in your car while driving in sub areas... another favorite of mine is "Dangerous Visions". Actually I think all the first three songs from that vinyl are my all time favorites.
Check it if you can find it.

[Sonic Destruction]

Yeah, I really like "Zones" too, especially "Dangerous Visions". It is a shame that line-up (Brock/Bainbridge/Lloyd-Langton/Ginger Baker/Keith Hale) never recorded a full studio album together (the second side of "Zones" was recorded a few years later, and features Nik returning on sax).

Baker wanted to get rid of Harvey Bainbridge, so that he could bring in Jack Bruce and tour the world as a supergroup combining Hawkwind and Cream

Instead, Hawkwind fired Baker, who took keyboard player Keith Hale with him as he left

Excellent live tracks featuring Baker and Hale can be found on "Stonehenge, This Is Hawkwind; Do Not Panic"

[zag]

Excellent live tracks featuring Baker and Hale can be found on "Stonehenge, This Is Hawkwind; Do Not Panic"

Thanks for the info, Pat.

[2066]

No mentions of 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' thus far. Is it just me who rates that album then?

It's not a bad album, but like Pat said, it was kind of turning point, and had Hawkwind easing away from their classic space rock sound into more of a somewhat psychedelic hard rock direction. But I wouldn't put it amongst their classics. Steppenwolf is a pretty good tune, I must say, but overall it's just not that strong an album, I don't think. And it also happened to fall between two much better albums, Lemmy's swansong and one of my favourite Hawkwind albums, Warrior on the Edge of Time and the quite excellent Quark, Strangeness and Charm.

I agree that "Quark" is a very good album. "Warrior" was the first one I ever bought ($1.00 @ Vinyl Museum when I was in high school). I loved "Warrior" when I bought it. I still like it but I now find the amount of reverberation annoying. I much prefer the grungier, dry anarchic sound of Doremi Fasol Latido.