| CUSTOMER REVIEWS: | 4/5 - Good set, tarnished by duff vocals...
The fabled Atomhenge tour of 1976 captured on CD - this was Hawkwind moving away from the long, meandering, shadowy rock of the early 70s into the crisp, quirky (and occasionally long, meandering and shadowy) lyric driven rock of the 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' period.
The track list is impressive, and the sound quality is very good. Unfortunately, the late, great Captain Calvert is on something of an off day, and he forgets lyrics all over the place, gets muddled and sings horsely and out of tune. It's a shame, because he was so often a great live vocalist - check out some of the 'Weird Tapes' or 'Space Ritual'.
If you can put up with the dodgy vocals, there are some great tracks here. Brock provides a solid vocal to 'Paradox', and the instrumentals 'Chronoglide Skyway' and 'Wind of Change' are as spaced-out and moving as ever. Even Calvert redeems himself with a sterling rendition of 'Sonic Attack'.
There are also a couple of interesting pieces here - the rare 'Time for Sale', which never appeared on a studio album, and the full-length version of 'Back on the Streets', complete with the middle verse: "Joules of sound are bad for your hearing, and pleasure's something that doesn't last, I took a substance for disappearing, and I faded in the mirror so fast..." Proof of Calvert's lyrical genius!
A worthy additon to a Hawklind collection, with some rare live performances.
4/5 - HAWKWIND-'Atomhenge '76'
Two CD's,a total of 84 minutes of a certain Hawkwind tour,
thought by many to have been forever lost into obscurity.Must
admit,this is SO much more enjoyable than what I had expected.
Not a perfect sounding recording,but in my humble opinion,that's
what makes it so much fun.Some songs on here I've never heard
live versions of,such as "Paradox","Chronoglide Skyway","Wind
Of Change","Back On The Streets",and "Kerb Crawler".Not to
mention the really happening unreleased cut "Time For Sale"
that really caught me off guard!!
This was co-founder Nik Turner's last tour with the band before
being sacked.Some nice HW staples are present,like "Brainstorm",
"Uncle Sam's On Mars",and "Sonic Attack". This incredible gig
took place in October,1976 at the Hammersmith Odeon.Just love
these archive releases! Comes with a nifty fourteen page mini-
program like booklet with exclusive artwork,photos,etc.No true
Hawkfan should be without this Voiceprint released gem.
5/5 - Hawkwind at their 2nd peak
Ive just rediscovered Hawkwind again in the last few months. They were there with Genesis, Pink Floyd and Yes when I was at school in the 70s, but somehow Ive no interest in listening to the others again. My music teacher played us Warrior on the Edge of Time between classical symphonies!!Theres a raw energy about Hawkwind that is so lacking in today's plastic Boyband/Girlband world. Yes, listen to all the Hawkwind classics in studio form but if you want to hear them at their peak, rawest form then this album and Space Ritual are for you. Yep, Calvert is wonky but would you have him any other way? Brainstorm and Steppenwolf are particularly good!
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Listen to my works HearSay and weep!
Dr John Purvis, Limavady |
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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Last visit: 18/12/2009
