Product Details

Hawkwind first came together in 1969 formed in Ladbroke Grove London. The band very soon gained attention or notoriety for their willingness to perform concerts for free at numerous events in and around the Ladbroke Grove area. They were soon signed to a recording deal releasing their self titled debut album in late 1969 and have regularly recorded and released albums ever since. The band also scored a massive hit single in 1972 with the perennial rock track Silver Machine and a massively successful album Space Ritual in 1973. Although going through a number of line up changes over the last forty years the band have managed not only to keep the title of “People’s Band” but are still led by founder and guitarist Dave Brock and continue to play concerts and release regular studio albums. In keeping with their stance as a “People’s Band” Hawkwind have often released “Official Bootleg “CDs and continue to do so well into the twenty first century. The Weird Tapes were the first “Official Bootlegs” to come from Dave Brock in the eighties and the title of the series came from the fact that the releases were all originally on cassette. All of the recordings are previously commercially unreleased recordings from the Hawkwind and Dave Brock archives although the original series was available directly from Dave Brock. This of course was in the pre internet age so anyone wanting the series would have had to find out about them through the regular newsletters that emanated from chez Brock. The recordings however are all of very high quality in keeping with Dave Brock’s initial idea of giving the fans value for money and the best quality possible. The series is now being reissued with the albums packed together as “Twofers” Volume 5 covers the period 1976-1977 when Hawkwind were undergoing some serious line up changes and also venturing into a slightly newer musical direction. This set includes liver versions of newer songs such as Forge of Vulcan and Assassins of Allah alongside the older Brainstorm. Volume 6 covers an earlier age, 1970-1973 to be more precise. The earliest track comes from 1970 and is Hurry On Sundown. There are two tracks from the Greasy Truckers concert which took place at the Roundhouse in 1972 both these tracks (Born To Go and Master Of The Universe) are hugely popular. The track Make What You Cab is an outtake from 1973 and is not to be found anywhere else other than this release and therefore of massive interest to the Hawkwind fan base. Originally available on CD as separate releases the Weird tapes are being reissued due to demand from the fans. The original copies now deleted command high prices on the collectors market however now reissued they will find a warm reception with the still massive Hawkwind fan base.