Disc 1

Reviews

Ten Brock solo compositions. Beginning with an Outer Limits-like intro leading into "Streets of Fear". Tunes that caught me off guard are "First Landing on Medusa", "Touchdown", the mutated tripping "Winter Discontent" and the very cool psychedelic "Circles". Also was impressed with "Speed Of Light" and "Bombed Out". Brilliant production to say the least. After hearing this disc you'll fully understand as to why/how that Dave Brock and Hawkwind are still going strong after more than thirty years, if you didn't already.

Hawkwind - The Weird Tapes, Vol. 7

Tracklist: Choose Your Masks; Looking In The Future; Looking In The Future (Take 2); Space Travellers; Disintegration; Circles; Speed Of Light; Bombed Out; Streets Of Fear; First Landing On Medusa/Touchdown; Winter Of Discontent;

This CD, subtitled 'Dave Brock, The Demos', marks the final volume of the 'Weird Tapes' collection, an overview of which can be found at the start of my previous review (covering volumes 1-5). All the instrumental and vocal work here is performed exclusively by Dave Brock, and while the resulting sound is substantial it lacks the force that comes with the intearaction of different musicians working as a unit.

There is a degree of uncertainty in my mind about the actual date these recordings were made - wheras Voiceprint's catalog states that they come from the period 1976-81, I have also seen references to the original WT releases on cassette which state that they were made in the period between July 1981 and February 1982 at Rockield Studios.

Many of the tracks featured, such as 'Choose Your Masks', 'Looking In the Future', 'Space Travellers', 'Disintergation' and 'Streets of Fear', appear in finished form on studio albums released between 1981 - 1984. Others finally saw the light of day under new titles - 'Circles', having undergone some substantial changes appeared on the 'Levitation' album as 'Fifth Second of Forever', while the excellent 'Speed of Light' was issued on a single b-side in 1981 as 'Transdimensional Man'.

Another track worthy of specific mention is 'First Landing on Medusa / Touchdown' (incorrectly shown on the CD inlay as two tracks). I believe this is actually a reworking of 'The Awakening' which originally comes from the 1973 album 'Space Ritual', but it contains many of the hallmarks of classic Hawkwind 'space rock'. The half spoken lyrics and hypnotic, rhythms work very well, although the track perhaps could do with a bit more bass end power.

'Winter of Discontent' is a short track featuring the opening speech from Shakespear's Richard III set to music, and bizarre as this may sound it actually works very well.

The remaining two tracks not referenced so far are both pieces I am not familiar with and, while I do not think they have been issued on a studio album, I'm willing to be corrected if someone can tell me otherwise. 'Space Travellers' is another powerful piece of 'space rock', full of strange oscillating sound patterns and using synthesised voice patterns to deliver the lyrics. This track is very strong on atmosphere but I would stress it works more by means of effect rather than by virtue of any actual tune. Finally we come to the only instrumental track on the album 'Bombed Out', where we return to the more tuneful world of driving bass lines and swirling guitar and keyboard work which stongly shows the other area where Hawkwind excel as a band.

'The Demos' is generally a very well put together, the only small niggle from the point of view of content being the virtual duplication of the track 'Looking in the Future', which perhaps could have been avoided. That aside, everything else is fine and the overall production quality gives no quality issues.

The only real problem for me lies with the presentation, which could have been much better. As with the previous 'Weird Tapes' background information about the recordings is sadly lacking, but a potentially far more serious problem, particularly for those unfamiliar with the music, is that the given track listing does not match up to the actual running order. While VoicePrint do give the correct listing in their catalog which I have repeated above, it might be a good idea to provide a correction sheet with the album to avoid confusion.

It may be that the very nature of this CD will limit its appeal to some extent - since all the tracks are demos, played without the benefit of a full band, this release may prove to be mainly of interest to those already familiar with the material. While this CD does not alter my previous recommendations over which volumes represent the best starting point, this is nevertheless a solid offering and represents another definite must have for all true Hawkfans.

Simon / New Horizons 30th January 2001