Notes

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This is an unusual release in that so far it's only available direct from the band. It was recorded at the Walthamstow Assembly Halls in December 2002 (the last show of the tour) and covers the main part of the show in its entirety, missing only the encores (Sonic Attack/Spacebrock, and Silver Machine) The album first revealed itself as a very pleasant surprise addition to the merchandise stall at the 2003 Christmas gig at the Astoria last weekend. Interestingly, there are no credits for the lineup or remastering. For the record, here's some of the detail:

Dave Brock - guitar, vocals, keyboards, humour
Richard Chadwick - drums, sequencers, vocals
Alan Davey - bass, vocals
Tim Blake - keyboards, vocals
Arthur Brown - vocals

Recording: Colin Allen
Production: Hawkwind (apparently, everyone had a hand in it)

Overall it's fair to say that this is an excellent recording of a superb gig. The remix means that the sound is less dominated by Richard's bass drum than it was on the tour and has brought out the best of each instrument - the only drawback of this is a slight decrease in the punch delivered by the rhythm section. Since I've mentioned Alan and Richard, it's worth noting that they come over loud and clear on this recording - take some time to follow what either of them is playing and you'll hear all the flourishes and embellishments that are critically important to the overall sound of Hawkwind.

The show kicks off with Richard's earthy call of "Earth Calling" and launches into Aerospaceage Inferno before Arthur Brown takes up the microphone. If you like Arthur's contribution to the Canterbury Fayre 2001 album, then this show is going to be a real treat. This is a storming opening number with crystal clear guitar from Dave, spacey keyboards throughout and a familiar sounding mellow break in the middle (check out the version of Levitation on the Yule Ritual release).

Next up is Angels of Death sung jointly by Dave and Alan. I've always liked this song and love the way this version comes blistering back into the last verse from the almost jam-like break in the middle. The closing section of the last verse has Richard's haunting vocal at the back of Dave/Alan's chanting.
There's some banter then the band crack on with Out of the Shadows. There is some excellent guitar work from Dave who comes out loud and clear just before a very trippy break near the end.

A steady bass line highlighted with a mixture of twiddly and swooping synth sounds accompanies Arthur's vocal on Time Captives which builds towards a wailing and (well delivered) screaming finale which is reminiscent of Ian Gillan on Child In Time.

Master of the Universe is another stunner, again with Arthur doing the honours. Whilst the post-gig production has been a lot fairer to the overall sound, the bass doesn't have quite the same retina-detaching, bladder squeezing effect as I (vaguely) remember it having on the night. The keys come across really well, though. MoTU segues into the Song of the Gremlin which calms the mood a little - seems a shame as things have just got moving again. There's a brief interlude for a poem from Arthur:

There once was a young man from Wales
who lived on shit, snot and snails,
When he couldn't get these
he lived off the cheese
that he picked from his prick with his nails

As Dave had pointed out earlier in the gig, it *was* national poetry day.

..... then the band launch into another of Arthur's numbers, Time And Confusion. It's a good song, featuring some very enjoyable solo work from Dave, but for me this one fits least well into the Hawkwind set and what we really need is some serious blanga at this point. The song slows down and cools the mood a little, but then the power trio kick back in again and treat us to a blinding riff which segues into ......

Hurry on Sundown - I have vivid memories of the audience going beserk at this point. Back to some classic Hawkwind and a cracking version at that.

Lighthouse is a sea of synths and keyboards that builds into an expertly delivered (but more mellow) version of the Live 79 performance - this is fantastic stuff.

Alan toys with the audience with a couple of false starts to The Watcher and Dave's "I'd just like to make love to you, baby" brings across the party mood. There is some really choppy guitar work in the background of this song from Dave alongside his normal grinding riffs and some excellent lead work - he really goes for it on this number.

The "slow number" is the ubiquitous, well practised, superbly performed Assassins of Allah - the Space Is Their section starts off in a very familiar way, but Tim's keys really add to it.

Following some discussion of Alan's potential use of Psychedelic and Green Tree Flogs (sic), the band treat us to some real history with (Shouldn't) Do That. It's a real romp, with the band just getting down to what they do best and doing it very well indeed. Richard's on vocals once more.

Finally there's a rousing return to Earth Calling with Dave taking lead on the vocal this time round, which is actually rather disheartening since you know it's announcing the end of the set. But at least we can look forward to the encores .... literally, since this is the end of this particular slab of compact disk blanga. Let's hope that there is a future release which includes the missing tracks and affords us all the opportunity to experience a brilliant rendition of Spirit of the Age.

In summary, this is fantastic stuff - please let's have some more. If this is any indication of what's to come with the much discussed future live releases then we've all got something to look forward to.

Cheers. Rob.

PS. In case you don't know what Blanga is, see Steve Pond's site. I couldn't find this from the front page, but a Google search took me straight there: http://www.doremi.co.uk/hawks/



Here's another take on the CD, sent in by Lurch - cheers!

With a thick churning sound, Hawkwinds newest live CD is better than it might have been it's from the rump of the band that wrapped up the Winter 2002 tour at Walthamstow Assembly Hall. The last concert of the tour was going to be their Christmas celebration, well I don't know if they felt much like celebrating after losing Huw Lloyd-Langton and Simon House on the way there. Dave Brocks band was reduced to him and Alan Davey Richard Chadwick with old mates Tim Blake and Arthur Brown helping out. Tim Blake plays the Hawkwind way but Arthur tries to evoke the spirit of Robert Calvert on one hand and then infiltrate his own numbers into Hawkwinds set on the other hand. But its a good thimg they are on this CD don't want the trio back again playing rave.

They do Earth calling / Aerospaceage inferno (Arthur doing Calvert) / Angels of death (really heavy, this is the best track) / Out of the shadows (second best one) / Time captives (a Crazy World of Arthur Brown song) / Master of the universe / The Gremlin song / Time and confusion (another one from Arthur Brown) / Hurry on sundown / Lighthouse (Tim Blake song) / The watcher / Assassins of allah / Do that and another go round with Earth calling. I wish there were more Hawkwind songs instead of the Arthur Brown and Tim Blakes, but its the good old Hawkwind sound and thats the important thing. They could of added the encore from the night which would of made for more Hawkwind material and left out something else. Do that is like on Roadhawks with the ending being called Earth calling (the second one on the CD) for some reason. The first one that starts off the CD doesn't sound like Earth calling either and it sounds like Ron Tree singing it but he's not here. Aerospaceage inferno is like on the Captain lockheed album with a widdly bit stuck in the middle so Tim Blake can play with his toys. The songs that never originally had Huwey on them still sound good like Out of the shadows and.the ones that need Simon House didn't get played. But all the Calvert songs have got to be there just so Arthur brown can join in I reckon. Maybe they should of got Harvey back to give it a bit more of a proper Hawkwind pedigree. Arthur brown's voice has got a quaver in it which you can't accuse Harvey of. Really good singer mind, but not Hawkwind, Master of the universe is a bit of a rock.opera.

Anyway I don't think Arthur Brown and Tim Blake are playing with the band any more. Alan Davey is the next best thing to having Lemmy back but he messed up the Watcher a bit at the beginning, still, good to hear this one again. This Cd seems to play a bit quietly put another one on like Yule Ritual and its a lot louder, oh well just have to crank it up a bit thats all.