Alien 4- Revisited

[Carl E. Anderson]

> The songs selected for the EP
> are very good, and utilize Ron's vocal style well.  As far as the rest
> of the CD, Alien 4, I must now join the others who critisized Ron's
> vocals.  There are some songs here that would have been very good songs,
> but Ron's vocals have made it so I don't think I want to here these songs
> ever again. HE SUCKS, ALOT!

        I think "Beam Me Up" is the most hideous moment.  Actually, that
entire track seems like a colossal balls-up, since it never really figures
out what it's trying to do ... there are some quite good bits in it that
sound nothing at some of the other (crap) bits.  And that hideous
warbling from Ron, "Extraterrestrial ..... Supernatural!" or whatever
does not bear thinking about.

> There are some very excellent songs on this, but not enough of them to
> make this as listenable as ET, or HotMG, or most any other HW cd.

        Well, HotMG is about my favorite (along with _SR_ and _PS_) so
clearly there can be scant comparison ... ;)  but I still think it stands
up well with _ET_.  I think I like it better than most of _Space Bandits_
(though "Out of the Shadows" *live* is easily the best Hawkwind song
since I don't know when), and I definately like _A4_ better than
_IITBOTFTBD_ (which I listened to once, maybe twice, and have hardly
ever played again.

        The band likes Ron, so he's unlikely to go, but perhaps if his
vocals can be reined in a bit we can expect more rock on future releases?
This is, mind you, Carl being optimistic and defiantly taking a positive
view amidst cries of "This sucks!" ;)  but at least the rock quotient is
higher on _A4_ than _IITBOTFTBD_ ...
        Hopefully these meandering instro tendancies can work themselves
out in solo projects or further "Psychedelic Warriors" releases and not
pollute potential space rock blanga-fests ....

Cheers,
Carl