HW: HawXtar

[C Mumford]

I just got the HawXtar CDR (only a 100 - run to the DarXtar page and grab
'em!) and it's brilliant stuff. The sound is very good for being an
unmixed, raw tape of the show with Nik Turner and DarXtar in great form,
and is really spacey with all the free-form synth throughout. It opens with
a decent "Sonic Attack" (but the SR original can _never_ be outdone!), a
pretty good rumbling "Brainstorm" and a wonderful version of "Kadu Flyer" -
I love this little song, and it's cool that Turner still performs it, and
he plays the flute. There's a violinist too! Then Turner does a real
diabolical monologue of Moorcock's "The Great Sun Jester", I don't know how
close the lyrics are to the BOC song (I haven't heard it), but it's
frightening and thoughtful stuff.... then it goes into "Children of the
Sun", a song I always hated - and still do... But the flute and violin make
this actually pretty good little mellow piece, luckily with the lyrics kept
to a minimum. After that it's just DarXtar, and from what I know from
Daybreak and Sju, this is the best stuff I've heard from them. There's a
really great version of "7" called "7 1/2". Then there's a straight version
of "Obstakel" and one I haven't heard before, "Breath Messages". The last
song  is excellent, with a creepy middle-eastern sound and a sinister vocal
delivery and good lyrics. The violin really adds dimension to DarXtar's
sound, I hope they keep it in the future. I'd recommend this to any
Hawkwind fans, or anybody into space/psych/prog  - it's good stuff.



Christian




--------

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

                                     - Julian Cope



PS! (way off topic...)

Whew, good thing I didn't run anyone down with that drunk-posting last
night :-), but I just thought it was amazing that I bumped into Roddy
Bottum (always thought that name had an odd ring to it....) and got in for
free and all.... the Faith No More gig was okay, but all the songs
performed just seemed so "samey", I think FNM lost that innovative edge
they had on (especially) Angel Dust - maybe they never should have fired
Jim Martin!! Hey, maybe he can join Hawkwind or BOC... :-) Last time I saw
them (outdoors) some years ago, they were **brilliant** and they even
performed their lounge-jazz version of Dead Kennedys "Let's Lynch The
Landlord" and really worked with the crowd.. (Patton's demented antics in
particular). Last night it was just too generic and they seemed bored as
hell (they were all wearing matching suits too!)...... Hey anyone else out
there like FNM or Mr. Bungle or am I just rambling to myself??