Listening to 1999 Party...

[William Duffy]

>I got The 1999 Party just the other day and I've listened to it a couple of
>times, and it's pretty cool and everything, but it actually sort of
>irritates me because I think it could have been a much better release than
>it is.  The problem of which I speak is the mix job!  Yes, even though Dave
>Brock did it, I just have to wonder what he was thinking.  Certainly it has
>been the trend on Hawkwind's more recent stuff to mix the guitars lower and
>the vocals and bass higher, and I think he definitely carried this idea too
>far on the live album.  The guitar is mixed rather low, virtually inaudible
>a lot of the time.  The vocals are way out front, as is the bass.  If the
>guitars and synths could be brought up, and the vocals and bass brought
down
>a bit, I think we would really have a masterpiece, but as it is I find
>myself straining to imagine it with a different sound!  Let's hear your
>guitar Dave!

I thought it was the other way around with Distant Horizons (which I'm still
not sure if I like?). I found that the vocals and bass were mixed down too
low. Most of the time I couldn't make out the lyrics.

On the subject of the new album, I also feel it seems unfinished, and there
also seems to be a shift in the direction of the music towards a
Space-Techno-Reggae feel.
I don't think it rocks as much as some have said, and there is about the
same amount of vocals as IITBOTFTBD, which I think may even be better!

Maybe it'll grow on me.

William