HW: Live at the Kinetic Playground

[Captain Cloud]

I've been giving this CD-R a somewhat close listen-to since it
arrived a few days ago.  It's a nice novelty, but also a minor
disappointment.  Here's the deal, as I hear it:

First off, the quality is the same as that of a multi-generational
tape that has had the high end hiss removed, i.e. acceptable but
with very limited dynamic range.  When I compared it closely with
my 8-yr old taped copy of the show, my tape sounded *marginally*
better.  Perhaps I was merely lucky enough to be closer to the
original copy for my tape dub, I dunno.

Second, and more telling:  This is the concert where the first(?)
appearance of the lyrics that became 'Spirit of the Age' were
aired.  It was a poem read by Calvert himself in an early HW guesting
(if I remember right) titled 'Starfarer's Despatch'.  Such was my
own tape labeled, as was that of another trader that I ran into
years later.  Anyway, THE POEM IS MISSING!  It was cut out of the
CD.  One of the most unique moments in early HW history, not present!

Also, as Hawkjoe has mentioned, there is a 2-sec pause in between
each of the tracks on the CD, even though they all ran together on
the original tape that must have been the source for this music.
This is merely an artifact of the CD-R mastering software that the
author used.  I myself have used GEAR for burning music CDs, and
have found it can avoid the 2-sec pause problem that is common (or
so I've read) with other mastering packages.  Perhaps a word can
be put in the ear of the author...?  GEAR can be a bit cryptic at
times, but it is reliable once you have "mastered" it.  :-)

Of course, being the HW whore that I am, all of these were points
that I was willing to overlook to a certain extent.  The packaging
quality of this item is not up to that of the 3-CD series from
'Nova Drive Productions' (wink wink nudge nudge), but most CD-Rs
are not.  It ranks similar to the packaging of 'Orgasmatron' or
'Dawn of Hawkwind', except slightly lower.

All in all, it was inexpensive, and the packaging showed it.  And
the low price actually included postage to the USA, so I don't
really have any reason to bitch.  Upon re-reading this it looks
like a litany of complaints.  Sorry about that...

Just be aware that such releases would NOT challenge an inexperienced
buyer into purchasing this over the official product.  This is
strictly for the kollectors in the group.  YMMV.

..And, I'll still be tempted to purchase additional items in
this series...  ;^)
--
Captain Cloud
capcloud at palmnet.net
http://www5.palmnet.net/~capcloud/

ObConcert:  Strange Daze '98 (!!!)