HW: Welcome to False Advertising

[Keith Henderson]

Eh-Oh...

I was perusing through a CD mail order catalog the other day (Collectors'
Choice - Hardly!!), and ran across this interesting item.

Under the ProgRock section (featuring such artists as Rainbow, Deep Purple,
Ambrosia, Uriah Heep, and Black Sabbath!!), we find the following...

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Boxed Set Blitz!!

New Release - Hawkwind:  Welcome to the Future

We were selling a Hawkwind boxed set a while back when the label slipped
into some alternate universe (i.e., went bankrupt) and stopped supplying us!
This one's even better, though;  it's got the key tracks and it's a whole
lot cheaper.  Includes the classic Hawkwind albums 'Masters of the Universe'
(so classic, there are four versions!!...ed.), 'Bring Me the Head of Yuri
Gagarin' and 'Space Ritual Vol. 2', plus a double-live album for a total of
38 tracks!  'Silver Machine'; 'Dreaming'; 'Sonic Attack'; 'Orgone
Accumulator'... we have liftoff.

Price 4CD  $34.95

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Well, what a load of rubbish.  Of course, I know all about this retread item
(as we all do), but when is this shit finally going to disappear??  I think
this material has been rehashed so many damn times for so long, that I don't
think there's *anyone* out there who hasn't caught on yet.  That's why it
seems like most Hawkwind bins in stores around here have nothing but this
crap...multiple copies of each sometimes.  Rarely do I see a 'good' Hawkwind
disc in a store for very long...but these pieces of garbage continue to come
in and collect dust.

Alright, let's take a vote anyway...how many people out there think this is
a superior boxed set than the Griffin one??  Don't vote unless you think
'yes'...I'm certain that there will be none!  And what a steal at $35!!!
I've seen this in local stores for less than $25, but of course, I wouldn't
pay more than $5 for this.

I also remember (don't I?) that these discs are screwed up anyway...I
thought that Text of Festival was to be part of this as well (I assume
that's the other dbl live album they mention in the advert), but isn't it
true that at least some of these sets didn't even have that material, but
rather simply two identical sets of tracks (like from SR Vol. 2) or
something?  Was that corrected or not??

You know, you'd think that distributors and record stores would actually
keep those items in stock that actually sell, and so we'd see the better
ones continually reappearing again and again.  But of course, it's the exact
opposite...five years from now, noone will be able to get their hands on a
copy of Palace Springs, or 1999 Party, or the 'Remasters of the Universe'
(i.e., the first five albums on UA), but surely you'll still have your
choice of seventeen different packagings of the 'Acid Daze' or 'Yuri
Gagarin' material.

No wonder Dave Anderson lives in rural Wales!

Keith H. (FAA)

P.S.  In the Rainbow advert, it says 'Cozy Powell (later of ELP)'  If that
isn't the stupidest comment ever...of course, I know he was (briefly) in
ELPowell, but how many Cozy Powell fans even consider that album to appear
as a 'blip on the radar screen of his career', so to speak.  Oh wait, I'm
sorry....they were trying to make the link to ProgRock in order to justify
Rainbow's categorization as such.  :)