HW: OFF: Death Trap again - Life imitates Art ...

[Doug Pearson]

... or, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR ... YOU MAY GET IT!

(sorry for excessive off-topic personal content)

A couple weeks ago, you may recall that I was whining to the list about not
having the studio version of "Death Trap" on CD.  I was finally able to
track down a mail-order copy of 'PXR5', and I was quite happy when it
arrived on friday, when I was at home with the day off from work.  Since I
was hosting a band from Japan (the King Brothers - amazing
higher-energy-than-you-can-believe blues/punk), and I had to drive them
down from Oakland to KFJC on the San Francisco peninsula for a live radio
performance, I didn't have time to listen to the whole disc, but it was
great to hear "Death Trap" from something other than a slightly-warped record!

Little did I know how intimate I was about to become with that song ... on
our way to the radio station, my car's engine seized up, started smoking,
and caught fire.  We were barely able to pull over onto the shoulder, get
out of the car, and RUN!! before flames reached the passenger compartment.
Some good samaritans stopped behind us and discharged their fire
extinguisher in a vain attempt to quell the flames, but by the time a fire
engine arrived, the front half of the vehicle was engulfed.  When the fire
was finally quenched, the entire passenger compartment had melted, the
engine was fried, the windows had popped, and what remained was seriously
charred.  Fortunately no one was injured, and the band's equipment was all
in a different vehicle, which was still able to get them to the radio
station in time to perform.  It wasn't a total loss (even though the
automobile was!) since I was able to write a song about the incident that
we performed the next night when we opened for the King Brothers in Oakland.

To bring things back on topic ... I gotta say that the Virgin 'PXR5' CD is
a pretty cheesy budget reissue that definitely deserves a better release -
the songwriting credits are off (Ade Shaw isn't credited on "Jack of
Shadows", but Simon King & Dave Brock erroneously are; none for the title
track), the informative personnel credits and recording dates/locations
from the LP issue are missing, no mis-wired plug graphic (maybe we'll have
to wait for an American version for that) - it's too bad that the EBS
release ain't gonna happen.

It's still great to hear the album again, though.  I thought that the
renditions of "Robot" and "Death Trap" were highlights of the first US tour
with Ron ... "Jack of Shadows" and "High Rise" are real nice melodic tracks
that highlight Simon House's musicianship.  And I *really* like the
wah-wah(?) violin solo on "Robot" - definitely a major inspiration for me.
Even the stripped-down Brock/King tracks are pretty darn good.  The only
real disappointment is that I think the Neu!/Krautrock version (from the
'76 tour) and the high-energy punkish version (from the Hawklords tour) of
"Uncle Sam's On Mars" are far superior to the constipated-sounding version
of 'PXR5'.  Even still, Bob's stream-of-consciousness improvisation on this
version pretty much redeems it (even if it doesn't include the "... first
American to set foot on Mars got the last remaining life form stuck to the
bottom of his boot and said oh shit!" line - I love that one!).  I also
hadn't heard the CD version of "High Rise" - very different from the LP
version - I now recognize it as the source for the Grenas-sung version of
Nik's 'Past or Future' CD.  Not sure whether I prefer the LP or CD version
- they're both good!

But mostly, I'm glad I finally have a CD copy of "Death Trap", even if it's
now a Hawkwind song that I can safely say I've lived through!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com