HW: SpaceBrock review

[Michael Blackman]

Also some comments at electric tepee

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~michaelangelo68/Html/hawkwind_album_page_11.htm

Michael B

----- Original Message -----
From: Nick Medford <nick at HERMIT0.DEMON.CO.UK>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 11:16 AM
Subject: HW: SpaceBrock review


> Well I guess quite a few people have this album now, but I've seen little
in
> the way of comment, so here goes:
>
> Is it the greatest album HW have released since 'Quark'?  Er, no.
>
> But is it a good album and a worthy addition to an HW collection?  Yes.
>
> First point to note is that this really is a Brock solo despite what it
says on
> the cover: the only other Hawk to appear is Richard and he's only on 3
> tracks. Even 'CoH' had more involvement from other band members than
> this. A few other names are credited with contributions, but these include
> 'Dr Technical' and 'Hawkman' and one suspects these are Mr Brock's alter
> egoes rather than separate entities. Could be wrong though.
>
> So what do you get for your moolah? Well you get seventeen tracks, yes
> seventeen ladeez and gents, plus a rather attractive CD booklet- really
quite
> impressive. The first thing the Hawkfan will notice about the tracklist is
> that some of the titles are familiar: yup, there are some *remakes* here.
> Now I go along with the consensus that says there's nothing wrong with a
> remake if it adds something to the original or reworks it in an
interesting
> way. Only partial success on that score here: the CD kicks off with an
> electronically-enhanced version of 'Life Form' which makes a cracking
> opening track (always thought it was random filler on PXR5) , but then we
> get 'Assassination' (aka 'Some People Never Die'), a (slightly) reworked
> version of the 'Church of Hawkwind' track- now I loved the original but I
> can't see the point of this. Meanwhile 'First Landing On Medusa' makes
> another appearance and as far as I can tell is identical to the version on
'In
> Your Area'... c'mon, the exact same track on two successive albums? What
> are we meant to think of that?
>
> Happily the track called 'Earth Calling' turns out to be a completely new
> song, and would be a latterday HW classic if was a bit *longer*. But once
> the whole band get hold of this it should be a scorcher.
>
> What else? Well anyone who was at the Astoria will have heard the primal
> space riffage of the title track- excellent. There's a beautifully done
electro
> piece called 'Dreamers', and a great multi-layered guitar and synth
workout,
> 'You Burn Me Up'. There are also two trance-techno numbers- 'Sex Dreams',
> which I find a bit throwaway, and 'Do You Want This Body', which is
> brilliant- one of the most addictive beats you'll ever hear. Either of
these
> could be a club hit, and given their eye-catching titles may I suggest
they be
> released as a double A-side or similar and who knows we might get to see
> the Hawks back on TOTP!! There's a great sample at the start of 'Do You
> Want This Body' with a man desperately trying to communicate his vision..
> it sounds absolutely right for our Dave- sounds like it must be from a
movie-
> anyone know?
>
> Most of this album is instrumental, while the tracks with vocals tend to
> have a few lines repeated as a refrain. This works perfectly well but one
> can't help wondering if there is ongoing writer's block in the lyric
> department. There's even a track which is credited to Brock/Shakespeare
due
> to its use of the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy: now you can't get
a
> better lyricist than Big Bill but some original words *would* be nice,
even if
> they're not quite up to the Bard's standard!
>
> Final point is that I do find much of the filler forgivable when the album
is
> played straight through, as it sounds like a suite of electronic space
music
> and actually hangs together remarkably well as a whole.
>
> I suspect this album is intended as a showcase of a particular side of
> Brock/Hawkwind's music so let's hope new fans will be won over by it. But
if
> this is the aim, then get the techno stuff out on single NOW! With 12"
> remixes, sexy cover art and a lotta lotta hype!
> --
> Nick Medford