Fw: Re: HW: Hawkwind Remix Project

[ANDREW GARIBALDI]

Below you will find my old review of what was then the full album - as you
will see, certain things are missing from the album you have before you now.
The music on the 'original' as far as I know is the same as on the CD
although I've not yet heard the CD (just not got around to it - too much
else out there!!!).
Hope this helps.
Andy Garibaldi.


HAWKWIND: Bass Ritual - The Original Masters Of The Universe Remixed
CD£13.49        Offer price to release date (30th August) £12.49
This is NOT a dance album........
Snappy title, huh? Yes, folks, it's remix album time again, and whereas the
"Ritual Of The Solstice" album went all dance oriented, this is a whole
different ball game, so don't prejudge and read on. The first track is
Future
Loop Foundation remixing 'Golden Void' and this starts the album with a
complete success, as they take a portion of Brock's vocal and underlying
synth work, add more synths, give it a solid but not bombastic drum and bass
rhythm layer and keep the whole thing alive with the spirit of Hawkwind,
while producing something that's not actualy space-rock. Next up is 2nd Gen
with their take on 'Space Is Deep' and here, if there is anything left of
the actual Hawkwind track, I can't hear it because it is buried under a
gigantic layer of noise-space electronics that assault the senses - space
was never thsi scary (or was it?). Then John Avery effectively 'does' 'Sonic
Attack' and produces a really neat version of it by going for the opposite
efect from Calvert as a calm female, almost robotic, voice enunciates the
lyrics over a calming sea of electronics and  stuff, yet all quite eerie in
its own little way and I really enjoyed this take on an old favourite. DJ
Speedranch weighs into 'Brainstorm' and you can just about hear something
from the original track, again buried under tons of musical rubble as masses
of coruscating electronics attack the senses and mid-way through, you can
hear the bass line trying to emerge from the gloom, but failing, as the
electronics continue their relentless path., the surprise ending being quite
novel. Then Hawkwind themselves do a remix of 'Earth Calling'  and turn it
into a really fantastic instrumental with some scorching electric guitar
work from Brock over solid mid-paced sequencers and synths plus el drums
while the music is further enhanced with samples, guitars that slide about
all over the place, heavenly choirs, before the track soars to even greater
heights  with the introduction of Brock's vocals, mulit-tracked, over the
sea of guitars, synths and drums, all still slow-mid paced, eventually
fading to an end on layers of slow synth rhythms and percussion, but with
space whooshes all the way along. Next up, we have avant-guitarist/composer
James Plotkin remixing 'Born To Go' and here he initially keps the tinkling
synth/perc intro and piles on top a load of crackling effects, synth
swooshes that have a disturbing panoramic effect, tumbling drum rhythms, and
then it goes into a vocoded voice that yellls out, before even heavier
electronic soundscapes of a deep and dark space nature combine with the
emerging main intro of the actual song and the two components are mixed
together to produce a really amazing effect as the bass and electric guitar
come roaring in on their own only to have the whole thoing enhanced to
magnificent extent by Plotkin's huge wedges of dense electronic squall, and
then the track abruptly ends just as it was threatening to explode in your
face. Now the next one should be 'Down Through The Night' but on the
pre-release tape they gave me, I'v gone into 'Levitation', here remixed by
Scalper MIB, so I can report that they really do a great job on this by
taking a Brock vocal refrain of 'Your Captain Is Dead' and using this as a
phrase that crops up throughout the track, while the actual mixer takes the
song intact, slow it down and give it a brooding industrial treatment with
vocals low in the mix while a swirl of electric and electronic
instruments/percussion provide a thickly textured but juggernaut-like
backing, all making for a unique if short-ish take on a great track, that
really works. Ah, now we get 'Down Through The Night' in the hands of Flex
13 who add even more guitars to the main body of the song of which you can
hear the central bass and guitar riifs plus snatches of vocals as the track
becomes full of guitar squalls and dense fogbanks of electronics that take
on a feedback-ridden nature as the Hawkwind portion of the track fade away
to leave just a classic Hawkwind-style sea of synth space whooses and drifts
that you imagine are going to erupt into an actual Hawkwind track at any
minute, and a superb sonic section that wouldn't have sounded out of place
on the "Space Ritual" album.
The inimitably named Stock Hausen and Waterman take on 'Orgone Accumulator'
and you won't believe what they've done to this. They've accelerated the
vocal refrain and that's about all that's left of the song as they unleash a
cupboard full of electronics, effects, electronic rhythms, bonging bell-like
sounds, percussive rustlings and create a most bizarre musical landscape
that approaches the caustic, is just on the right side of noise-fest and,
inexplicably, at odd intervals suddenly turn the song's riff into a sort of
heavy-noise salsa, then stops and moves back to the main features of the
mix. This one will really do yuor head in, for sure.OK, we're onto the final
two. First up Richard Chadwick (Hawkwind) takes on 'Silver Machine', here
renaming
it 'Silver Kachina', and, like the first track, gives it a drum and bass
style rhythm, only then to add more layers of electronics and samples to
steer the track away from a '90's angle and into a sort of swirling space
music trip with rattling rhythms, pounding bass and scorching electronic
riffs, with snatches of the song welling up from the depths on occasions, as
finally it lurches back into the main percussive rhythm sounding like a
space-rock version of Can, only entirely electronic, the end result being
nothing like the main track but a splendid instrumental remix that has a
life of its own and is, for me a really great track, although this is,
funnily enough, the nearest thing to a 'modern' dance-influenced track on
the album. To finish the album, it's Wire's Colin Newman versus 'Masters Of
The Univese' and this is just the most incredible track on the whole album
as he literally leaves the original track completely intact, decelerates the
vocal slightly but keeps the correct pace of the song intact. The really
incredible thing is that he takes the main guitar riff and MAKES IT LOUDER
and enhances its strength so that you what is essentially a new version of
the classic track with drums and bass at the bottom, but the top section
driving along on the most enormous sea of guitars and electronics that
yopu've ever heard, the rezult being so much more than any remix and a
version that will just blow you away, and a fine, if slightly too short, end
to a smoking album.
Overall, this is a winner from start to finish and I think any open-minded
Hawk fans will get a lot out of this, particularly with it maintaining the
spirit of the band throughout and keeping the emphasis on guitars and
electronic soundscapes. I was pleasntly surprised, will play this often and
I can recommend it wholeheartedly.

----- Original Message -----
From: "bedroom trancer" <colm1 at MINISTRYOFSOUND.NET>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 11:36 PM
Subject: Fw: Re: HW: Hawkwind Remix Project


> yeah but is it exactlly the same as the bass ritual album??
> As in has it the same tracks, mixes etc??
>
>
> colm
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: ANDREW GARIBALDI <andygee at DIAL.PIPEX.COM>
> >To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
> >Date: 15 January 2001 19:26
> >Subject: Re: HW: Hawkwind Remix Project
> >
> >
> >>Sadly this is one of those cases where I am unable to tell the full
story,