HW: the new compilation

[Doug Pearson]

Nobody seems to have mentioned it on-list yet, so here's some info /
opinions ...

Hawkwind - 'Masters of Rock' CD EMI 5377652

A compilation covering the UA era, culled entirely from the EMI remasters
except for two more recent bonus tracks.  Interestingly, this seems to be
a "replacement" for the 'Masters of the Universe' compilation - it includes
5 out of 6 cuts from that one (only "It's So Easy" is omitted), plus 3 cuts
from the 'Roadhawks' compilation ("Hurry on Sundown", "Silver
Machine", "Urban Guerilla" ... it would have been nice to have the edited
version of "Paranoia" (parts 1 & 2) and the "Space Is Deep"/"Wind of
Change"/"Golden Void" medley from that comp on CD ... oh well ...).  The
other UA-era tracks are "Mirror of Illusion", "Lord of Light" (single
version), and "Paradox".  Nothing from 'Warrior' (and only two songs from
HotMG).

Of the new tracks, the first is mis-titled AND mis-credited!  Although the
title is "Love in Space", you only get one verse and one chorus from that
song, followed by four minutes of Capt. Rizz doing "Rat Race" (which fades
out before the transition back to "Love in Space").  And then the
songwriting credit reads "Davey" (since this is a live version from 1997,
Alan/Ali doesn't even play on it)!  Pretty un-essential if you already
have 'In Your Area' or 'Hawkwind 1997'.  "Lighthouse", from last October's
Royal Festival Hall show, is actually fairly different from the 'Yule
Ritual' version (in more than just the different lead guitarist).  Pretty
good, as long as you can tolerate Tim's vocals (of course).

So now we get to the fun part of the review - savaging the liner notes!
While the sentiment of the notes (basically, "Dave Brock wants you to open
your mind") is entirely worthy, the usual amusing inaccuracies are
present.  Although there are no track credits, the notes list the musicians
as Brock / Lloyd-Langton / Turner / Lemmy / DikMik / House / Dettmar / King
& Calvert ... even though Huw & Simon House each appear on only 3 tracks
(same as Terry Ollis, who isn't mentioned), one of which is the
new "Lighthouse".  More amusingly, the notes list some quotes "from Dave
Brock" supporting the "open your mind" thesis ... the only problem is that
the quotes are from "Coded Languages" (lyrics by Moorcock)
and "Aerospaceage Inferno" (lyrics by Calvert) - neither one a Brock
composition (not even the music).  And even though the lyrics to "Urban
Guerilla" are (unfortunately) as topical as they ever were, I'm not really
sure that that's something you'd want to brag about (especially when plenty
of Dave's & Bob's other songs are still equally topical) ...

... and did Hawkwind REALLY play for five hours at Stonehenge in 1977 (at
which the summer solstice is the LONGEST day of the year, not the
shortest)?!?

VERDICT: As good an introductory compilation as any (unless you want a
career-spanning one, in which case 'Epoch Eclipse' would be the right
purchase).  But of little use to fans unless you're a hardkore kollektor,
or you just gotta have the new version of "Lighthouse".  And the credit for
the two new songs is very telling ...

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com