HW: EMI Reissues

[B. Vaughan]

On the characterization of the Hawkwind albums you mentioned, I can say I agree with them regarding "Astounding Sounds", "Quark", & "Hawklords". I used to have those 3 on vinyl a long time ago. With "Warrior" & "PXR5", I can't say because I've never heard all the contents of those albums, but I'm hoping to cure that malady oneday.....

Cheers,
             Brian

             http://totm.iuma.com/

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Assuming that 'Warrior' & the Charisma albums are going to be reissued on
CD, and assuming that those CD's will be "remastered" (as opposed to the
Virgin issues, which sound to my ears like straight transfers from some
generation of master tape to digital through crappy 1980's-technology
converters), I hope that the mastering is done by someone with good ears,
who understands the strengths and weaknesses of Hawkwind's music
(especially as it relates to those five albums, which display a
*considerable* evolution of sound, and each have their own individual
strengths and weaknesses - to use a bunch of cliches, my ideal mastering
foci for each album would be: 'Warrior' - "powerful"; 'Astounding Sounds' -
 "lush"; 'Quark' - "warm"; 'Hawklords' - "clean"; 'PXR5' - hmmmm ... that
one's tough since there's no consistent overall sound to it because of the
different sources [studio vs. live vs. demo], the way there is for the
other four - making it sound consistent will be work enough for the
mastering engineer), and who *doesn't* make them sound like every other
rock release circa 2003 (the only thing worse than a "dated" recording is
a "dated" mastering job that doesn't fit the original recording!).



(I'd be very curious to hear if anyone particularly agreed or disagreed
with my rough characterization of those four albums.)



    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com


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