HW: Various...

[Keith Henderson]

Hi Folks...

Am chuffed to hear about the new album coming out soon.  And although it looks like two tracks are 'recycled,' I have to admit that I kinda like the new takes on old tracks bit that HW have been doing for a long time now.  And I think Sweet Obsession is a good choice for a full-band revamping; always liked that track.

I'm not sure about the idea of putting different 'Easter Eggs' on each version of the otherwise identical product.  Reminds me of Steve Wilson's ridiculous discography-fluffing activities, that kinda preys upon fan's willingness to buy redundant items.  I remember The Police and Led Zeppelin putting out multiple versions of their album covers (even hiding them in paper bags!), presumably for the same reason, and how stupid that was.  In the future, I think I will start to use (minimal) (legal) downloading as a solution to this.  For instance, I was *not* going to go out and buy the new bonus-track-laden issues for the entire backcatalog of Amon Duul II CD releases, after having collected the original CD releases years ago.  So I have purchased a dozen or so single tracks via iTunes for $.99 to fill in the gaps that I am missing, without spending any real money.  (Though in some cases, one random track from each album is NOT available for purchase through
 iTunes, and in some cases this is the one that you want!  What the hell?)  I am not going to allow myself to be held 'hostage' this way.

I don't know about the Atomhenge series.  I have none of it to date, largely because I don't have the money right now, but even so, perhaps in some cases I might be able to snag important bonus stuff as individual tracks in virtual form only (make my own hardcopies).  And the one or two from the new album that aren't on the main 2CD version.  We'll see.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
So, I've ordered my Hawkfest ticket, and booked my flight to Gatwick on the 25th of August.  Presumably it is a simple thing to get from there to Pompey and onto Isle of Wight via Luftkissenfahrzeug (trotz es voller Aale ist).

I will see you all there!

Also I will be at Burg Herzberg to see Hawkwind (and everyone else too, including Nektar etc.), and presume I will see Denis, Wilfried, Bernhard, et al.  Mike/Jill/Ian/Nick too?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Apparently, Hawkwind is mentioned on a recent issue of the Royal Mail, in conjunction with these classic album cover stamps.  ie., Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Clash etc.  Not on the main issues of the stamps or souvenir sheets, but something in particular called a "Prestige Booklet,"  which has many pages of graphics and text in addition to the stamps embedded in some pages.  (?)  I haven't seen it, but apparently when discussing Barney Bubbles in reference to designing artwork for rock bands, it mentions Hawkwind and Space Ritual.  It runs about 8 quid for one of these things - don't know if it's worth it for Kollektors or not...I report, you decide.

URL for an image of same (outer cover only, so I am not absolutely certain that this is the version with Hawkwind mentioned in it!  So buyer beware.)

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/shop?catId=9300091&pageType=Others&pageId=shp_prddetails&product=prod86670008&parentCategoryId=cat86150006&categoryId=cat86160006

Ciao zäme...Keith (State College PA)