HW: Hawkwind Onward

[Mike Montfort]

I'm curious and will check out if the Spotify stream sounds as, well compressed for want of a better word as the iTunes issue I bought.  The more I listen to this "album" the more I like the material and dislike the mix.  I'm hoping that once I pick up the actual cd I will find its just poor mp3 compression, but I'm not fully convinced.

I have a killer sound system in my car, and although a cd always sounds better than an mp3, unless I ripped it myself, I'm finding this release seems to peak out at much lower volume than most of my music.  And it sounds a bit mushy in my headphones as well.

I for one don't mind the "covers", this is a long standing tradition, and if you are going to give me a double cd length release, I just love it!  I would however have loved to hear more Dave and Richard.  This doesn't mean less Dibsey, I love his vocals too.

Mike

Sent from my iPad 2

On May 12, 2012, at 12:49 AM, Keith Henderson <khenders64 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> Hi Folks...
> 
> For those on Spotify, the album is now available to listen on demand.  (Spotify is free, if you're willing to put up with the annoying commercials every 10-15 minutes or so.)  There's no information about the tracks (songwriters, musicians, etc.), so I will just tell you what I hear without any detailed knowledge.
> 
> My immediate thoughts, track-by-track...
> 
> 1. Seasons (5:44)
> hard-rocking tune, one of Dibs' no doubt;  lots of tasty lead guitar work, good crunchy blanga rhythms, sounds as much like Litmus as Spacehead.  Good start.
> 
> 2. The Hills Have Ears (5:05)
> faster, rocking tune in two halves surrounding a long quiet passage, lots of synth layers, lead vocals by Richard I believe.  Not bad at all.
> 
> 3. Mind Cut (4:54)
> Holy crap!  This sounds nothing like Hawkwind.  Spiritualized has a brand new album out too ("Sweet Heart Sweet Light"), and I think this one belongs there instead.  Pierce does the occasional lullaby song, with thick warm orchestration, and this is along those lines.  Brock singing.  The replacement for Love In Space?  Well then, the perfect beer/bathroom break during live sets!
> 
> 4. System Check (1:06)
> A takeoff of the old Cockpit Check and/or Stacia's Countdown routine.
> 
> 5. Death Trap (3:31)
> Wait...didn't they already remake this track, back in the Ron/Jerry era?  Then why again?  Retains the punkish sound (rather bright and edgy), vocals heavily fX'ed/L-R faded....too loud in the left channel.  Not a good mix IMHO.  Different enough from the other two, but in no way better.
> 
> 6. Southern Cross (6:40)
> Instrumental Space-Ambient piece, very nice work here.  Not simple filler music, though lazy-paced.  Did Tim write this one?  Could be.  The background bass and percussion is well done too, could be real bass guitar and acoustic drums or synth./programmed, hard to tell (which is rare).  Synth-soloing sounds like Nik playing flute in the pyramids.  Some counter-lead guitar here and there.  Thumbs up!
> 
> 7. The Prophecy (4:14)
> A Brock tune, a bit of a demo-y feel to the recording, although the mix is decent enough.  Sounds like he's plagiarizing his own tune "Where Are They Now?" a bit.  Different lyrics tho'.  This song could have appeared on any HW album over the last 30 years and fit in.  Nothing we haven't heard before, but nice enough.
> 
> 8. Electric Tears (0:57)
> Segue music, synths with Brock lead guitar...fine enough
> 
> 9. The Drive By (4:39)
> extended intro with more lead gtr work, simple bassline/complex percussion, and warm synths...transitions into a funkier, technoish electronic jam (real bass guitar tho'), with some chant vocals (Richard?), maybe a Chadwick composition?  More guitar lead (Brock again?  Where's Niall on this album?)...just OK
> 
> 10. Computer Cowards (5:28)
> Punkier tune, with whispered/echoed vocals.  Very sludgy/"unfinished" mix, like something from Distant Horizons.  Guess Dibs wrote this (?), but sounds like a Ron tune.  Star Cannibal-ish to a certain degree at the same time.  ("Good Evening" comes to mind too.)  Not too sure about this one...don't think it will grow on me much.
> 
> 11. Howling Moon (2:12)
> Two minutes of linking music of little note...noodly stuff.
> 
> 12. Right To Decide (6:33)
> Completely superfluous.  I understand the desire to re-record some stuff from the past, due to technological evolution and changing tastes in sound engineering (get rid of nasty '80s gated drums etc.).  But why this track?  Not appreciably different from the original.  Tim Blake key-tar soloing towards end is the lone noteworthy diff.  Even has a little less energy, drums sound a little thuddy.  Very poor choice to remake, and why so many remakes anyway?  Mask of Morning was brilliant.  How 'bout Sweet Mistress of Pain instead here?  Or hell, even Kings of Speed?  ...Or...
> 
> 13. Aero Space Age (5:54)
> This remake is much more significant, and is altered a great deal.  Richard's drumming contribution is interesting.  Layered, busy, kinda like Phetamine Street, but better production.  Dibs/Richard singing in harmony, I like this a lot, just as I loved the Brock/Chadwick singing on the Paradox remake.  Strong bass guitar playing from Dibs here, and he adds a new spoken word bit in the middle.  (Some gtr soloing in left channel, could this be Niall playing?  Still sounds Brockian.)  Very nice.
> 
> 14. The Flowering Of The Rose (8:25)
> Oddly faded in, like it's edited from a (much) longer recording.  In fact, this sounds for all the world like a studio jam session doing an instrumental Damnation Alley, and they just cut off the first stanzas, and just started in at the long jam part.  'Cause it absolutely *IS* Damnation Alley at the very end.  This is the kind of track just laying around that went on any number of F&R or Zones-type albums in the 80s.  New, but not new, and with a new title.  Circles, The Island, whatever.  That said, I like it.  Great HW-jamming.  Tim (and Niall too?) on various keys and I think some Theremin.
> 
> 15. Trans Air Trucking (2:40)
> Interesting experimental all-electronic march-style number.  Synth bass here for sure.  Lots of layers and cool rhythms.  Something that is pure Hawkwind, but not like any previous HW number.  Too short, sadly.
> 
> 16. Deep Vents (0:33)
> bit of synth linking music...
> 
> 17. Green Finned Demon (5:25)
> This is a "new" album, is it not?  Well, OK, GFD was a solo Brock piece before, but they've done live recordings of this to already make it a true HW piece.  More thickly orchestrated here, lyrics (Brock again, natch) sung in the same style, similar slow pace.  More developed bassline by Dibs.  Lots of gurgly synths.  Melodic lead gtr that is appropriate.  I like it, but I already liked this song as it was!
> 
> plus Untitled bonus (?) track*, which I'll call
> 18. Of Flesh And Blood (?) (7:56)
> An original brand new track (by Dibs probably), pure HW blanga space rock, lyrics semi-spoken.  Strong bassline, simple crunchy guitar rhythm, with a long middle slow-dubby section with more spoken word bits (Brock now? echoed).  Title could be anything, but one phrase is prominent and repeated "Of Flesh And Blood, We Two/Too Are One."  This could be the best new rock song on the album, why the hell is it a bonus/afterthought?!
> 
> *this takes the Spotify version past the 80 minute mark, so it can't be on a single CD this way (2xLP could have all 18 tracks, for sure)
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> General impressions:
> 
> "Onward" comes across quite similarly to Blood Of The Earth.  The sound of the album, variety of styles, production, new tunes, and PLETHORA of remakes (self-tributes?) are all retained.  Inside "Onward" is a really good 40-minute album of new material.  And then there is the other 40 minutes of stuff that would have been better suited to putting on a second CD for a ltd ed. release for fans.  Like Blood of the Earth was on 2 CDs (at least my box version...can't remember what the one CD version was like).
> 
> The Scorpions just released a "new" CD that was all covers, many of which were remakes of their own songs, mostly the 80s stuff that all sounded like crap because of horrible 80s production.  Miserable gated drums again.  So I can understand why a band would do such a thing, esp. a band that is now effectively retired and won't have the chance to 'repair' that material again.  HW could do that with Black Sword (which I think sounds fucking terrible in 2012) - same with Xenon Codex.  Maybe the Atomhenge versions (which I haven't heard) address some of the problems of the mid-80s studio abuses, I dunno.  But reimagining that mat'l today might be a better idea than some of the songs that they *are* choosing to rehash.  Though I don't really like the songs of Black Sword much to begin with (1000 Tears was the best, and the 6/8 bit of Elric was decent enough).  And the whole thing was a bit hokey, and probably belongs best left in its own time.  But I digress.
> 
> Anyway, Onward has some really interesting bits on it that lead me to believe that the band is hardly on its last legs.  Which is fucking amazing, because I remember boc-l in the year 1994, when the half the discussion here (and there was a LOT more discussion) was how the next Hawkwind tour was likely to be the last, since Dave was probably going to retire.  Which is why I went to seven gigs in 10 days back in 1995, because I was certain I would *NEVER* see the band live again after that.  And it is SEVENTEEN years later now, and here we are with a brand new album.  And it isn't terrible!  :)  And with the exception of one track (3), it all sounds like Hawkwind.
> 
> There's new blood in the band (again), making major contributions.  Though I have to say...I can't really hear much of any "voice" appearing on this album from Niall.  For all I can tell, he could just as easily not be on it at all.  I don't have any liner notes to look at, so I can't listen for him on certain tracks or know who wrote what.  But that seems odd to me.  There's plenty of nice guitar work on here too BTW, for those of you who also remember the years-long boc-l "whinging" spree on TOO LITTLE GUITAR FROM DAVE!  You'll be pleased I think...he's hardly sitting this one out.
> 
> I'm interested to see what new tracks will appear live this spring/summer on stage.  There are a couple here that would make good ones.  I hope they choose wisely.  And hope of course, that maybe they'll return to the states again one day, as I am not European-based anymore.  :(
> 
> That's all for now...perhaps this will turn into a formal review soon, but probably not since I'm too goddamn lazy.
> 
> Keith
> 
> ObFreeCD-EP: Cayetana (Budapest) - Vulpecula (2010)
> http://www.last.fm/music/cayetana/Vulpecula+EP
> Like Korai Orom, but perhaps even better!  Get the two live tracks at Last.fm too.
> 
> NP: Hills (Sweden) - Master Sleeps ('11)