Product Reviews
Hawkwind founder David Brock has long been a meticulous documenter of his band's live output, often coordinating "official bootleg" releases. Beginning in the early '80s, Brock began the Weird Records imprint, releasing cassettes of Hawkwind rarities in limited quantities for interested fans. These tapes included live material as well as radio sessions, demos, and otherwise unreleased tracks, and circulated among the top ranks of Hawkwind superfans. Eventually these tapes saw CD release, doubling up volumes of the original 40-minute cassettes. The Weird Tapes, Vols. 3-4 collects live recordings from festival gigs in 1977 and 1978. The sound is rugged and full of inventive stereo panning moves. Hawkwind are in fine form on these dates, with Vol. 4 featuring lead singer Bob Calvert in one of his intermittent stints as the band's frontman. While the sound fidelity is definitely on the lower side of things, this window in is a must for fans. Highly Krautrock-informed vamps on "Spirit of the Age" and "Uncle Sam's on Mars" show the band in a seasoned stage of its live development. Straying from some of the more radical experimentation of its LPs, the band is locked in the groove, not searching through the cosmos as much as just a hard-working touring group dedicated to giving the people the best show possible. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi
Product Notes
Two CD set from the British Space Rockers, a combination of two cassette-only 'official bootleg' releases. The original copies, now deleted, command high prices on the collectors market. Hawk.