Search - Hawkwind :: Church of Hawkwind

Hawkwind - 'Church Of Hawkwind' (Griffin Music)

Mike Reed | USA | 12/21/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Very decent fifteen track disc.Twelve of these tunes were originally released in 1982 and were slated to be a Dave Brock solo release.Guess he changed his mind.There are three brand new tracks on here,"Indentimate","Damage Of Life"(the band sometimes still play this number on tour),and the somewhat mesmerizing "Mists Of Meridin".Even though Brock is the only original member on 'Church Of...',it's still very much in the Hawkwind vein.Trippin' compositions would be the nicely flowing "Nuclear Drive","Fall Of Earth City"(cool song title,eh?),and "Experience With Destiny".The complex and the well-timed synth sounds are STILL very much intact.A very good progressive/space later day release."

Total Head Trip

Taiphoon | San Jose, CA | 08/01/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wanna go to Cloud #9 ? Put on the head phones or tune in during quite time, an influence is not needed ( doesn't hurt eh eh ) . TOO COOL ! Been sent to Cloud #9 under influence and same Cloud with out influence ( weird man ! really cool ! ). Bottom line , wanna Space Out ?"

What the...?!?!?!

Fritz Gerlich | admin@audioetc.info | 12/20/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Personnel



* Dave Brock - electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals

* Huw Lloyd-Langton - electric guitar, vocals

* Harvey Bainbridge - bass guitar, keyboards, vocals]

* Martin Griffin- drums



with



* Marc Sperhawk - bass guitar

* Capt Al Bodi - drums

* Alan Davey - bass guitar

* Richard Chadwick - drums

* Kris Tait (Madam X) - crying





*************Technical stuff

I have the 1994 Griffin release. The sound is very respectable. The mix is suitable for headphone listening. The recording is crisp and clean. The mastering is very good; with a good eq and no loudness war issues.



*************The Music

The first thing about this cd release to note is that 3 tracks were recorded in the 1990s and then inserted into what was side 2 in the middle. I am not a big fan of bonus tracks usually, and I never like them to be sequenced within the original work. And they really don't add anything to the album. They are tracks 7, 9, and 11.



This album isn't like any previous Hawk album. First, it is about 85% synthesizer. The compositions are poor, even when comparing them just to other early 80's electronic music. It is almost as if Brock was experimenting with electronics, and then fashioned his work into songs. Also, the sound is very dated. Some people will find it extremely cheesey, almost comical. I should also mention the lyrics, singing and voice overs are terrible. Hawkind also plagiarizes themselves as "Experiment With Destiny" is virtually the same song as "Virgin of the World" from the poor "Sonic Attack" album.



I really don't know why this mess was released.



The band was in desperate need of a lyricist/vocalist, and a electronics/syth guy. Hawkwind seems to work best when it is a collaborative effort.







*************Summary

I would characterize the songs as cheesy early 80's syth putzing by someone playing with his new synthesizers. It is only for completists.

"