Hawkwind - 'Complete '79' (Voiceprint) 2-CD import
Mike Reed | USA | 12/07/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Very worthwhile 2-CD release of the band's UK tour recorded sometime in November,1979.Starts off "Shot Down In The Night" and "Motorway City",neither have ever been my favorite,but I liked these live versions.Perhaps because of the 'new' life synth-wiz Tim Blake(ex-Gong member)provides.Also good to hear are "Spirit Of The Age","Urban Guerilla","Lighthouse" and "PXR 5" again.I've completely forgot about "World Of Tiers" as I haven't heard it in awhile now.A couple of tunes I wasn't at all familiar with were "New Jerusalem" and "Satellite"(short,but one of the better cuts of the entire show).Of course,there are a few Hawkwind staples present,like "Brainstorm"(shouldn't be played without Nik Turner),"Master Of The Universe" and a superb performance of "Silver Machine".Kind of caught off guard by the encore number,a great aural assault of "Levitation".Plenty of swirling synth/keyboard action really seems to make this gig pull together.A lot better than their 'Live 79' release.Line-up:Dave Brock,drummer Simon King(he left after this tour),Tim Blake,Harvey Bainbridge and original HW guitarist Huw Lloyd Langton.Includes nice full color booklet with very creative illustrations of the band members and their personal bio.Total of fourteen songs,a must-have for all true Hawkfans."
Believe in happydogpotatohead - he knows his onions(!?)
Peter F. Chambers | Herts, UK | 06/03/2003
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Sadly, I can only echo and endorse happydogpotatohead's comments. I saw the band several times during '79 and the quality of this recording undermines some of my fondest memories of them.
There are portions that sound as if you're listening from another room entirely and others with your head stuck in a bass bin. If I remember correctly, these shows were recorded while the Hawks were out of contract, having left Charisma, and they self-recorded these shows and hawked(!) the tapes around until Bronze picked them up - so maybe Bronze cherry-picked the best for 'Live '79'. For the record 'Satellite' is 'The Phenomenon of Luminosity' from 'Church Of Hawkwind'.
Whereas 'Live '79' is very good this is poor - sometimes less is more! A tragedy and a crying shame."
Very bootleg sound, OK performances, for collectors only.
happydogpotatohead | New Orleans, LA USA | 08/30/2001
(2 out of 5 stars)
"This was a terrible letdown. I had always hoped for a more complete document than "Live 79," but this is NOT it. This is an audience recording, in mono, that sounds like it was done on a cassette. A decent cassette recorder, mind you, but still cassette quality. The highs are distorted, when they're there at all, the lows are boomy, and the whole recording sounds muddy. The performances here are not quite as energetic as the ones on "Live '79," although they are adequate. There are more of Tim Blake's synth pieces here than on "Live '79," which would be a great thing, if the recording wasn't so awful. It's a shame that the recording is so lo-fi, because if you can manage to bear with the many, many flaws in the recording, there is some good stuff here; it's just impossible for me to get through the sludgy recording quality. With all the programs out there that are available to fix and enhance recordings like this, there is really no excuse for this to sound as bad as it does. Somebody was just too lazy to fix it properly. Overall, this is definitely one for collectors only or obsessive completists. The only thing to recommend buying it is if you want an approximation of how Tim Blake sounded with the band, and even then "Live '79" is a better document than this. Maybe one day we'll get a good, complete live show with Tim Blake, with good sound. This, however, isn't it. A shame, really."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1