Search - Hawkwind :: Live Chronicles

In space, no one can hear you laugh

K. Swanson | Austin, TX United States | 05/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have all the 70s Hawkwind albums and just heard this for the first time, and must say that though it has less character than the old stuff, the playing is SO much tighter that it ends up being one of the most listenable HW records.



Moorcock's way over the top recitations make the "Chronicle" suitable cheesy, but the (typically phased, what's HW without phasing? Umm, boring?) and guitar-heavy jams make it come alive. Langton's lead guitar is mostly quite solid, compared to the earlier wankings of Brock etc, and all in all this is good humor on the headphones for pure space metal escape.



Too bad these guys didn't have a really good singer, or songwriter. Despite the hype, and their unique niche, they never once approach Floyd etc for true musicality. Still, it's good fun, comic book rock at its best, for what that's worth. Break out the incense and black lights!"

Great Live Album of the Hawks at their Most Theatrical

Fritz Gerlich | admin@audioetc.info | 12/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"******************Personnel

* Dave Brock - electric guitar, keyboards, vocals

* Huw Lloyd-Langton - electric guitar, vocals

* Harvey Bainbridge - keyboards, vocals

* Alan Davey - bass guitar, vocals

* Danny Thompson Jr - drums



with



* Michael Moorcock - vocals

* Tony Crerar - mime & dance

* Kris Tait - mime & dance, vocals

* Tim Pollard - mime



***************Technical Stuff

This is a really good sounding live recording, great work by the recording engineer at the gig. The 2009 remastering is a bit mixed. The first disc is first rate, great eq, zero 'loudness war' crap, and very smooth. The second disc suffers from some loudness war mastering: distortion, clipping, and compression; but not excessive amounts. The second disc is just good, not fantastic. Overall, I am very satisfied with the sound quality.



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

I prefer this set to the studio version, "Chronicles of the Black Sword". I found that on the studio version there wasn't any real connection between the players, everything seemed bolted together like Frankenstein. The live version is much more natural, and the playing is more cohesive. This recording happened on the last night of the tour, which goes a long way in explaining how tight and locked in the band was on that night. They knew the songs and each other by then. Also the live aspect stripped off some of the studio excesses, and gave us a rawer version.



The essential nature of the music hasn't changed from the studio predecessor though. It is still pretty basic 80's pop metal with moments of ambient psych. But it just seems to work better in this version.



The bonus material comprises a whole disc. The original gig had to be cut down to fit onto 2 LPs, so there was lots of extra material left over. In fact, I don't really consider it bonus material, it is just the rest of the concert. The second dic is just as good as the first, and I'm glad that Atomhenge gave us the full gig.



There is a dvd of the gig (not part of this set) which is also worth watching. It is pretty much a Spinal Tap production, more comic than spooky. But it is fun to see the goofy visuals and stuff."