Search - Hawkwind :: Weird Tapes 3: Free Festivals

Excellent live Hawkwind

01/12/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This disc is essential for the first 4 songs alone: High Rise, Damnation alley>Uncle Sam's On Mars ("MacDonalds hamburgers, selling them in the red sands!"), Robot. Exciting versions of these tunes. Very Spacey playing. I can't think of another well played half-hour of live Hawkwind as this (not including "Space Ritual"...another story entirely). Excellent ensemble playing in this 1977 lineup. The sound quality is pretty good with decent separation of each instrument. I was actually surprised at how good the sound is. Throw in the beautiful cover art, and you have a Hawkwind CD that I can recommend highly."

A Strong Set of the Calvert Era for Fans

Eric DiStefano | 08/27/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most of Weird Tapes 3(first 5 tracks)is from the 1977 Calvert crew (Stonehenge '77). Though the Calvert era studio releases,"Astounding Sounds" through "PXR5" have a somewhat sanitized sound and are not compelling to me, there are many strong songs in these records. This set brings out the greatness of the songs played and are delivered with a bit harder and rawer edge than the studio versions and provides some good jamming. These tracks, 1-5, reveal an outstanding show and leave me to wonder, where is the rest of this show? Simon House's keyboard work has an extra nice touch and fits well with Brock's lead guitar moments. Calvert's vocals sound more a part of the music (incuding the jams) than other renditions where his vocals tend to dominate the sound and mood. Tracks 1-5 rank among the best Hawkwind live and warrant endless repeat. But there is a clear break with the last 3 tracks, a snippet of 1975 limbo period (Watchfied Festival, Aug '75, sans Calvert); these songs are truly what one might expect to find in a collection under the "Weird Tapes" moniker: "Circles," "I am the Eye," and a very brief "Slap it on the Table." They are forgetable save for the Hawkwind fan, which anyone reading this review is likely to be. All-in-all the CD still rates as an unlimited repeat like most Hawkwind albums. Get it."

The REAL Track List with Notes and Corrections

David Lord | Clemons, Iowa United States | 02/26/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Sorry I didn't like it as well as the other reviewers. I did like High Rise quite a bit and Circles was very good! It's great for laid back relaxation even if you don't normally like ambient music (which I don't). Anyway, my contribution won't be a praise or a pan, simply a much needed clarification. (When will Hawkwind hire an archivist to write their liner notes?)



Get out your pencils or flip open your laptop...



The first FIVE tracks listed are the first FOUR tracks on the CD, as Damnation Alley parts 1 & 2 are only one track, not 2. These tracks were recorded June 21, 1977 live at the Stonehenge Free Festival (w/Calvert, Brock, House, Shaw & King).



1. High Rise (5:37)

2. Damnation Alley (parts 1&2) (7:59)

3. Uncle Sam's On Mars / Iron Dream (unlisted) (6:32)

4. Robot (7:20)

5. Hash Cake '77 AKA Cake Out (4:43), also recorded June 21, 1977 is an unlisted track. This version has the intro cut off but can be found in full on The Hawkwind Anthology 1967-1982 [Castle 2CD].



The rest of the tracks are from the Watchfield Free Festival in August, 1975 w/ Brock, Rudolph, Dunkeley, Powell & again Nik Turner but minus Calvert)



6. Circles AKA The Fifth Second of Forever (4:28)

7. Elements (4:26) (Mislabeled as I Am The Eye (That Looks Within), a different track that is AKA 'Blue Skin' and found on many other collections).



This is an edit of the original live track with extra noises and lyrics overlaid. The original track is part of 'The Watchfield Festival', a long jam that starts with 'You Shouldn't Do That', includes 'Elements' (the different edit of which is here) and ends with the beginning only of 'Brainstorm', the conclusion of which seems to exist nowhere else. The full version of this is also on 'The Hawkwind Anthology 1967-1982' [Castle 2CD]



8. Slap It On Der Table (:50)



Credit where credit is due: "Damnation Alley" is (Calvert/Brock/House), not (Brock/Calvert). "Uncle Sam's on Mars" is (Brock/Calvert/House/King) and its credits are confused with: "Slap It On Der Tablee" (Brock/Rudolph/Turner/Dunkley/Powell)."