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"...Look Into Your Mind's Eye..."
When you look up the
Wikipedia entry for Hawkwind's hastily put together self-titled debut album (issued August 1970 in
Blighty on Liberty Records and early 1971 in the USA on United Artists) – you
won't be too shocked to find its three genre-references are Space Rock,
Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Rock. But what's this - a fourth reference as Folk Rock?
Folk Rock on a Hawkwind album!!!
The reason for this is that principal songwriter, singer
and lead guitarist Dave Brock had been busking for years and both the Side 1
and Side 2 tracks – "Hurry On Sundown" and "Mirror Of Illusion" are more
souped-up McGuinness Flint vs. Lindisfarne than the mad bad nudie-dancing Hawk Lords we all know and head-bang too. Both of those overtly Folk-Rock moments with their 12-String Acoustic, Harmonica and shuffling
drum patterns have more in common with British Bands like Cochise, Help Yourself and
even The Incredible String Band - all of whom Hawkwind toured with back in those early formation days
(posters of those gigs litter the pages of the 12-page booklet). The rest of the tunes on "Hawkwind" have Space Rock leanings - so the LP is actually a tale of two genre cities.
But that is where my affection for it ends. I must admit straight out, the "Hawkwind" LP has never been a fave-rave of mine. Over the years there has
been much revision of this debut record that outside of those Brock songs already
mentioned, I felt was mostly rubbish. You see (and I suspect this is the same
for many teenagers like me) – I came to Hawkwind via their far-better second
album "X In Search Of Space" which I dug big time in late 1971. And so when I
backtracked to the debut of 1970, I was sorely unimpressed and on the
strength of the album as a stand-alone item – I remain so.
But this August 2001 CD Remaster
(itself a jewel case reissue of the EMI Premier HAWKS 1 digipak packaging version
released March 1996) has the same four 1969-recorded Bonus Tracks that elevated
things considerably (three by Hawkwind Zoo and one by Dave Brock).
To the mind's eye details...
UK released August 2001 – "Hawkwind"
by HAWKWIND on Parlophone 530 0282 (also Parlophone 7243 5 30028 2 4 - Barcode 724353002824)
is and Expanded Edition CD Reissue and Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks and
plays out as follows (57:51 minutes):
1. Hurry On Sundown [Side 1]
2. The Reason Is?
3. Be Yourself
4. Paranoia (Part 1)
5. Paranoia (Part 2) [Side 2]
6. Seeing It As You Really Are
7. Mirror Of Illusion
Tracks 1 to 7 are their debut album "Hawkwind" - released 14 August 1970 in the UK on Liberty Records LBS 83348 and early 1971 in the USA on United Artists UAS 5519. Produced by DICK TAYLOR (Guitarist with The Pretty Things) and HAWKWIND - it didn't chart in either country. All songs written by Dave Brock and Hawkwind.
BONUS TRACKS:
8. Bring It On Home (3:16 minutes) by DAVE BROCK
9. Hurry On Sundown (5:02 minutes) by HAWKWIND ZOO
10. Kiss Of The Velvet Whip (5:25 minutes) by HAWKWIND ZOO
11. Cymbaline (4:04 minutes) by HAWKWIND ZOO
Tracks 8 to 11 are 1969 recordings Produced by Don Paul. "Bring It On Home" is a cover version of the Willie Dixon Chess Records classic made famous by Sonny Boy Williamson initially and subsequently by Led Zeppelin on their October 1969 "Led Zeppelin II" LP. "Cymbaline" is a Roger Waters cover version that first appeared on the June 1969 Pink Floyd Soundtrack LP to "More". The other two are Dave Brock songs.
It's hardly surprising that Liberty Records chose the two Acoustic-Based songs on the LP - "Hurry On Sundown" b/w "Mirror Of Illusion" - edited them down in both cases as issued them as pre-LP taster 45-single - Liberty LBF 15832 turning up 31 July 1970 - only a couple of weeks before the LP. The 7" single did nothing and is a notoriously hard to find 45 - shame really that EMI didn't take the chance to add both the edits to this 2001 reissue (there was room) - but alas. The 12-page booklet too mimics the foldout liner notes and digipak version 1996 with nothing new. It does have those lovely repro concert posters, reprint of a press release re the debut, original and reissue credit details etc.
The PETER MEW and PAUL COBBOLD Remasters done at Abbey Road are from original tapes - also carried over from 1996. This CD (with its tasty Hawkwind black and silver logo pictured) has real balls and sounds great. I'm impressed at the audio on the extras - they're very clean. But I'd have to say that even though it's longer in the Bonus form, the shorter better-produced album cut of "Hurry On Sundown" is real deal. Those two new cover versions are fascinating though - the first in the Jug Band R&B Tradition of say "Hurry On Sundown" whilst the second "Cymbaline" shows the direction the band was really going in - let's get weird baby.
Track 2 on Side 1 "The Reason Is?" (3:30 minutes) begins the Space Rock journey, but it's a noodle that goes nowhere and kinda fills up groove time. The 8:01 minutes of "Be Yourself" that follows does at least have more meat on it and descends into experimental soundscapes that at the time seemed kind of revolutionary if not a tad unlistenable. The silly one-minute Side 1 finisher "Paranoia (Part 1)" irritates too only to segue way into four-minutes of "...Part 2" with more of the same. We then get the second Space Rock beast on the record, Side 2's near eleven-minute "Seeing it As You Really Are" and you can so hear them finding that sound. Hawkwind's debut ends on seven-minutes of the Acoustic-driven "Mirror Of Illusion" - a genuine highlight for me on a poor listen overall.
I would be wary of 'forgotten masterpiece' and 'best album we ever did' revisionism when it comes to this starter for Hawkwind - to my ears it's patchy and was a way into the next stage where Robert Calvert joined and they took off. But as a Remaster and with those quality Bonuses - worth a poke in your third eye...
