"Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" by EUGENE McDANIELS feat Miroslav Vitous and Alphonse Mouzon (2001 Label M 'Classic Albums' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Jagger The Dagger..."

Weird and wonderful and compared to what indeed! It's amazing now to think that this obscure, right-on, very American and at times 'difficult' Funk-Fusion LP from 1971 got issued in the UK at all. I mean who was buying Eugene McDaniels back then?

As one of the principal buyers in Reckless Records, London buying across the counter and visiting people's homes all over the city and elsewhere - I can recall maybe two occasions seeing this album in someone's collection - and I'm talking about buying vinyl LPs for nearly 20 years. The Voices Of East Harlem's "Right On" LP on Elektra Records from 1970 was/is the same (another hugely sought after piece from the time). "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" on (Plum Label) Atlantic Records 2400 163 must have sold jack on release.

But of course times change and across the 90s and 00s – a steady stream of Rare Groove CD compilations and Box Sets from the massive WEA Archives have seen Soul and Funk fans rediscover the pioneers, innovators and nutjobs of those halcyon years.

Nick-named 'Elephant Ears' by Mile Davis and Cannonball Adderley when he backed up their live shows in the Sixties - at the time of this second Atlantic Records album (“Outlaw” was his first for Atlantic and had been issued in 1970) – The Reverend Mc. D was most well known for writing "Compared To What" for fellow Atlantic Records Jazz Keyboard whizz and Vocalist Les McCann. McCann and Saxophonist Eddie Harris had charted their duel-credited "Swiss Movement" LP in December 1969 on Atlantic SD 1537 - seeing it and the funky "Compared To What" track peak at No. 2 on the US R&B LP charts. In fact going much further back - Gene McDaniels the Soul Boy had a career with Liberty Records in the first half of the Sixties where he worked his way through an impressive eight rapidly released LPs (1960 to 1963) including popular titles like "Tower Of Strength" and "100 Lbs of Clay!"

But then the mid to late Sixties happened and social change/revolution grabbed every African American artist by the short and curlies and suddenly the crooners of old were now storming, funking slices of anger and righteousness. Apparently on hearing the condemning and savage lyrics in the album's title track - even Richard Nixon's administration (itself embroiled in justifying the ludicrous and callous Vietnam War) reputedly called up Atlantic's Promotions department demanding to know what the Hell they were playing at? How could they and their 'uninformed' artist be so unpatriotic as to suggest in his lyrics that 'powers in the master game' saw Americans and The Vietnamese as the same - '...basically cannon fodder...' for the '...player who controls the board...' McDaniels was of course right and Nixon would go on to infamy for all manner of dodgy 'I'm not a crook' reasons.

Heady stuff indeed - deep lyrics in deep grooves - as the rather brilliant and insightful liner notes from $mall $hange inform us. And that’s where this fab little CD reissue from New York’s 'Label M' comes in – here are the dagger details...

US released 19 November 2001 - "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" by EUGENE McDANIELS on Label M 495733 (Barcode 644949573326) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster in their ‘Album Classics’ Series (manufactured by Rhino) that breaks down as follows (38:34 minutes):

1. The Lord Is Back [Side 1]

2. Jagger The Dagger

3. Lovin' Man

4. Headless Heroes

5. Susan Jane

6. Freedom Death Dance [Side 2]

7. Supermarket Blues

8. The Parasite (For Buffy)

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" - released May 1971 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 8281 and July 1971 in the UK on Atlantic Records 2400 163. Credited to EUGENE Mc DANIELS The Left Rev. Mc D - and Produced by JOEL DORN - it didn't chart in either country. All tracks are written by Eugene McDaniels with "The Lord Is Back" co-written with Dwight Singleton.

Musicians:

EUGENE McDANIELS – Vocals

CARLA CARGILL and THE WELFARE CITY CHOIR – Vocals

RICHIE RESNIKOFF – Guitars

HARRY WHITAKER – Piano

GARY KING – Electric Bass

MIROSLAV VITOUS – Acoustic Bass

ALPHONSE MOUZON – Drums

KEVIN CALABRO and $mall $hange produced the CD Reissue – a gatefold card digipak with see-through tray and a 12-page booklet. The liner notes are all typed in over-sized letters (a tad pretentious actually) - but the content and insight is superb. GENE PAUL and JENNIFER MUNSON did the Mastering at DB Plus Digital Services in New York and the Audio is fabulous - full of presence and oomph where needed. This really is a lovely sounding reissue.

The album opens with "The Lord Is Back" - telling us that the divine one is black, riding the subways in the rain and here to make a few corrections on our self-inflicted road to mass destruction. It's hard-hitting guitar funk feels like Sly Stone just had a baby with Funkadelic - those Mouzon drums whacking your speakers as McDaniels echoed-vocals warn and scorn (dig that slinky keyboard slide in too). Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones doing the Devil Dance comes in for some stick in "Jagger The Dagger" - Carlo Cargill duetting with the Mc D on vocals. The very cool rare groove of "Lovin' Man" turned up on a 1996 Japan-Only CD I had called "Free Soul River" - while the aforementioned political dynamite of "Headless Heroes" were found on the CD Compilation "Right On!" Volume 1 of Break Beats And Grooves From The Atlantic & Warner Vaults in 1999 and also on the stunning "What It Is!" Rhino 4CD Box Set in 2006. The Acoustic "Susan Jane" feels like the album's first ballad even if it is about a bum-wiggling, sugar-cane-eating hippy that likes to make love barefoot in the muddy road (yeah baby).

Keeping with mellow - the beautifully transferred shuffle of the Bass (Miroslav Vitous of Weather Report) and the Drums on "Freedom Death Dance" opens Side 2 with a winner. It's a fantastic groove that's both mellow and funky at the same time - and the lyrics wax lyrical about needing justice and equality and not more pointless political dancing from Capitol Hill types who don't care (lovely licks on the guitar too). Trading a can of peas for a lousy loaf of bread becomes an incident in "Supermarket Blues" where a cop joins in the fracas by threatening the man on the floor with some lead - while a white woman calls him a Communist (God damn!). The album ends with the near ten-minutes of "The Parasite (For Buffy)" - a tale of forked tongues and religion and liquor and guns screwing up the native Indian population. At times it feels like Gil Scott-Heron circa 1971's "Small Talk At 125th And Lennox" - letting rip on a subject that appals him. It over extends its welcome and goes musically mental in the last minute - like Zappa and the Mothers having a guitar wig out.

Hard in ways to categorise or pigeonhole - "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" is nevertheless a quietly magnificent album that thoroughly deserves its underground status. It's not all genius for sure and his vocal mannerisms I know can irritate some  - but man that good stuff.

And as I look at that dedication on the rear sleeve "...we have killed the very earth beneath our feet...yet we still kill each other and speak of the future..." - I think other words come to mind - like real, timely and right on...

"Dandelion Albums And BBC Collection" by BRIDGET ST. JOHN [feat John Martyn, Ric Sanders and John Peel] (2015 Cherry Red 4CD Box of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…The Lady And The Gentle Man…"

Despite its flaws - I'm already thinking this is an early contender for Reissue Of The Year, 2015.

UK folky Bridget St. John made three albums for John Peel's Dandelion Records while only in her early twenties with one further record on Chrysalis in 1974 ("Jumble Queen"). This gorgeous little 5" square box set from Cherry Red of the UK offers up those the three Dandelion albums - "Ask Me No Questions" (1969), "Songs For The Gentle Man" (1971) and "Thank You For..." (1972) - with "Ask" and "Thank You" in expanded form ("Song" is just the 12-track album). 

There's also a fourth 19-track CD called "Live At The BBC (1968-1972)" (released I believe in 2010) which is in rough shape in some places it has to be said. The studio albums also include John Martyn, Andy Roberts, members of Quiver, Fairport Convention and The Occasional Word Ensemble. The BBC disc has three Kevin Ayers live duets - albeit in very crude form...

Eagle-eyed collectors will notice that these three albums have already been reissued by Cherry Red Records in late 2005 (so those remasters are used here) and the BBC disc (copyrighted 2010) is new. Cherry Red has simply put the albums into three single card sleeve Repros covers (no gatefolds unfortunately but lovely to look at nonetheless) sided with the BBC live disc (itself in unique card artwork). They've all been given a fact-filled/picture-strewn 12-paged booklet to round it all off. It's a properly lovely thing to behold and especially to listen to. And a nice touch is that each of the CDs reflects the differing label designs on the original LPs for the period while the BBC CD looks like a Tape Box. Here are the Folky shaggy dog details...

UK released February 2015 (March 2015 in the USA) - "Dandelion Albums And BBC Collection" by BRIDGET ST. JOHN on Cherry Red CRCDMBOX17 (Barcode 5013929101708) is a 4CD Mini Box Set with Card Repro Sleeves & Booklet that breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 - "Ask Me No Questions" (51:52 minutes):

1. To B Without A Hitch

2. Autumn Lullaby

3. Curl Your Toes

4. Like Never Before

5. The Curious Crystals Of Unusual Purity

6. Barefoot And Hot Pavements

7. I Like To Be With You In The Sun [Side 2]

8. Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy

9. Hello Again (Of Course)

10. Many Happy Returns

11. Broken Faith

12. Ask Me No Questions

Tracks 1 to 12 are her debut album "Ask Me No Questions" - Produced by JOHN PEEL - it was released September 1969 in the UK on Dandelion Records S 63750 and in the USA on Elektra D9-101. John Martyn plays Second Guitar on both "Curl You Toes" and "Ask Me No Questions" - Ric Sanders of The Occasional Word Ensemble (and later Fairport Convention) plays Second Guitar on both "Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy" and "Many Happy Returns". All songs are Bridget St. John originals.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Suzanne

14. The Road Was Lonely

Track 13 is a non-album track cover version of the Leonard Cohen classic. It's the first B-side to "There's A Place I Know" - a 1972 UK 3-track Maxi 7" Single on Dandelion/Polydor 2001 280. The second B-side is "Passin' Thru" - both it and the A-side are bonus tracks on the "Thank You For..." expanded CD.

Track 14 is a non-album B-side to "Passin' Thru" - released 1973 in the UK as a 7" single on MCA Records MUS 1203

Disc 2 - "Songs For The Gentle Man" (36:13 minutes):

1. A Day A Way

2. City-Crazy

3. Early-Morning Song

4. Back To Stay

5. Seagull-Sunday

6. If You'd Been There

7. Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part 2 [Side 2]

8. Making Losing Better

9. The Lady And The Gentle Man

10. Downderry Daze

11. The Pebble And The Man

12. It Seems Very Strange

Tracks 1 to 12 are her second album "Songs For The Gentle Man" - Produced by RON GEESIN (of Pink Floyd fame) - it was released in the UK February 1971 on Dandelion Records S DAN 8007 and in the USA on Elektra EKS-74104. "Back To Stay" and "The Pebble And The Man" are John Martyn and Donovan cover versions respectively - "Seagull-Sunday" is co-written with Nigel Beresford - all other songs are Bridget St. John originals.

Disc 3 - "Thank You For..." (76:15 minutes):

1. Nice

2. Thank You For...

3. Lazarus

4. Good Baby Goodbye

5. Love Minus Zero, No Limit

6. Silver Coin

7. Happy day

8. Fly High

9. To Leave Your Cover

10. Every Day

11. A Song Is As Long As It Wants To Be

Tracks 1 to 11 are her 3rd album "Thank You For..." - Produced by JERRY BOYS - it was released June 1972 in the UK on Dandelion/Polydor 2310 193 (No US release). "Lazarus" is a Traditional arranged by St. John, "Goodbye Baby Goodbye" is written by Nick Beresford, "Love Minus Zero, No Limit" is a Bob Dylan cover, "Every Day" is a Buddy Holly cover, "Silver Coin" is written by Terry Hiscock of Hunter Muskett - all others are Bridget St. John originals.

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Passin' Thru

13. There's A Place I Know

14. Nice (Live)

15. Silver Coin (Live)

16. Fly High (Live)

17. Lazarus (Live)

18. The River (Live)

19. Thank You For... (Live)

20. Ask Me No Questions (Live)

21. If You've Got Money (Live)

Disc 4 - "Bridget St. John At The BBC/Live At The BBC (1968-1972)" (59:42 minutes):

NIGHT RIDE SESSION, recorded and broadcast 28 August 1968

1. To B Without A Hitch

2. Ask me No Questions

3. Many Happy Returns

4. Hello Again (Of Course)

5. Rochefort

6. Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy

TOP GEAR SESSION, recorded and broadcast 24 August 1969

7. The River

8. Song To Keep You Company

9. Night In The City

10. Lazarus

PETER SARSTEAD SESSION, 1969

11. Curl Your Toes

BOB HARRIS SESSION, recorded and broadcast 25 April 1972

12. Thank You For...

IN CONCERT, recorded 31 January 1972

13. Leaves Of Lime

14. City Crazy

15. The Pebble And The Man

16. Back To Stay

17. Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part Two

18. Jolie Madame

19. The Spider And The Fly

Musically - her gut-string guitar-picking sounds like Nick Drake on his debut "Five Leaves Left" and her voice is deep and dark like a more sombre version of Sandy Denny. Most of the arrangements are just St. John and her guitar - very quiet, pretty folk songs. The mood isn't dark either, more reflective than that - the songs often sound like the countryside although she's from a capitol city. If I were to nitpick, I'd say the lyrics are sometimes weighed down with too many hippy-dippy ponderings about nature and 'buttercup sandwiches' that may sound twee to some ears now...others, however, will feel they are very much part of the music's charm.

Two notable contributors on the debut are JOHN MARTYN on "Curl Your Toes" and the stunning album title track "Ask Me No Questions" where he plays second guitar on both (no vocals unfortunately). There's also second guitar from Ric Sanders on "Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy" and "Many Happy Returns" (on which he also plays some wonderful Bottleneck Guitar).

Highlights include the forgiving relationship song "Broken Faith" (lyrics are the title of this review), the sweet "Barefeet And Hot Pavements" and Martyn's subtle backing on "Curl Your Toes". But the best is kept until last - the near eight-minute folk work out that is the album's title track - "Ask Me No Questions". The song's lovely guitar refrain fades into bird song and bells about three minutes in - only to come back again to the lilting music to great effect. It's still moving - 40 years after the event.

Recorded in December 1970 - the second album was released in February 1971 and saw a massive improvement in Production values courtesy of Ron Geesin fresh from knob twiddling on Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" in 1970. It also saw St. John settle down into an English pastoral vibe that suited her and her plaintive songs completely. If you take a tune as simple as "If You'd Been There" which is just her voice and guitars - it's gorgeous - a beautifully delicate and simple song given the audio quality it deserves. The two-minute "Early-Morning Song" is the same - exquisite in its simplicity with cleverly treated guitar sounds swirling in and out of the mix (what a sweetheart of a tune). Her cover of John Martyn's "Back To Stay" (from his October 1967 "London Conversation" album on Island Records) is the same - beautifully soulful Folk in that Nick Drake English countryside/pastoral Nico kind of way. And the "ba rump pa bum bum" vocal gymnastics on the Donovan cover "The Pebble And The Man" by a group of choral singers is genius and a very clever reworking of the song.

Album three has a lot of outside musician involvement - her cover of Dylan's "Love Minus Zero, No Limit" features Tim Renwick of Quiver on Guitar with Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention on Drums. In fact Renwick along with other Quiver members - Bruce Thomas on Bass and Willie John Wilson on Drums - also turn up on the gorgeous "Happy Day" (an album highlight) and an ill-advised cover of Buddy Holly's "Every Day" that just doesn't work. Another absolute highlight is her very John Martyn influenced "To Leave Your Cover" which features Andy Roberts on String Organ. The mighty Scot (John Martyn) plays his trademark treated electric guitar on the single "Fly High" while the pretty piano on "Goodbaby Goodbye" makes for a nice change from the guitars (Electric Bass by Ian Whiteman). It ends on the short 1:11 minutes of "A Song Is As Long As It Wants To Go On" - her voice sounding like she's moved in permanently with Nico and family.

The live stuff on Disc 3 is excellent - introduced by a Frenchman trying his utmost to convince a meek Folk crowd (in both French and English intros) that they should listen up because our Bridget is Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell combined. But as she launches into an acoustic "Nice" and a delicate version of the Hunter Muskett song "Silver Coin" - she again sounds like a female Leonard Cohen (in a good way). The audio quality is uniformly superb throughout - real clarity on "Fly High" - and by the time she gets to the John Martyn cover of "The River" - she's won the day and the audience.

The BBC stuff is a very mixed bag indeed - not from a song-quality point of view - but from the audio front. The liner notes admit that the tapes have long since disappeared into history and the tracks are 'dubbed from best available sources'. In the case of "The Pebble And The Man" - if this is their 'best source' - I'd hate to hear a bad one. Covered in crackle and hiss - it resembles a passable bootleg at best. The first six are the same unfortunately and it's not until you get to "The River" (the Top Gear Session from 24 August 1969) do you get great sound quality. Her cover of Joni Mitchell's "Night In The City" is a definite highlight - lovely acoustic work and echoed vocals - eerily good. The rest of it is again merely bootleg and in the case of the final three - "Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part Two", "Jolie Madame" and "The Spider And The Fly" - which excitingly have KEVIN AYERS on duet vocals and guitars - they're barely listenable but included for historic reasons.

So there you have it - three superb albums (number two a stone masterpiece) - with nice extras - and a curio BBC disc tagged on for good measure. Despite the let down of those flawed transfers on Disc 4 - it still feels to me like a huge release and one that deserves your attention.

As lovely as English Folk gets - Bridget St. John is a discovery you want to make. Well done to all involved at Cherry Red for getting this out there...

"Tarkus: Deluxe Edition" by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (2016 Mastered BMG 2CD Set Reissue - With 2012 Steve Wilson/Andy Pearce & Matt Wortham Remixes/Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...A Time And A Place..."

Some fans have noticed that this reissue malarkey has gone a bit Donald Trump on ELP - spend, spend, spend – then blame someone else.

'Deluxe Edition' 2CD sets of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Island Records catalogue appeared in 2012 with Steve Wilson and Andy Pearce Remasters and Remixes galore. Those supposed 'definitive' issues were going to put out to pasture numerous reissues on Sanctuary that went before in the 80s through to the 00's.

Yet here we are again in July 2016 (itself reissued March 2017 too). But there's a subtle difference that I feel should be pointed out - the 2016 mastering fro both discs is new and just that bit sweeter in my less than humble opinion. These reissues sound utterly amazing – but let's get to the gun-totting armadillo details first...

UK released 27 July 2016 (reissued 1 March 2017) - "Tarkus: Deluxe Edition" by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER on BMG/Leadclass BMGCAT2CD2 (Barcode 4050538179996) is a 2CD Reissue containing both 2012 Versions by Steve Wilson and Andy Pearce with new 2016 Andy Pearce mastering and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 - "The Original 1971 Album (2012 Remaster)" - 38:42 minutes:

1. Tarkus [Side 1]

(i) Eruption

(ii) Stones Of Years

(iii) Iconoclast

(iv) Mass

(v) Manticore

(vi) Battlefield

(vii) Aquatarkus

2. Jeremy Bender [Side 2]

3. Bitches Crystal

4. The Only Way (Hymn)

5. Infinite Space (Conclusion)

6. A Time And A Place

7. Are You Ready Eddy?

Tracks 1 to 7 are their second studio album "Tarkus" - released June 1971 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9155 and June 1971 in the USA on Cotillion SD 9900. Produced by Greg Lake and Engineered by Eddy Offord - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 9 in the USA. 

Disc 2 - "The Alternate Album (2012 Steven Wilson Stereo Mixes)" - 50:47 minutes:

1. Tarkus [Side 1]

(i) Eruption

(ii) Stones Of Years

(iii) Iconoclast

(iv) Mass

(v) Manticore

(vi) Battlefield

(vii) Aquatarkus

2. Jeremy Bender [Side 2]

3. Bitches Crystal

4. The Only Way (Hymn)

5. Infinite Space (Conclusion)

6. A Time And A Place

7. Are You Ready Eddy?

8. Oh, My Father

9. Unknown Ballad

10. Mass (Alternate Take)

The 16-page booklet includes new 2016 interviews with all three musical prodigies – and just before Keith Emerson passed in March 2016 and then tragically – Greg Lake in December 2016. Well-known writer and musicologist CHRIS WELCH fills in the rest of the details – William Neal's amazing drawings of flying pterodactyls with guns, missile-bearing lizards and a scorpion-tailed Manticore (they'd adopt their record-label name from this track) - all of which are complimented by the Armadillo Tank with Propulsion Tracks out front. With the album's title 'Tarkus' spelt out in parched animal bones – the three musician names didn't even appear on original album covers. There's witty anecdotes about the no English Greek sandwich lady who kept interrupting sessions no matter what – so much so that her cries of 'am or cheese' to the band was left on the record ("Are You Ready Eddy?"). There's discussion on the organ at St. Mark's Church in Finchley that's featured on "The Only Way (Hymn)", the influence of Jazz Musicians Lenny Tristano and Dave Brubeck on Keith's playing and style - Greg coming up with the name (a possibly more vengeful Tarka The Otter). The inner gatefold artwork of the 1971 album is reproduced in the centre pages - but it's sloppily a Manticore reissue version and not the 1971 Island Records original.

The audio was done by Andy Pearce fro Disc 1 and Porcupine Tree's Steve Wilson for the Alternate Album on Disc 2 - but hey key here is that both have been mastered in 2016 by ANDY PEARCE for this reissue and I'd swear that his tweaking has made the transfers more substantial, clearer and given them less of a clinical sheen. I've never heard this Progressive Rock LP sound so good. Let's get to the music...

Side 1's 21-minute 7-part "Tarkus" Suite opens with a real dawn-of-man lead in - before exploding into wild keyboard stabs in 5/4 time. It soon settles into a prolonged solo - and when those staccato Moog and Drum jabs kick in at about eleven minutes - the remaster is huge. Lake gets his guitar parts towards the end and his 'let there be no sorrow...be no pain' lyrics. "Jeremy Bender" is a fictional London Spiv brought to life my Keith's barrelhouse piano and Greg's witty lyrics. Inspired by Dave Brubeck's "Count Down" - "Bitches Crystal" races along in 6/4 time - Lake singing of tortured spirits and ghostly images while Keith lashes into more alehouse piano. Bach's "Toccata In F Major" provides the inspiration for the churchy "The Only Way (Hymn)" which in itself segues into the funky Prog swing of "Infinite Space" - a piece of Piano Jazz inspired by Lennie Tristano. ELP get King Crimson heavy with the buttermilk cream of "A Time And A Place" before they bring it all to a finish with the rather silly and out-of-place cod Rock 'n' Roll of "Are You Ready Eddie?" (turn those faders down).

I wasn't expecting the "Oh, My Father" Bonus Track to be so good - four minutes of Greg Lake examining his relationship with his Dad - the words never spoken - no more time left to speak them. It's an Acoustic/Electric Guitar ballad - sad and beautiful and moving. Both it and the equally melodic "Maybe It's Just A Dream" simply don't fit in with the Pure Prog of the LP - but that doesn't step from being alarmingly pretty given the harsh iconoclast music that's preceded them. The harmony vocals and pretty piano playing will thrill ELP fans. There's a count-in to the Alternate of "Mass"  - section four of the seven-part "Tarkus" suite. It's really good - especially Keith's virtuoso playing and Palmer's skin-tight drumming - but you can also hear why the more lively finished version was chosen. 

"Tarkus" will not be everyone's favourite ELP album for damn sure (I prefer the first and "Trilogy") - and there are those who will dismiss it as very much of its 1971 Progressive Rock time. But it was a Number 1 for a reason. And fans are going to need this superb sounding version of it on CD. Another reissue I know – but this is the one worth buying...

"X In Search Of Space" [aka "In Search Of Space'] by HAWKWIND (August 2001 Parlophone 'Expanded Edition' CD with a 1996 Peter Mew Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...The Immaculate Void..." 

Mind-expanding riffage - altered states of consciousness – temptress dancing ample bosom overload (you go Stacia)... 

Oh yes folks - it can only be Hawkwind's second album "X In Search Of Space" - or as Pete Townshend and I know it nowadays - "In Search Of My Eardrums".

It's March 2017 - and as the sun beats down on the beardy environs of my aspirational address (I live in Walthamstow - cue smug grin and unwarranted touching of private parts) - I can still remember the visual and aural impact of this LP in the autumn of 1971 – closing on an astonishing 46 years back (where has the time gone Bob).

Hawkwind's most famous platter featuring the classic Dave Brock, Nik Turner and Bob Calvert line up arrived early October 1971 and sat rather uncomfortably beside John Lennon's "Imagine" - released that same week in the UK. Talk about musical differences. The only thing that connected them was perhaps all that clever packaging...it worked...I bought both. But before I did - an earful first...

I remember folding out the beautiful interlocking cover of "X In Search Of Space" in Pat Egan's Sound Cellar (in Dublin) with its United Artists LP inside and a strange looking mini comic book sat on top. I remember wondering at all the squared colour photos of six very hairy men (one or two with painted faces) and the intergalactic lyrics and the dancing blurred woman on the back with quite possible not a lot on (so hard now to find a vinyl original with the doors sleeve still intact nowadays). I also remember looking at 'The Hawkwind Log' Book - trying to make sense of its cosmic gobbledygook and strange black and white images of cartoon rockets to Andromeda, a Summer Solstice Stonehenge in silhouette, elliptical galaxies in Leo, third-eye hippies dancing around fields and sitting on tree trunks with a flute in their hands and a suspicious smile on their faces.

And what was all this karmic-knob about 'stellar worlds and microcosms of the absolute'. But then I remember something else - the needle hitting the groove for the sixteen-minute "You Shouldn't Do That" – the build up followed by that wall of guitars – that sound – that fantastic drone – almost a new variant of Kraut Rock. It was undeniably hooky and mesmerising. Space Rock (British style) had arrived in everyone’s lives.

Which brings us via Nebula Minor, Zodiac Major and Druggy Loads to this rather brill little CD reissue. Here are the Masters of the Universe...

UK released August 2001 - "X In Search Of Space" [aka "In Search Of Space"] by HAWKWIND on Parlophone 530 0302 (Barcode 724353003029) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD with Three Bonus Tracks (using a 1996 Remaster) that breaks down as follows (57:42 minutes):

1. You Shouldn't Do That [Side 1]

2. You Know You're Only Dreaming

3. Master Of The Universe [Side 2]

4. We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago

5. Adjust Me

6. Children Of The Sun

Tracks 1 to 6 are their second studio album "X In Search Of Space" - released October 1971 in the UK on United Artists UAG 29202 and April 1972 in the USA on United Artists UAS 5567. Produced by Hawkwind and George Chkiantz - it peaked at No 18 in the UK (didn't chart USA).

BONUS TRACKS:

7. Seven By Seven (Original Single Version)

8. Silver Machine (Original Single Version)

9. Born To Go (Live Single version Edit)

Tracks 8 and 7 are the A&B-sides of a non-album UK 7" single released June 1972 on United Artists UP 35381. The A-side "Silver Machine" was recorded live 13 February 1972 at The Roundhouse in London - the studio track B-side "Seven By Seven" was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales. Track 9 "Born To Go" (Live) is from the Various Artists 2LP set "The Greasy Truckers Party" on United Artists that featured Hawkwind. This 7" single B-side was issued 1973 in Germany on United Artists UA 35 492 - the A-side being "Lord Of Light" from the "Doremi Fasol Latido" LP in 1972.

HAWKWIND was:

NIK TURNER – Alto Saxophone, Flute, Audio Generator and Lead Vocals

DAVE BROCK – Vocals, Electric, Acoustic 6 and 12-string Guitars and Audio Generator

DAVE ANDERSON Bass, Electric and Acoustic 6-String Guitars

DEL DETTMAR – Synthesiser

TERRY OLLIS – Drums and Percussion

DIK MIK – Audio Generator

The substantial 24-page booklet is actually both fab and a frustrating thing. Good stuff - it offers brill period photos of the five-piece, Fanzine addresses for this most cultish of bands, the rare picture sleeve to the June 1972 breakthrough 7" single "Silver Machine", flyers from 60p benefit gigs in Margate, posters of Hawkwind supporting Polydor's Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come, Blue Horizon's Duster Bennett, Harvest's Tea & Symphony, RCA's Brewer's Droop, Neon's Indian Summer and a band as yet unsigned to EMI - Queen. There are beautiful and incredibly rare gig posters from Dunstable Civic Hall, Aldermaston Peace Festival in colour and the whole of the rare logbook that came with British original copies in all its mad glory (black and white) even if the print is tiny and just about readable in places (mostly not). If it looks so great - why moan? Apart from reissue credits - there are no new liner notes and the lyrics aren't here. If ever an album deserved an essay and its words - it's this one. When you think of the huge influence "X In Search Of Space" has had on Stoner rock and even the Kraut sound of say Neu! – bit of a damn shame someone didn't throw a few lines of appreciation and context together. Discussion on the album title – is it "X In Search Of Space" as it says on the cover art - or "In Search Of Space" as it says on the label and is more commonly known? I go by the cover art...

The picture CD uses the black and silver Hawkwind image on the 1978 and 1982 reissues of "Silver Machine" - a nice touch – and there’s a suitably beautiful Universe photo beneath the see-through CD tray. But the big news is a PETER MEW and PAUL COBBOLD Remaster with Tape assistance from Nigel Reeves done at Abbey Road. This sucker rocks and of course if ever an album cried out for a bit of Audio muscle - then it's this one - a nice job done.

Side 1 is dominated by the sixteen-minute drone of "You Shouldn't Do That" which spends about one and half minutes launching - building and building until it hammers you with that Bass and Guitar wall of sound - Space Rock - all Alto Sax and 'Ssssh' chanting about hair and getting nowhere. Even now it gives me a kick in the unmentionables and I'm transported back to my bedroom with Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple on the wall and my trusty Garrard SP25 worrying my poor parents and their fragile post 60ts nerves. Side 1's other interplanetary occupant is the near seven-minute "You Know You're Only Dreaming" – no real tune – just more of the same endless guitar solos as spacey flute noises float in and out over random Bass plucking - wonderful.

A huge fan fave – the grungy riffage of "Masters Of The Universe" that opens Side 2 with an aural wallop may indeed define the band more so than "Silver Machine" – Brock singing about being the centre of the Universe and the world is just a figment of his mind (know what you mean man). But then - just as you think you have the Hawk Lords nailed – know their sound and they can’t surprise you – Dave & Co. clobber you with the beautiful and even moving ballad "We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago". Like an acoustic moment on a Zeppelin LP - the song sails it amidst gull cries, acoustic guitars and an aching lyric about warnings and scriptures in the sand that need heeding, Nature is trying to warn us of impending ecological doom (isn't it always) - but will we listen?

"Adjust Me" returns us to travels outside our solar system - electric guitars and treated saxophone notes fronted by a singer's voice that increases in speed and madness. "X In Search Of Space" ends on the suitably doom-laden "Children Of The Sun" which talks about our inheritance amidst cymbal crashes and building guitars - acoustic first then electric. Like "We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago" - I think it's one of the album's strongest tracks and one that's forgotten these days.

"Silver Machine" was recorded live in February 1972 at The Roundhouse in London and launched on the world in June with the non-album studio cut "Seven By Seven" on the flipside. Amazingly its droning wall of sound caught the public's imagination and was rewarded with a No. 3 placing on the British singles charts. In fact "Silver Machine" has had extraordinary legs ever since - reissued no less than three more times (1976, 1978 and 1982) where it charted again in both 1978 (No. 34) and in 1982 (no. 67). Actually I prefer the more musical "Seven By Seven" song - maybe not such an obvious hit - but a riff that would have fitted nicely onto the end of Side 1.

"X in Search Of Space" is very much of its 1971 time and some in 2017 will raise an eyebrow and check your pulse should you declare it a masterpiece. But despite all the Space Mystic mumbo-jumbo - I look at Hawkwind's seminal monster with huge affection. 

An album from a time when all things seemed possible and we were just that bit genuinely out there without being lost or damaged. All this and drifting two-dimensional spaceships on a CD for under a sky-diver (nice one boys)...