'Fallout' really hits a number of marks; it's an intriguing track, panoramic and yet wearing its minimalism as a badge of honour, muscular and yet visceral, and really quite a thrilling five and a half minutes. Turn it up and blast it out.
Spacerock, Psych and beyond... the former Spacerock Reviews, from the author of 'Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins'. Items for review welcome!
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Moon Duo - Fallout
'Fallout' really hits a number of marks; it's an intriguing track, panoramic and yet wearing its minimalism as a badge of honour, muscular and yet visceral, and really quite a thrilling five and a half minutes. Turn it up and blast it out.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Hawkwind – Parallel Universe
'Parallel Universe' is a 3CD journey through the four years Hawkwind spent on the Liberty/U.A. labels. This package of great tracks is something that no serious Hawkwind fan or collector should be without. These are the seminal recordings of the band, the essence of what Hawkwind was at that time, and was all about.
Tracklistings:Hawkwind – Parallel Universe Great tracks, great artists. Simon House, the violin virtuoso, ex- High Tide, Third Ear Band, and latterly David Bowie, joined the band, and featured on the following album, The Hall Of The Mountain Grill, and on the fourth single 'Psychedelic Warlords'/'It's So Easy'. After which the band had two drummers. And the beat still goes on… As a belated follow up to 'Silver Machine', 'Urban Guerrilla'/'Brainbox Pollution' were recorded, but the BBC refused to play the 'A' side, the police visited Nik's flat and tore up the floorboards looking for armaments and explosives, and the band were stopped frequently by Her Majesty's Constabulary. Their next album was Doremi Farsol Latido.
CD 1:
Hurry On Sundown (original mono single)
Mirror Of Illusion (mono single edit)
You Know You're Only Dreaming (original 1970 version) (previously unreleased)
The Reason Is (alternate version) (previously unreleased)
Be Yourself (alternate mix) (previously unreleased)
Seeing It As You Really Are (from the album Hawkwind)
Hog Farm (previously unreleased)
Kiss Of The Velvet Whip (aka Sweet Mistress Of Pain) (1971 version) (previously unreleased)
You Shouldn't Do That (from the album In Search Of Space)
Master Of The Universe (original vocal take) (previously unreleased)
Children Of The Sun (from the album In Search Of Space)
Paranoia (Greasy Truckers Party version – live)
CD 2:
Brainstorm (from the album Doremi Fasol Latido)
Space Is Deep (from the album Doremi Fasol Latido)
Lord Of Light (from the album Doremi Fasol Latido)
Take What You Can (previously unreleased)
Silver Machine (original single mix)
Seven By Seven (original single alternate vocal mix) (previously unreleased)
Born To Go (Space Ritual version - live)
Down Throught The Night (Space Ritual version - live)
Orgone Accumulator (Space Ritual version - live)
Sonic Attack (Space Ritual version - live)
CD 3:
Ejection
Urban Guerilla (original single)
Brainbox Pollution (Full length version) (previously unreleased)
It's So Easy (original studio version) (previously unreleased)
You'd Better Believe It (Rockfield Studios version) (previously unreleased)
Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke) (single version)
Wind Of Change (alternate version) (previously unreleased)
Paradox (remix single edit)
Hall Of The Mountain Grill (from the album Hall Of The Mountain Grill)
Lost Johnny (from the album Hall Of The Mountain Grill)
D-Rider (1999 Party version - live)
The Watcher (1999 Party version - live)
Hawkwind Zoo - Sunshine Special E.P. (digital download only)
1. Kiss Of The Velvet Whip (aka Sweet Mistress Of Pain) (1969 mix) * (Previously unreleased)
2. Cymbaline *
3. Hurry On Sundown (1969 mix) * (Previously unreleased)
4. Kiss Of The Velvet Whip (aka Sweet Mistress Of Pain) (1972 stereo remix)
5. Hurry On Sundown (1972 stereo remix)
* mono
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Lunar Dunes - Galaxsea

This is another delightful 4Zero Records release – how does Dave Weller keep finding these bands – blissful, tranquil and soothingly smooth sounds with a crystalline quality that slip in and out of differing grooves, switching into Eastern and Oriental notes, sometimes finding a slightly firmer rhythm in the guitar and drums with which to shake-up the albums overarching sense of wistfully exotic flavours. One to relax and drift out with.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Van Cleef - Dalek Gulch
Here's a promo video from YouTube of Australian band Van Cleef that I've been asked to pass along to blog readers. "The music video 'Dalek Gulch' is the first single from our debut feature length album Where The River Meets The Rock," I'm told by the band's Christian Thompson. "The clip is entirely written, directed and produced by the band ... no outside help whatsoever, and we are extremely proud of it. The album was recorded in South Australia and mastered by JJ Golden in Ventura California." Their album is currently available for download and for a limited time is set to a 'name your own price' which can be $0.00.
Looks to me like these guys really had a ball putting this video together, really beefy stoner / space rock with some gruffly portentous lyrics – 'cryogenics won't mend a broken heart'. You've got to agree with them... and I liked the comment on their YouTube page that said, "Before the lyrics started I had my money on the first word being SCIENCE!" Me too!
I've downloaded the album – on the strength of the excellent title for the first track: 'Barracuda Booty Boogie' – and it's a lot of fun, seems to have plenty of tongue in its cheek with heavy stuff, some rather more melodic rockers and real solid drumming. It's available here.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Paul Roland - Grimm

Grimm seems to be part of a period of prolonged creativity in the music field (Roland is also a successful author), I talked to him a while back for an article that's unfortunately yet to see publication and he was at that point enthusing about projects that he felt where the most prominent on his radar... this one, of course, but also "one that's going to be very British, but 40s, 50s Britain: seedy, boarding house, end-of-the-pier Britain. Then there's a revisionist history of the Wild West, the true story of Wyatt Earp, or Doc Holliday's deathbed confession. I've got to be careful, an Englishman can't sing about the Civil War! It wouldn't be authentic and part of my modus operandi is to always be authentic." I love the sound of both of those and very much hope that they'll be in the pipeline.
But I also had the chance to ask Paul about both Grimm, while it was still in its formative period, and his other interests. "It's based on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, but the original versions not a fluffy, Disney, version. I don't write for other people, I write for myself but it's the writer part of me, like a film director... I'm making all these little movies for people to listen to, a writer, even one who is associated with a particular genre, like M. R. James and ghost stories or H. G. Wells with science fiction, they always did other things. I have my centre that I gravitate towards, this Victorian or Edwardian thing, but I know I've done it a lot and I have to say something new to say if I do another like that. I recorded one track in the space rock vein, 'Journey to the Centre of the Mind', and I was going to put it on the Demos album but it sounded too finished so I held it off."
This is one is definite step away from what Paul's been doing with his recent work, a very stripped-down affair that's nonetheless rich in atmosphere and textures and which, as Roland notes, captures what I understand and at points recall the tone and style of the Brothers Grimm to have been. He's working almost on his own here, where other releases have been full band recordings with a guest appearance on backing vocals by Rosie Eade and some spoken word interludes from closer to home, Michael and Joshua Roland. I enjoy the way that this creates an intimacy to the songs, so that they become very much the cautionary folklore being repeated to an intimate audience on a cold winter's eve. The words are ones that have resonance with that sense of traditional story, on the delightful 'Rapunzel' evoking that 'over the hills and far away' idea... "if you wait you wait in vain and here you must remain." It's the folklore of the "malformed man and wife" whose "limbs were as curved as their black cat's spine." It's the King and his firstborn son, 'The Devil's Bride', wearisome companions and forest paths, it's the Grimm stories that you'll be familiar with and those that perhaps you'll know less well, or want to uncover, as part of listening and absorbing this collection.
"I can hardly believe it myself after the long delays which saw the trolls toiling deep in the dark forests of Germany hewing out the pits in each individual compact disc with their tiny chisels one track at a time," Paul noted on his latest newsletter. "But it's true. And as I live and wheeze it's a mighty fine piece of work, if I may say so, having played every instrument on it myself and even engineered the recording in my own studio at World's End. But I can put my hand on both my hearts and say it's exactly the way I wanted it to sound, so I hope you will agree it is a welcome addition to the Roland discography." This one can be purchased direct from the Paul Roland Appreciation Society, PRAS, at the price including postage of £ 12 GBP (or €15 euros) and payment can be made via PayPal to the PRAS email address: rolandtowers [@] hotmail.de (remove brackets of course when using this address).
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Hawkwind – Leave No Star Unturned (Press)
I was recently asked to provide notes for the forthcoming release of the Hawkwind segment of the fabled Six Hour Technicolor Dream show from the Cambridge Corn Exchange, January 1972. This one is due out in August with the initial pressing coming in a limited edition deluxe packaging before reverting to standard CD format for future pressings. There's also a vinyl edition planned for this, details on the label's website. Here's the press release information:

On 27th January 1972, Hawkwind, their comrades in Notting Hill / Ladbroke Grove psychedelic proto-punk agitprop The Pink Fairies, and what would be labelled as The Last Minute Put-Together Boogie Band featuring the elusive Syd Barrett were brought together at The Cambridge Corn Exchange under the title The Six Hour Technicolor Dream by local music promoter and 'Head Shop' proprietor Steve Brink. If we'd had the technology of today way back then, then for such a line-up we'd most certainly have on our shelves the DVD with its 5.1 stereo soundtrack, the CD box set, and the Blu-ray package. Instead, what we have is something previously shrouded in mystery and rumour; quarter-inch ReVox open reel sourced recordings that have been whispered of in the circles of those who know. One of only two known copies of this show surfaced in the mid-80s, promptly to vanish into the vaults unheard and unreleased. Thankfully, the other finally emerged from a forgotten loft space in 2005 and made its way into the hands of Easy Action Records via a circuitous route which included an appearance at the famous Bonham's auction house in London's affluent Knightsbridge - what a contrast to the anarchic 'peace and love' characters decrying the evil tentacles of 'The Man' who play on these recordings.