COMPLETE '79 COLLECTOR SERIES VOL. 1

The 'original' album was always one of my favourites. I liked putting it on in between Space Ritual and Do Not Panic (live at Stonehenge) to wallow in the sounds of the mighty Hawks live. My first thought is that I can't remember the sound being so poor back in the day. It's not awful but sounds like a good bootleg (which is essentially what it is I suppose). The best thing about this CD is the material. With Huw Lloyd Langton on guitar, and Harvey Bainbridge, Tim Blake, Simon King and the good Captain completing the line-up this is a good representation of Hawkwind when they wrote 'songs' rather than 'jams'. They're exquisite at both of course but it's nice to have a change. Whereas Space Ritual was dominated by extended jams often built around one solid riff, much of the material here falls into the verse / chorus way of doing things......oh, and there's guitar solos. I'm listening to Motorway City at the moment and, well, you can't keep a good song down. Brilliant!! Fear not, those who enjoy the 'space' part of space rock more are still well served, particularly by Tim Blake who brings his own New Jerusalem to the table as well as providing the signature tweets and whooshes no Hawkwind album would be without. Recommended for Hawk fans but in this day of downloads a newcomer would be better served by downloading the studio versions of the tracklisting and making him or her self a mighty fine compilation.