BBC RADIO 1 LIVE

It is a very stoned version of the space ritual, both in terms of performance and sound quality (it is Not a bootleg but someting less than the space ritual sound quality). Excellent track listing (with some omissions though - mainly the small instrumental tracks like "electronic nr 1", "black corridor", etc. are "included in the main tracks resulting in lengthier 2 into 1 tracks). A perfect performance that also has the introduction from a BBC broadcaster as well as closing of the set. Buy it definitely! It is not a Highly recommended item just because it is not a double disc like the ritual, and because the sound quality is a bit lower than the liverpool gig. Not a digital remastering but 110% perfect performance with a 8/10 sound!

Unusual sloppy sound from the Beeb, under par production and a surprise release as normally they don't release unworthy albums . Maybe there was not much else to do to better these tapes. If you are looking for a live album from the hawks , look elsewhere.

Recorded for the BBC in the Paris Theatre in London, this album provides another snapshot of Space Ritual era Hawkwind, a thing which has recently become desirable. Now the 1991 album of this gig may or may not feature a mono audience recording of the exact same gig, in good SQ.... but I don't think this is it. This album features some well sloppy mixing from the BBC, with the guitar non-existant at the start of Silver Machine, but hey, its the best live version from this era by far... Elsewhere, Dikmik (the cad) produces whistling noises over the entire album, whic hgets sickening after the third number... wheeeeeee, there he goes again. Hell's teeth. Also, some randomer (probably DIKMik again) provides needlessly stoned backing vocals in really bad pitch. Go away, this is poor! The same idiot is heard on the Live at the Roundhouse tracks (great backing vocals on Silver Machine, shame they removed them when they made that track into a single... eh no). Actually, to digress, if the band had left the original Silver mAchine track without overdubbing in the studio, it would have been a Dawg!!!

The BBC therefor made a lumpy recording, but why was space ritual recorded on 2 seperate nights for any other reason than Hawkwind were a damned hard live band to record? Same with The Who, Cream, Pink Floyd... any good band really...

What is particularly frustrating about this release is that this is the "official" BBC version of the concert and this is a MONO mix. People have argued for several years about this. Insisting that the BBC recorded it in MONO. Bulls**t. The bootleg called "Space Rock In London" is the exact same show and it is STEREO. If you want to hear this album the way it SHOULD have been, then I'm afraid you're stuck with the unofficial versions. If only the BBC would do this again and do it right.

Actually this is the music taken from the BBC Transcription disc but with a blurry mix. The BBC Transcription disc is the holy grail as very few are known to exist today. It was pressed from BBC for internal distribution to UK radio stations for a time of 5 years, after that it was to be returned and destroyed (some say with a hammer). One was sold last week on Ebay for 1630 US dollars as it is the rarest Hawkwind item ever. Well the sound of the CD is taken from some tape or reel with the performance of the BBC disc (it was also released on an one-hour reel tape as it is written on the cue sheets accompanying it), but for sure it si NOT from the BBC disc. To prove that, the mids on the BBC are higher, and - if this is not a proof- the initial chorus lines of "Born to Go" are totally faded by music in the CD whereas this is not the case in the BBC Transcrption LP. By no way the BBC recording is blurry as somebody commented before as the "original" recording is crisp and clear and stereo sound. In few words this is the BBC performance from another different venue of inferior quality. For die hard fans is essential as it is more "stoned" than Space Ritual, but it is not recommended for an introduction to the band. See it like having the sound of a 1000+ euro record on CD.

Stardate: 28th September, 1972. The personnel of starship Hawkwind disembark at the Paris Theatre in London to deliver a live set, with the BBC there to record it. Over subsequent years numerous bootlegs of the set circulate until in 1991 Windsong finally issue the concert in mono. However, the version of the gig occasionally broadcast on the radio is clearly in stereo. Debate rages as to which is the definitive version; the mono CD release, which is unedited but has poorer sound quality, or the stereo "Broadcast" mix which has superior sound quality but a number of edits (mostly minor, but a big chunk is dug out of Brainstorm).

Thankfully, EMI have stepped into reissue the set under the title of At the BBC - 1972, with new cover art. This 2CD release not only includes both the mono and stereo versions of the set, but also includes two songs recorded for a Johnnie Walker session the previous month. For my money, I value the higher sonic quality of the stereo mix over the sometimes muffled completism of the mono mix, but thanks to EMI we now don't need to choose between one or the other.

So, how's the material itself? Well, this was some three months before the Space Ritual recordings, so if you've heard that, you've got a good idea of what this is like. Perhaps less crushingly heavy than Space Ritual itself, and perhaps catching a few more subtle textures, At the BBC stands alongside Leave No Star Unturned, the expanded Greasy Truckers Party reissue and Space Ritual itself as a crucial live document of Hawkwind during the magical year of 1972 where all the constellations pointed in the right direction for them and they truly cemented their legend. Not as essential as Space Ritual, but if you love that album you'll probably dig this too.