CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS (DVD)

I'm not a Hawkwind fan. I think that the vast majority of their discography is cacophonous noise over monotonous rhythms, and this applies more than anything to their "classic" albums from the 70's. Yet, I do find the melodic Levitation album to be excellent and I also like a few other of their 80's albums. This DVD features a rather good live performance of the band that was released as part of the Classic Rock Legends series (that also includes live concert videos by Rick Wakeman, Strawbs, Caravan, Asia, and many more). The first feature that catches your eye regarding these releases is the magnificent Roger Dean cover art. Indeed, being a great admirer of Dean's art work is one of the primary reasons for collecting there DVDs (so far with moderate success for me as some of them are hard to find). In the case of the present entry of Hawkwind's, I would even say that looking at the box is much preferable to watching the visual contents of the disc! The music is good, but the stage show is weird and silly with dancers, jugglers, and performance artists (an art form that I despise!).

The show starts with Lives Of Great Men (aka Assault & Battery) seguing into The Golden Void just like on the Warrior On The Edge Of Time album. This is an excellent version of one of Hawkwind's best numbers and unquestionably the highlight of this performance. The presence of violin is very welcome throughout the show. The rest of the songs are of lesser value, but still decent. Overall, this may be Hawkwind's best live release (as far as the music goes; ignoring the visual blunders).