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Album Details

• Artist: Hawkwind
• Album: Weird Tapes 4 - Live 78
• Label: Weird
• Year of Release: 1981
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2013-03-13

This disc is a great testament to the live presence of this legendary, if somewhat obscure, band. The CD features some of the finest live recordings of Hawkwind that I have ever heard. The choice of tracks is also quite exceptional. For long time Hawkfans and new comers alike, this one is a great choice. The lineup on this CD is Bob Calvert, Dave Brock, Steve Swindells, Harvey Bainbridge and Martin Griffin.

They open with an awesome performance of a killer gritty guitar oriented space rock jam called “Death Trap.” It features a great wandering segment based around the guitar solo. The cut includes punky oriented Calvert vocals. A slower cut in a great groove, “Micro Man” is in a classic Hawkwind mode. It slows to segue into “Spirit of the Age." Based on a faster classic hard edged Hawkwind sound, “Spirit of the Age” is a killer track, and this is one of the finest versions of the piece out there.

Hard edged and punky, “Urban Guerrilla” is a fun song and good social commentary. A spacey Hawk keyboard texture takes the piece through its outro and segues into the next song.  “Steppenwolf” is a killer hard edged Hawk cut, and features a great instrumental break. This number is arguably the best song Hawkwind has ever done and the version here is very strong. In fact, the textures on the later segments of this track are absolutely phenomenal. This one also leads directly into the next cut. “Free Fall” starts with a keyboard dominated jam that has a great groove to it. The song features an awesome prog jam that is very bass dominated. As the speed increases, so does the complexity of the composition. The track features a classic Calvert vocal line and a hard edged guitar dominated segment that really rocks. It also features a great keyboard dominated segment with some awesome bass work. This segment has a classic prog sound to it and serves as the outro. Beginning with space sounds, and a countdown to blast off, “Uncle Sam’s on Mars” begins to build as the space ship lifts off. Keyboard textures with mission control type voice overs take over. It jumps up to punky sort of space Hawk jam that really rocks. The Hawkjam towards the end has a very cool rhythmic texture to it.

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