issue #02 pdf - Razorcake

HALF JAPANESE
“Hello” CD
God, I haven’t seen this name in
quite a while. What you get is some
great post-Velvets/Beefheart art pop
with enough of a “punk” edge to
keep the proceedings more than
entertaining. This is welcome
change of pace around these parts,
believe me. Recommended. -Jimmy
Alvarado (Alternative Tentacles)
HAWKWIND
“Atomhenge 76” CD
If I had to break down and recommend
one of this batch of
Hawkwind records, “Atomhenge
76” is definitely it. This is prime
stuff, the spaciest, tastiest space
rock of the bunch. Good lineup, an
amazing great version of “Reefer
Madness” kicking it off, classics
like “Brainstorm” and “Sonic
Attack,” plus a bunch of tunes I
wasn’t already familiar with. Up
there with the best of my Hawks
records, this is the one I find myself
reaching for the most, of the stuff
that’s newer to the Hawkwind section
and hasn’t already been listened
to fifty times like “Complete ‘79” or
“Space Ritual.” -Aaron J. Poehler
(Hawk/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Family Tree” CD
The actual Hawkwind content on
this album is a bit on the low side,
basically consisting of one ‘79 version
of “Motorway City”; the rest is
extracurricular cuts by members of
the current Hawkwind lineup. The
first half of the record is the most
un-Hawklike, since Brock didn’t
have anything to do with it as far as
I can tell. The second half features
four all-Brock-all-instruments
tracks (which sound pretty similar
to what’s on “Spacebrock”), one
track by Brock plus two Hawks,
then ends with the live ‘79 cut. Not
at all a bad listen, but not as essential
as the other
Hawkwind/Voiceprint releases by
any means. -Aaron J. Poehler
(Hawk/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Spacebrock” CD
Whereas the other Hawkwind discs
I’m writing about here are archival
releases, “Spacebrock” is an all-new
for 2000 album. As you might
expect, it sounds vastly different
from the vintage stuff and features a
completely different lineup other
than titular mainman Dave Brock
himself; actually, the largely electronic
and sample-based sound of
the disc in combination with the title
tends to make one wonder if this
isn’t effectively a solo album with
several contributions by Brock’s
touring cohorts. Regardless, don’t
expect a spacerock retread or simulation
here - I get the idea Brock’s
basically trying to reinvent the
spacerock idea for the present, and
he’s often very successful.
Someone who only liked, say, the
Hawks with Lemmy-era stuff might
be a bit startled - hell, they might
not even recognize it as Hawkwind -
but as long as you don’t come to the
party expecting the familiar it
shouldn’t be a problem. The oddest
thing is the credit on the back that
says “Life Form” was in the movie
“Any Given Sunday.” Really? That
Al Pacino/Cameron Diaz football
movie? I didn’t see it - I’m not big
on sports - but now I almost want to
check it out to see if the Hawks are
in the background there or what. -
Aaron J. Poehler (Hawk/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Weird Tapes 1: Sonic Assassins,
Dave Brock” CD
This initial entry in the “Weird
Tapes” series is basically a split
release, combining half an album’s
worth of the Sonic Assassins live on
Christmas Eve 1977 with a bit less
than half an album’s worth of Dave
Brock solo tracks, plus one extant
Hawkwind live version of “Who’s
Gonna Win the War,” perhaps to
justify the Hawkwind logo on the
front, since the bulk of the album
isn’t technically Hawkwind. Still,
the Sonic Assassins (described in
Pete Frame’s Rock Family Trees as
Brock’s local/second-string group
of the time) here also feature fullfledged
Hawkwind member Bob
Calvert alongside the Assassins, two
of whom would end up in the
Hawklords in a short while anyway.
It’s a bit less straight-up spacey as
Hawkwind proper, with a few more
jazzy overtones, but if you put this
stuff on a comp in between
Hawkwind tracks I doubt you’d
hear a shocking difference. Brock’s
solo stuff here falls a bit in the
sparse-and-experimental category,
and is overall of less interest except
for “Assassination,” which is more
successful. -Aaron J. Poehler
(Hawk/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Weird Tapes 2: Hawkwind
Live/Hawklords Studio” CD
This volume of the Weird Tapes presents
a five-track chunk from a 1977
“Spirit of the Age” tour Leicester
gig, filled out with three Hawklords
(the band Dave Brock formed after
temporarily breaking up Hawkwind
in the late ‘70s - which quickly
evolved back into Hawkwind, naturally
enough) studio tracks, presumably
otherwise unreleased. Nice
clear sound on the live stuff and a
focus here on poet/vocalist Bob
Calvert’s material: four of the five
Hawkwind cuts have a Calvert writing
or co-writing credit. Interesting
contrast with the Hawklords tracks,
which are sans Calvert although he
was among the ‘lords initially.
Creative tensions aside, he’s in fine
form here, as is the rest of the group.
The Hawklords cuts aren’t quite as
striking, being a bit keys-heavy guitar-light,
and the sound’s a bit
pinched, but they’re not too problematic;
if nothing else they certainly
help justify the Weird Tapes heading.
-Aaron J. Poehler (Hawk
/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Weird Tapes 3: Free Festivals” CD
This one’s almost too good to be
true: Hawkwind at Stonehenge!
The first five tracks are, anyway -
recorded at a free festival amongst
the famous stones in 1977 - while
the remaining three come from a
1975 gig (the Watchfield Festival,
apparently) with a totally different
lineup besides Brock. The latter are
a bit lower-fi than the Stonehenge
tracks, which are nice and clear, but
the Watchfield extracts only comprise
about a quarter of the playing
time anyway - obviously the
Stonehenge stuff is the main attraction
here. -Aaron J. Poehler
(Hawk/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Weird Tapes 5: Live ‘76 and ‘77”
CD
Here we find unspecified (as to
date-and-location) live excerpts
from two different lineups, one from
the seven-piece ‘76 band with Nik
Turner and one from ‘77 following
the departure of Turner, bassist Paul
Rudolph and one of the two drummers.
A bit more laid-back and less
raging than the majority of live
Hawkwind records overall, there’s
still plenty going on here and unlike
the first three volumes of the Weird
Tapes it’s all Hawkwind and all
prime. Plus, there’s even a vintage
radio ad for “Quark, Strangeness &
Charm” on Sire Records thrown in
for good measure. (I wouldn’t mind
hearing more of this kind of audio
ephemera on the Weird Tapes series:
after all, with the Weird Tapes name
as a caveat emptor, it seems like
about any kind of recording could
be legitimately included, as long as
it’s audible. Band dialogue, arguments,
crowd noise, whatever. Hell,
it’s not like people don’t already
expect freaky shit from Hawkwind
anyway.) -Aaron J. Poehler
(Hawk/Voiceprint)
HAWKWIND
“Weird Tapes 4: Live ‘78” CD
The straightest-ahead of the Weird
Tapes discs: it’s all (gasp) from one
Hawkwind lineup, no ringers from
side bands or solo projects tossed in,
all live Hawkwind from 1978.
Definitely more rockin’ than the
bulk of these releases, and probably
the most highly recommended of
the Weird Tapes discs - if you only
want to buy one (at first...) you
could do worse than to start with v.
4. It’s got “Urban Guerilla,” probably
my favorite Hawkwind song bar
none, and the consistency of this
disc makes it the most palatable to
the ear in ways than the grab-bag
nature of the other discs in the
Weird Tapes series - it basically
sounds like an unreleased live
album, and a pretty good one at that.
Definitely a worthy addition to the
canon. -Aaron J. Poehler (Hawk
/Voiceprint)
HELLACOPTERS/
FLAMING SIDEBURNS
“White Trash Soul” CD EP
A couple o’ trashy rock bands take a
stab at soul music. The Hellacopters
weigh in with two apt Motown covers
and a Flaming Sideburns cover,
while the Flaming Sideburns offer
two originals and a Hellacopters
cover. The effort is not bad, but it
seems to me that the Sideburns
kinda eschew the whole soul thing
and opt to do what they do, which
ain’t too bad. -Jimmy Alvarado
(Bad Afro)
HELLBENDERS/ SAFETY PINS
Split CD
Hellbenders: Punk fueled rock-
’n’roll that struts its stuff at a nice
clip. Safety Pins: More of the same,
only with gruffer vocals and a
Spanish accent. Good listenin’. -
Jimmy Alvarado (Dead Beat)
HELLIONS, THE
Self-titled CD
These are the bastard demonspawned
purgatorial offspring of
Lemmy and Motorhead... sinful,
wicked, and belligerently bad-tothe-bone...
ugly, mean, nasty, and
evilly vile! The Hellions crudely
crank-out a skull-fracturing assault
of insanely souped-up audial madness
that’s thunderously louder than
a corpse-strewn apocalyptic battlefield
and just as confrontationally
fierce! With balls-out bad-ass brutality,
they ferociously roar through
such sonically volatile stormings as
“Think for Me,” “Death Row
Romeo,” “Case of the Bads” (“Hot
rod rebel/ I’m a real tough man...
I’m going to hell as fast as I can!”),
“Teen Rage,” “Blacked Out,”
“What’s Yer Poison,” and
“Switchblade Rock’n’Roll” (my
personal fist-thrustin’ favorite!).
Satan better beware; these mayhemic
musical miscreants are gonna
knock him cross-eyed and silly right
off his flame-broiled throne as they
rabidly conquer Hell and beyond
with their 100% blend of killer kickass
rock’n’roll rambunctiousness.
Fuck yeah, The Hellions whipped
my ears into a frantic frenzy of
brain-bustin’ bewilderment, and I
now have serious doubts as to
whether I’ll ever return to a nonconvulsive
state of semi-coherent
normalcy. Oh well, who cares?!
Long live The Hellions! -Roger
Moser, Jr. (Hello, The Hellions)
HELLNATION
“Cheerleaders for Imperialism” CD
Hyper-speed blur-
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