I have started working my way through the Hawk catalog in chronological order. The first 10 albums I've listened to have been really great, and I've rated all of them 5 stars except one which I gave 4, so this one came as a huge shock to me.
The music is beyond terrible. It is essentially strait ahead late 70's British heavy metal with no melody, no hooks, no power, and bloody awful singing...totally without redeeming value. Which is especially disappointing given the fantastic preceding 3 albums with Robert Calvert.
I've read that they were without a record deal at the time, and the only reason they got one from Bronze Records was because of the success of Motorhead. Gerry Bron of Bronze records reminisced, "I don't think we would have signed Hawkwind if it weren't for Motorhead, I can't say I was that interested." So I suppose it's not too surprising that Hawkwind ended up sounding like Motorhead wannabes on this album.
The mastering on the 2009 Cherry Hill/Atomhenge remaster is suitably dreadful. The 1992 Castle release if far far superior in every respect. The 09 version suffers from all the problems of a 'loudness war' remaster (google 'loudness war' for more info), including mastering induced distortion, zero dynamic range, and clipping. In addition, the 09 version has had the bass pumped up and it swamps the mids and highs. It is really disappointing, because the 3 or 4 other Cheery Hill remasters I've heard sound very good.
Recommendations:
Do not buy this record. And if you absolutely must, get the 1992 Castle cd.
