HW: 1999 Party lineup?

[Dave Berry]

Well, y'all made such a fuss about this, and I needed cheering up at work,
so I stopped off at Our Price this morning and bought it.  It cheered me
up.  It's a worthy addition to the EMI remasters.

The start is so-so -- a Moorcock fantasy piece leading into Brainbox
Pollution.  I'm glad to have a live version of this track, but it's not
a galaxy shaker.  Then we have It's So Easy, which I've always liked.
It starts as "lumbering, shapeless, endless drivel" (to quote Alun),
but comes together until it's "just awesome" (to quote Alun again).
Better still, it's followed by You Know You're Only Dreaming, which
is the highlight of the album for me.  Then there's some more Moorcock
drivel, a good version of Brainstorm (particularly the middle section),
and a passable version of Seven By Seven (with a different ending from
the Space Ritual version).

The second CD begins with The Watcher, which is OK, followed by the
Awakening, which has undergone some rampant inflation.  The original
poem began "I would rather the firestorms of atmospheres than this cruel
descent from a hundred years of dreams ..." -- because they're a "clear
century of space away from Earth".  On The Space Ritual, Bob (?) increased
this to "a thousand years of dreams".  Now Nik, with his customary
restraint, has increased this to "a million years ...".

This is followed by tracks from HotMG, of which the best is You'd Better
Believe It.  I found The Psychedelic Warlords and D-Rider a bit
disappointing; the studio versions are better.  Still, it's good to have
live versions of them.  The album finished with Sonic Attack, Masters Of
The Universe, and Welcome To The Future, all of which are fairly normal.

Simon House's violin is clearly audible on It's So Easy and You'd Better
Believe It, and is probably what makes these tracks stand out for me.
I suspect he's playing keyboards on some other tracks -- it certainly
sounds like him (e.g. on The Watcher).  Lemmy does the main vocal for
Welcome To The Future.

The packaging isn't as pretty as the digipacks of the remasters, but
is more practical.  They probably made the right choice, although I
personally would have preferred a digipack.

My remasters tend to sit on the shelf and hardly ever get played, although
I'm happy to own them.  I expect this album will join them.  If you play
the early albums, then this one is essential.  Even if you don't, it's
well worth a listen.

Dave.
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