Xenon Codex

Jon Jarrett jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK
Wed Jun 21 17:46:42 EDT 2000


On Tue, 20 Jun 2000, nigel.kew wrote:

> Phew, after reading this list for the past 6 mths or so I thought I
> wasthe only one who liked any HW post 1979.
>
> I too feel Xenon Codex was extremely underrated, and I'm gonna
> completely stick my neck out know and guide your thoughts to Distant
> Horizons.

        I'll pick up on DH below, but can I chime in with approval of XC
first. It is great - but it is very uncharacteristic. It's one of the
Hawks' quasi-progressive moments - some of the songs are extremely complex
and attempt much more depth than a lot of Hawkwind, although. It came out
late after a patchwork album two years before, and I think it is a
creature of a line-up that had run its course. I'm not saying that XC
itself is sterile, but I don't think there was anything more to do in that
vein. As a result it's something of a stand-alone. At least one of my
friends who likes no Hawkwind generally (despite my best efforts :-) is
quite fond of it. (Normally the album that catches such people is _Live
Chronicles_, IME, but then I know too many metallers :-)

        However, I think a lot of my impression as described above is down
to production, which is quite frankly lousy. The EQ is fine, but it sounds
as if it was recorded from the next room, and as a result the songs all
sound thick and somehow tired. I've heard Bedouin do `Sword of the East',
and I know it can rip. But XC never quite generates the edge it really
should have.

        Which leads me again to a question I've asked before now - did the
recent Castle "remaster" and repackage of its material actually improve
this situation? I have never dared buy it, because several people seemed
to say when this bunch came out that they could hear no difference - but
XC has to be second in line after _Doremi_ on any list of Hawkwind albums
which as originally issued really needed remastering, and I'd really like
to be able to hear it after such a treatment. On the other hand, I don't
want two copies of identical music. Anyone in a position to answer this?

        >  What a quality ablum drawing togther many of the themes raised in
> Space Bandits but reviving some of the Choose your Masques/
> Leviatation style of playing.
>
> Theres more 'cos this is not just a fall back Album reflecting on past
> glories the title track Distant Horizons could quite easily feel at
> home in a nightclub, and IMHO should have been released as a single to
> raise Hawk awareness. Personally though Reptoid Vision is my favourite
> track a good old fashion HW rock track.


        I think _Distant Horizons_ is that rarest of things, a Hawkwind
studio album with _no_ bad tracks. Even the version of `Love in Space' is
tolerable with the vocals removed. And what I cannot help thinking of
as the `filler' between the rock tracks is as inventive as anything since
Harvey left, although not as pretty as Alan's stuff. Furthermore, all the
rock tracks are winners - I liked Ron's stuff lots when I first heard
it and I think `Phetamine Street' and `Reptoid Vision' are the only one
which I still regard as excellent. Although I think Ron's bass-playing
has improved lots lately, I can't help feeling that his song-writing is a
bit of a one-trick pony. Nonetheless, here is that trick, at its
best. But my favourite track on the album is undoubtedly `Wheels'.
`Alchemy' is excellent too,but `Wheels' is such an archetypal Hawkwind
song - the one riff (but a great riff), the brief key-changes before
slumping back into blanga - it is simple and marvellous.

        The only thing that bothered me about DH was the lack of
B/rock. Dave's input is obvious and quite nice - but the mainline blanga
is all someone else's work. I thought that was a worrying precursor, but
as long as the others carried on at that tempo Dave didn't need to grind
out more riffs and could do what. as he says, he likes doing, playing
with sequencers etc. Had I then realised that Messrs. Tree and Richards
were going to contribute one more rock number each in the next four years,
one of which would only be performed a handful of times, and never
recorded, I'd have been, well, about as concerned as I am now. But
then. So perhaps it's as well I didn't. Yours,
                                                Jon

--
 |  Jon Jarrett (01223 741219)           jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
 | ======================================================================|
 | "Zeron Gamma Two continuum entropy control parameters - AFFIRMATIVE!" |



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