Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Spunk Rock (Live) - Man
2. Many Are Called But Few Get Up (Live) - Man
3. Angel Easy (Live) - Man
4. Bananas (Early Instrumental Version) (Live) - Man
5. Romaine (Live) - Man

Disc 2:

1. Intro (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
2. Country Girl (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
3. One More Day (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
4. Unknown Number (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
5. She's Got To Be Real (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
6. Home Work (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
7. Nervous On The Road (But Can't Stay At Home) (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
8. Range War (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
9. Silver Pistol (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
10. Going Down The Road (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
11. Midnight Train (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
12. Private Number (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
13. It's Just My Way Of Saying Thank You (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
14. Wonder Woman (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
15. I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
16. Surrender To The Rhythm (Live) - Brinsley Schwarz
17. Music Belongs To The People (Live) - Magic Michael

Disc 3:

1. Announcement/Apology - Hawkwind
2. This Is Your Captain Speaking (Breakdown) - Hawkwind
3. This Is Your Captain Speaking - Hawkwind
4. You Shouldn't Do That - Hawkwind
5. Awakening - Hawkwind
6. Master of the Universe - Hawkwind
7. Paranoia - Hawkwind
8. Earth Calling - Hawkwind
9. Silver Machine - Hawkwind
10. Welcome To The Future - Hawkwind
11. Born To Go - Hawkwind
12. Brainstorm (Jam) - Hawkwind
13. End Announcement - Dunkley, Andy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42572 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-22
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Live, Box set

Customer Reviews

The full sets, but a soulless remix
First, the very good news. Whereas the original double LP only managed a side per band (Man and the Brinsleys got slightly more, but only slightly), this triple CD manages a disk per band, which *apparently* means the complete set from each of the three of them. (The Brinsleys share their disk with 10 minutes from Magic Michael.)

This is fabulous news, partly because these are pristine 8-track recordings, and partly because in February 1972, all three bands were at the top of their game. Man were in their brief twin-guitar acid krautrock stage, and about to convulse yet again to ditch Deke Leonard, reinstate keyboards and make the classic stoner set "Be Good To Yourself". Hawkwind were poised on the verge of their best album "Doremi", and a few months ahead of "Space Ritual". And Brinsley Schwarz, thanks to their disastrous hype ("We're manipulated!") that had shoved them out of the concert circuit, were in the midst of building up the "pub rock" circuit that would eventually give punk a place to develop -- the Brinsleys' importance to 1970s rock is still unrecognised.

Of course, the fact that the original LP was long gone wasn't a problem. Man released their set on the CD "Greasy Truckers Live". Hawkwind released their set as bonus tracks on the "Space Ritual" 2CD set. You've probably got that stuff already. You'll almost certainly also have the "Glastonbury Fayre" album version of "Silver Machine", too, though not in high quality. But this 3CD set adds about an extra 50 minutes for each band. Hawkwind fans should note that it includes an early jam that would soon turn into "Brainstorm", arguably their defining track. And I don't need to sell these sets to you -- there's so little material from either band from this period, that this is fantastic news.

The only thing that seems weird to me is the Magic Michael track. Maybe my ears are deceiving me, but the track as presented here doesn't sound like the one from the LP. I'm not sure why the remixers chose to edit Michael's 20-minute performance down to 10 minutes, since there's room on the CD for more, but maybe they thought that was all we could handle. Hey, most of us won't even PLAY the second disk, so what does it matter? But I didn't hear my favourite Michael retort "I have not got an address!" and that annoyed me.

There's a much deeper problem. Of course, it won't stop this being a five-star must buy, but you need to be aware of it. These are remixes. They do not sound like the original LP. The Brinsley set sounds fabulous, but the remix suits their straightahead style. The Man and Hawkwind sets both suffer.

I've never liked remixes, so bear that in mind when you read my criticism. When you've lived with something for 20 or so years, you're used to a certain sound. And this album always sounded great to me. A remix is taking something that sounded one way at one point in time (1972 in this case) and updating it to sound like another point in time (2007 in this case). So what you're hearing is a 1972 recording filtered through a 2007 sensibility. It sounds like a 2007 recording -- brash, brittle, over-focused, the kind of sound that works well on the low-bandwidth media (mp3s) that kids of this generation use to hear their music. All the richness, depth and flavour of the original mix is lost.

Not a problem, you might think. Except that Man and Hawkwind were psychedelic bands. Focus the sound too much and you rob it of its feeling. And these mixes lack all feeling -- all of it. The Hawkwind even sounds poor -- worse than the "Space Ritual" versions -- despite this being the most psychedelic early set I've ever heard from them. And the Man is a disaster. The "Spunk Rock" remix is horrible -- almost no bass, and the right hand guitar (Deke?) is now mixed so far back you can hardly hear it. Meanwhile, the whole thing is so flattened (everything's turned up to 10) that there's no dynamic whatsoever. Remember that section near the end when everything turned gradually foggy and reverby? All but gone.

If you're a Man fan, you need this, of course. But you also need the "Greasy Truckers Live" CD -- and you should grab it soon, just in case they choose to delete it or replace it with the first disk from this set. The feel on that CD is perfect. This one has no feel at all.

One thing you'll want to know, though. In Deke's book, he claims they'd already been playing "Spunk Rock" for 10 minutes when it faded in on the vinyl. Do we have those extra 10 minutes here? No. "Spunk Rock" is approximately 90 seconds longer, but most of that is audience applause and chat before "Many Are Called". There's about 30 seconds extra at the beginning, after a fierce fade-in, but it's just the growly rhythm you're used to from the LP. The liner notes claim the tape operators missed the beginning (this was the first track played) by "one minute", so either they're wrong, or Deke is.

In conclusion -- this is an essential buy, but you'll also want the previous Man and Hawkwind releases of this material. Now roll on Dingwall's Dance Hall and that classic long-lost Gong set! Then again, what kind of butchery will the remixers do to THAT?

'Greasy Truckers Party' - Various Artists (Caroline)
Superbly produced 3-CD expanded reissue of the legendary Greasy Truckers Party - of the first one that took place on February 13, 1972 at the London Roundhouse. Disc one is the complete set by Man, which is a fine audio document of the show although it's pretty similar to their live 'Padget Rooms' disc. Disc two is the one and only space rock pioneers Hawkwind with their (then) ground-breaking performance for the head-swirling "You Shouldn't Do That", "Paranoia" (off the band's 1970 first lp), Bob Calvert's top-of-the-line recital "Earth Calling", their only million-seller "Silver Machine", "Born To Go" and one of Nik Turner's true mile stones - a jamming version of "Brainstorm". If you automatically assume you might not want this 3-CD box set because you already own copies of 'Space Ritual', 'Empire Pool Wembley' and '1999 Party-Live At Chicago Auditorium' - think again! If you're a Hawkwind completist like I (sort of) am you're going to want this show because it appears to have different instrumentations, various arrangements, etc. Disc three is Brinsley Schwarz - featuring Nick Lowe (Graham Parker, Rockpile) playing their usual set of British pub rock. For some reason(s), I could never get too much into this band. Nonetheless, this 3-CD box set is a M-U-S-T have. Look around enough and you should be able to find it at a very affordable price.

What A Long Wait!
Imagine how I feel. As an ex-member of Brinsley Schwarz I have had to wait 35 years to hear how and what we played that day. I was particularly impressed by my singing!
Ian Gomm