REVENGE

Robert Calvert will always be associated with Hawkwind, although he did also record two well-received solo albums in the Seventies ('Captain Lockheed & The Starfighters' and 'Luck Leif & The Longships'). Hawkwind keyboard player Simon House, who played him some backing tracks that he had recorded, introduced Robert to cellist Pete Pavli. Robert went away and came back a few days later with melodies and lyrics and recorded them in an afternoon. The tapes were then forgotten about for some ten years, and it was only after Robert's death that they were released as a limited edition.

They were never finished, there are only four songs, and they were intended only as demos. Only the supreme Hawkwind/Calvert fan will be interested, so if you are not one of these then leave well alone.

Feedback #60, Oct 2000

I'm afraid I must start this review by pointing out what I consider to be two errors in the review by Kev Rowland.

Firstly the material was recorded by Pete Pavli and not Simon House (although House does feature).

Secondly, and more importantly, there are five tracks on this CD. Read on to find out why this is so important.

These tracks are demo's and as such 'works in progress' rather than polished material destined for our lugholes. It's worth commenting that Calvert sounds uncannily like a young Bryan Ferry on three of these tracks..........in fact Brian Eno from Roxy Music appears on his albums so perhaps he was a fan of the first couple of Roxy albums (which are very progressive!!).

As the tracks are so basic and short there's not much one can say about them. 'Revenge' and 'Fascism / Futurism' pass almost unnoticed. The ears prick up slightly with the third track 'Bugatti' which is the most successful musically and the one where you're left thinking 'if only this had been completed, recorded with a band, mixed and released'. Track four (Isadora) sounds vaguely like a minimal Peter Hammill track (sung by Bryan Ferry!!!).

.....and so on to the fifth untitled track. This is BY FAR the highlight of the album and lasts for over ten minutes. It starts off as if it's going to be a little message before the run out groove of the vinyl with Calvert saying 'Turn It Over' (ELO did a similar thing on Out Of The Blue) over a very repetitive synth backing. Amusement becomes mild irritation as little seems to happen other than Simon House's violin being plucked above the synths. Then you slowly get drawn in and hear the added synth lines, the intricate violin and the 'whole' becomes hypnotic and rather transcendental. I'm not sure how much of a hand Robert Calvert had in this track but it really is superb.

I'm going to give this CD two stars but in reality the 'extra' fifth track deserves three or more. So, for Hawkwind completists only but if you get the chance hear 'Untitled'.