MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

I bought this compilation when the band's discography was still unknown to me, and I must admit that I see this as quite useless album. Few picks from their "Space Ritual" double live album, and Lemmy's proto-MOTÖRHEAD song from "The Hall of The Mountain Grill". I would like to see a HAWKWIND compilation with some essential tracks around... But I guess I'll never manage to do that!

A piecemeal compilation this, comprising tracks from the 1971-1974 period. As such it does a far more thorough job of summing one period of Hawkwind's music than the other compilation I own, Epocheclipse: The Ultimate Best Of, which tries to condense nearly 30 years of music into 18 tracks, and ends up pleasing nobody. Even though I'm not fond of the performances of some of these songs on the Space Ritual album, I do enjoy this presentation of the studio versions of Master Of The Universe, Brainstorm and the oh-so- insistent Orgone Accumulator.

The subtle, sweeping sound affects that colour the pieces here (and got lost on Space Ritual) make Masters Of The Universe a worthwhile introduction to the more improvisation- orientated side of Hawkwind, although I'd still recommend heading directly to the superior Hall of The Mountain Grill or Warrior On The Edge Of Time albums. I could do without the Robert Calvert poetic rants (although I do admit that this one, Sonic Attack is the very best of them) while It's So Easy is an atypical song that takes a dreamy start and turns into a borderline glam-rock tune, albeit one with a psych guitar-freak out stuck in the middle! To round things off, we have Lost Johnny, a driving biker anthem that is bassist Lemmy Kilminster's finest moment.

This 40 minute trip works quite well, and made me realise that with Hawkwind, the dosage is of particular importance. Too much of the good thing turns me off, but I'm always tuned in to this. ... 52% on the MPV scale

So I will admit right up front that Hawkwind were not and are still not my favourite band but my good friend Bob Turnbull has gotten me more and more into this band's music and being a sucker for good albums I picked up "Masters of The Universe" ! This is a pretty cool album and manages to really draw up that old space-prog rock senses with tracks like the 10 Mins Orgone Accumulator and the 11 Mins Brainstorm epic numbers. This was I guess the most interesting version of hawkwind with Nik Turner, Dave Brock, Mr Kilminster, Bob Calvert and Mick Farren . Musically this album showcases the spaced out contributions of heavy bass, drum and keyboard trio with wild vocals and assorted musical instruments. The album runs like a wild nightmare!

A compilation for those who are not initiated into the Hawkwind universe.

I am a serious Hawkwind fan and love most of their early works and some later albums. I am especially fond of 'Space Ritual' and 'In search of Space, 'Doremi Fasol Latido' and 'Hall of the Mountain Grill' among others such as the first album. So I was eager to pick up this CD to see what some of the tracks I had heard live are like as studio versions.

The vinyl may have been one of the best compilations in the late 70s of the band, but the CD does not warn that it is a compilation in any way! It does not warn that two of the tracks are live and directly taken from 'Space Ritual'. So instead of getting new tracks to add to the collection I was inundated with the same stuff I already have. Any Hawkwind fan would no doubt have the aforementioned albums as they are the classics that launched this incredible band. So the CD is absolutely worthless to the Hawkwind addict. Though it has a nice cover so if you see it in the $1 Bin - get it! There are no other pictures to redeem it either. It doesnt even have a booklet.

Let's see what the CD offers shall we?

1. Master of the universe - an excellent track, OK! - But its on every compilation as well as many CDs as a bonus track so that is not worth buying this CD.

2. Brainstorm - Terrific track but once again on many compilations and easy to obtain.

3. Sonic attack - ho hum - its the same as 'Space Ritual'.

4. Orgone accumulator - brilliant track - my favourite Hawkwind track of all time and the reason I bought this album.... BUT - its the same as 'Space Ritual'. There was no warning on the sleeve that this was a live version so I was bitterly disappointed. Did they record this as a studio version? 5. It's so easy - this is on the classic albums and not much of a track really.

6. Lost Johnny - Great track BUT its on 'Hall of Mountain Grill'.

So if you are after a Hawkwind compilation get 'EpochEclipse' or 'Psychedelic Warlords' instead.

I wasted my money and I was furious so I took it back to the CD seller who actually let me buy a different CD to replace this one (thanks JB).

If not, I would have been using this CD as an expensive coffee coaster.

This is definitely for the Hawkwind newbie. I would suggest though to ditch this, and get the first 6 albums, "Chronicle of the Black Sword" "Space Ritual" and the latest release "Blood of the Earth" instead. That is really the best of Hawkwind!