Anthology of Cosmic Music

I have  a double CD box on the Retro label called "The anthology of cosmic music". The sleeve notes are however non-existent, no recording dates, concert locations, source albums, etc.

It has seven live tracks by Hawkwind, such as "Space is deep", Brainstorm" etc., all available elsewhere. It has two sets by Van der Graff generator, one consisting of seven Peter Hammill compositions such as "The liquidator", "Rift Valley" etc. The other has 6 tracks mainly composed by Banton and/or Jackson, ("Saigon Roulette", "The Main slide" etc.) but none by Hammill. Anyone know the source of these live recordings?

The most intriguing is 8 tracks, all composed by "unknown", by Amon Dull II and Robert Calvert. Anyone got any background info on these tracks. Did Calvert ever join AD2, or was he just a guest on stage? Why are the composers of these tracks ("Big Wheel", "Urban Inidan", "Drawn to the flame" etc.) not known?

These Retro boxes are good value, (there are others by Yes, Asia/Wetton, a prog compilation, etc.) but they are almost devoid of info.

I read that Anderson played on "Phallus Dei" and "Yeti". Calvert joined Anderson for the Amon Duul UK project, and made one album I know of called "Hawk Meets Penguin". I wouldn't recommend it...

Track names;

1. One Moment's Anger is Two Pints of Blood (Weinzierl)
2. Meditative Music from the Third O before the Producers (pt 1) (Amon Düül II)
3. Meditative Music from the Third O before the Producers (pt 2) (Amon Düül II)

Yeah, I've seen a few of these 'Retro Gold' sets, but I'm always wary of cut-price stuff; I'm suspicious by nature and always suspect these aren't originals due to the price.

I think everything on this compilation originally came out on the 'Demi Monde' label in the 1980s, which Dave Anderson owned, incidentally.

The Hawkwind stuff is most likely to be either the 'Space Ritual Volume 2' sessions- unused material from the Space Ritual tour, which has good sound, or the 'Bring Me The Head Of Yuri Gagarin' material, which is live at the Empire Pool in 1973, with dreadful sound. These recordings have done the rounds on hundreds of labels. Hope this helps you!

By the way Easy Livin', is the VDGG stuff all instrumental or does it have Hammill's vocals on it? I know for sure that the tracks you mention are from an album called 'Time Vaults' but have never bought it.

salmacis wrote: Yeah, I've seen a few of these 'Retro Gold' sets, but I'm always wary of cut-price stuff; I'm suspicious by nature and always suspect these aren't originals due to the price. I think everything on this compilation originally came out on the 'Demi Monde' label in the 1980s, which Dave Anderson owned, incidentally. The Hawkwind stuff is most likely to be either the 'Space Ritual Volume 2' sessions- unused material from the Space Ritual tour, which has good sound, or the 'Bring Me The Head Of Yuri Gagarin' material, which is live at the Empire Pool in 1973, with dreadful sound. These recordings have done the rounds on hundreds of labels. Hope this helps you! By the way Easy Livin', is the VDGG stuff all instrumental or does it have Hammill's vocals on it? I know for sure that the tracks you mention are from an album called 'Time Vaults' but have never bought it.

"Time Vaults" indeed has the vocals of Peter Hammill on it, but the recording quality of it is sub par, which is especially notable for "(In the) Black Room". It has some good tracks on it though. I would especially recommend "Roncevaux", "Rift Valley" (this one being a song in which a riff is used which also appears in "Meurglys III - The Songwriter's Guild" from "World Record" by VdGG) and "The Liquidator"; also one funny track called "Time Vaults", in which the band cites classics like "Je T'Aime" and "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer".

The lyrics of these songs (for those tracks that appear nowhere else) can be found here:
Roncevaux: http://www.sofasound.com/vdgcds/misclyrics.htm#3
Rift Valley: http://www.sofasound.com/vdgcds/misclyrics.htm#9
The Liquidator: http://www.sofasound.com/vdgcds/misclyrics.htm#8

to me , cosmic music is more like this:

have you tried it?

BON VOYAGE!

salmacis wrote: I think that the 'Uriah Heep Gold' set is a repackaging of the Classic Rock Productions 2-CD set 'Remasters' which consisted of the 1986- line up re-recording old hits, Easy Livin'. Some of these sets look quite interesting though.

Spot on Salmacis, that's exactly what it is. Good to hear the current line up's studio interpretations of some of the classics though.