IN THE BEGINNING...

What alternate universe do these things seep from? Somehow I've managed to sneak up on HAWKWIND, sifting through their garbage before shaking their hand in a proper hello. It's probably because I'm a cheap bastard, willing to part with six dollars for a glimpse of HAWKWIND but unwilling to keep pumping quarters into the slot for the full body shot. These are live recordings according to the liner notes, captured in an hallucinatory state rather than with clarity, but to my ears it exists in a middle world between real and unreal. Of course it's inessential to the casual acquaintance, yet perhaps more likely to make your acquaintance than a $20 copy of their earlier works. The danger is that some might mistake this for a true vision of HAWKWIND, which in some sense it is, though the band was more careful with their vision than these versions would suggest. It wasn't all some psychedelic jamfest, only part of it, and you'd be mistaken in taking from In The Beginning that HAWKWIND didn't pack for the trip as conscientiously as Gong. The opening "Master of the Universe" and "Dreaming" sound just fine, but by "Hurry On A Sundown" it's clear we're gonna have to work for this one. I wouldn't give it the boot out of hand, just approach it with the same expectations.

If a sneaky peek at the Hawk appeals to you, fidelity or not, then there's pleasure to be had in watching them while they do "I Do It." (Not to diminish the band's achievement but I've written a song on top of the two-note riffs of "Paranoia" out of boredom and it rocks, wrote the mind too beautiful to behold.) Anyway if you see In The Beginning in the bargain bin and you don't mind getting your ears dirty, gowahid.