DAYS OF THE UNDERGROUND: THE STUDIO & LIVE RECORDINGS 1977-1979

Hawkwind

•

Psychedelic/Space Rock

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Boxset/Compilation, released in 2023

Songs / Tracks Listing

DISC ONE: Quark, Strangeness And Charm - The Steven Wilson remix
1. Spirit of the Age
2. Damnation Alley
3. Fable of a Failed Race
4. Quark, Strangeness and Charm
5. Hassan I Sahba
6. The Forge of Vulcan
7. The Days of the Underground
8. The Iron Dream
- Bonus tracks:
9. Damnation Alley (live studio version)
10. A minor Jam session
11. Spirit of the Age (demo excerpt)

DISC TWO: The Rockfield Studio sessions 1977
1. Damnation Alley (first version)
2. Spirit of the Age (full version)
3. The Days of the Underground (first version)
4. Quark, Strangeness and Charm / Uncle Sam's on Mars 5 Fable of a Failed Race (extended version)
6. Cake Out
7. Fahrenheit 451 (jam session)
8. Century X (jam session)

DISC THREE: Hawklords - 25 Years On - The Steven Wilson remix
1. PSI Power
2. Freefall
3. Automoton
4. 25 Years
5. Flying Doctor
6. The Only Ones
7. (Only) The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid
8. The Age of the Micro Man
- Bonus tracks:
9. The Only Ones (acoustic demo)
10. (Only) The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid (demo)
11. Freefall (take two)
12. Automoton (full version)
13. 25 Years (take one)
14 Flying Doctor (live studio rehearsal)
15. (Only) The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid (take two)
16. The Age of the Micro Man (take one)
17. Digger Jam

DISC FOUR: PXR 5 - The Steven Wilson remix
1. Death Trap
2. Jack of Shadows
3. Uncle Sam's On Mars
4. Infinity
5. Life Form
6. Robot
7. High Rise
8. P.X.R. 5
- Bonus tracks:
9. Jack of Shadows (live studio version)
10. High Rise (live studio version)
11. We Like to Be Frightened
12. Robot (first overdubbed version)
13. Jack of Shadows (Adrian Shaw vocal version)
14. PSI Power (single version)
15. 25 Years (single version)
16. Death Trap (single version)

DISC FIVE: Live September 1977 - Fairfield Hall, Croydon and The Gaumont, Ipswich
1. Brainstorm (live Croydon 1977)
2. High Rise (live Croydon 1977)
3. Robot (live Croydon 1977)
4. Wind of Change (live Croydon 1977)
5. Jack of Shadows (live Croydon 1977)
6. Spirit of the Age (live Ipswich 1977)
7. Sonic Attack (live Ipswich 1977)
8. Damnation Alley (live Ipswich 1977)
9. Uncle Sam's on Mars / The Iron Dream (live Ipswich 1977)
10. Quark, Strangeness and Charm (live Ipswich 1977)
11. Master of the Universe (live Ipswich 1977)
12. Welcome to the Future (live Ipswich 1977)

DISC SIX: Live September 1977 - De Montfort Hall Leicester
1. Brainstorm
2. Steppenwolf
3. High Rise
4. Robot
5. Spirit of the Age
6. Sonic Attack
7. Damnation Alley
8. Uncle Sam's on Mars /The Iron Dream
9. Master of the Universe
10. Welcome to the Future

DISC SEVEN: Sonic Assassins - Queensway Hall, Barnstaple - 23rd December 1977
1. Golden Void
2. Magnu /Angels of Life
3. Freefall
4. Death Trap
5. Over the Top
6. Master of the Universe
7. Welcome to the Future

DISC EIGHT: Hawklords - Brunel University, Uxbridge - 24th November 1978
1. Automoton
2. 25 Years
3. High Rise
4. Death Trap
5. The Age of the Micro Man
6. Spirit of the Age
7. Urban Guerrilla
8. Sonic Attack
9. PSI Power
10. Brainstorm

DISC NINE: Quark Strangeness And Charm - Steven Wilson's 5.1 Surround Sound And Stereo mixes (96kHz / 24-bit)
1. Spirit of the Age
2. Damnation Alley
3. Fable of a Failed Race
4. Quark, Strangeness And Charm
5. Hassan I Sahba
6. The Forge of Vulcan
7. The Days of the Underground
8. The Iron Dream
-Bonus visual content:
1. Quark, Strangeness and Charm ('Marc' TV show 1977)

DISC TEN: 25 Years On - Steven Wilson's 5.1 surround sound & stereo mixes (96kHz / 24-bit)
1. PSI Power
2. Freefall
3. Automoton
4. 25 Years
5. Flying Doctor
6. The Only Ones
7. (Only) The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid
8. The Age of the Micro Man
- Bonus visual content:
Hawklords - Brunel University, Uxbridge 24th November 1978
9. PSI Power (promotional film 1978)
10. 25 Years (promotional film 1978)
- P.X.R. 5 - Steven Wilson's 5.1 Surround Sound & stereo mixes (96kHz / 24-bit):
11. Death Trap
12. Jack of Shadows
13. Uncle Sam's On Mars
14. Infinity
15. Life Form
16. Robot
17. High Rise
18. P.X.R. 5

Line-up / Musicians

See original albums

Releases information

Boxset Atomhenge - ATOMCD101050 (UK, 2023)
- Deluxe 10-disc boxset (8 CD / 2 Blu-ray) including all of the recordings made and released by Hawkwind/Hawklords between 1977 and 1979 featuring Robert Calvert.
- New stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes by Steven Wilson of Quark, Strangeness And Charm, Hawklords - 25 Years On, P. X. R. 5 .
- With an additional four CDs of live material including all the surviving recordings from the September 1977, Sonic Assassins concert in December 1977, Hawklords Live at Uxbridge University, all mixed from the original multi-track masters.
- Also including the previously unreleased promotional film of Hawklords at Uxbridge University in 1978 and a performance of Quark, Strangeness and Charm on the Marc Bolan TV show.
- A lavishly illustrated book, essay and a poster.

Thanks to Per Kohler for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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HAWKWIND Days of the Underground: The Studio & Live Recordings 1977-1979 ratings distribution

4.05
(2 ratings)

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(50%)
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(50%)
Good, but non-essential (0%)
Collectors/fans only (0%)
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)

HAWKWIND Days of the Underground: The Studio & Live Recordings 1977-1979 reviews

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Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER

Although their most seminal period was around the heady days of Space Ritual, Hawkwind's late-1970s work also deserves attention, and Days of the Underground offers a deluxe look at this period in the band's history. For one thing, it comes with three freshly-baked Steven Wilson mixes of their 1977-1978 studio albums - Quark, Strangeness and Charm, PXR5, and 25 Years On (released under the Hawklords moniker), all of which present significant sonic improvements over previous CD issues and really refresh the material while remaining true to the original spirit of the releases. Blu-ray offerings of these mixes in 5.1 surround sound are also presented.

As well as those three albums we get a disc of studio sessions from Rockfield Studios from January 1977, which captures the band working out much of the material which would form Quark, Strangeness & Charm. You get early versions of most of the songs there - a bit trippier, looser, and more jam-like than the more polished takes on the album, and so perhaps to some tastes better - as well as a clutch of improvisations.

A brace of live shows from September 1977 showcase how the band sounded promoting Quark, Strangeness & Charm (and test-driving material which would make it onto PXR5) on the road. The best of these is probably the Leicester show, but all of the live extracts here show the band taking an approach which blends their classic style with just a touch of manic punk energy. Of all the psych-space-prog groups of the early 1970s, Hawkwind's DIY approach and political forthrightness perhaps left them best-placed to be adopted by the punk era, and these live shows demonstrate why.

The legendary "Sonic Assassins" gig from December 1977 is also included here - a one-off gig which experimented with folding some members of local Devon band Ark into the Hawkwind line-up. Subsequent lineup changes would lead to some of the Ark lads becoming members of Hawkwind more full-time; in particular, Harvey Bainbridge would be a lynchpin of Hawkwind's 1980s sound. Whilst Robert Calvert had to be gently coaxed into performing the gig - he was concerned about the lack of rehearsals - the injection of new blood into Hawkwind here gives things a new dynamic, with the keyboards in particular taking a significant step forwards.

Last up is the Brunel University live recording originally released as Live '78, an excellent release capturing the Hawklords-era band in fine form, both in CD form and with some extracts presented in video form on the supplementary Blu-Rays.

This is the sort of Hawkwind set we need more of. A lot of the live and unreleased studio material has been released before, sure, but aside from the Live '78 show a lot of it has been in the form of a few tracks here and a few tracks there on a disparate range of sometimes quite hit-and-miss compilations and EPs. By contrast, this is a one-stop shop which will give you not only all three albums from this period of the band, but a generous helping of live shows at that. I sincerely hope they intend to do more of these, at least for those periods where Atomhenge have the rights to the relevant albums; a collection covering the period of Warrior On the Edge of Time and Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music would be grand, as would a set spanning 1979 to the early 1980s or one doing a deep dive on the Chronicle of the Black Sword period.

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