Monday, June 3, 2013

Hawkwind- Warrior on the Edge of Time (Atomhenge ATOMbox1001)

I ordered this box months ago and it just arrived and I have to say it is an amazing package with an exact reproduction of the original shield cover fold out and poster. Very nice. In addition, you get the original album remastered on CD as well as a new mix by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and a 5.1 DVD audio mix by Mr. Wilson as well. This is a guy who really knows what he is doing. The first CD features the remastered record from the original stereo mix down.  In addition, you get to hear several outttakes and demos and finally the Dave Brock sung version of Motorhead. Some of this is pretty cool and some of it not that interesting. There are two versions of Soldiers on the Edge of Time, one with Michael Moorcock on the lead vocals (very passionate) and Nik Turner version. A track called On the Road is a short 1min acoustic guitar piece with some harmonica performed by Dave Brock. Pity this one is so short as this takes you back to the 1st album vibe. Nik’s version of the Wizard Blew his Horn is also included. The demo of Spiral galaxy is maybe even longer than the original and very searching and you can hear the elements that were used to seal the final version which is for sure better than this one. The instrumental version of Kings of Speed ends the CD.

CD2 is the new stereo mix from the original multitrack master tapes! All I can say is WOW…. Like Mr.Wilson did with the King Crimson records, he makes his new mix have the same sound and feel as the original so you don’t feel like you are hearing a totally different album but he has made the clarity of the mix so amazing. You can really hear things you could never hear or really appreciate on the original mix. Then there is the bonus tracks, which includes a totally unknown jam from the March 1975 sessions called Dawn. A pretty cool track and Dave plays some different guitar lines than I would have expected. In August 1975 the band played the Watchfield festival in the UK and you have three tracks from this festival, all are edits of longer pieces and the one called Watchfield Jam is actually just the jamming part of Brainstorm. Circles and I am the Eye are also spaced out jams. Some cool playing. This CD is 78mins long..

          The DVD contains 96khz audio versions of the remaster by Ben Wiseman, the new stereo and 5.1 audio mixes by Steven Wilsion. These sound totally amazing on my stereo and for sure are the only ones I will listen to with my friends when I really want to impress them with how great this record is. It has always been my favourite Hawkwind record and now I can hear it in the best quality version possible. It will never get better sounding than this. Enjoy..


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