Thanks to Graham for these reviews - except where noted otherwise, of course
The Mr Quimby’s Beard set is excellent, give or take some annoying spoken word interludes. I admit to getting a bit jaded by listening to albums by Hawkwind wannabes and no-hopers but Mr Quimby’s Beard (along with Litmus) really are as good as non-Hawkwind space rock gets, especially on “Nebulae”, “Chariots” and the majestic “Beyond the Light”, and this CD is (at the risk of being sacrilegious) comfortably more inspiring than some of the
Harvey’s first track, “Prologue” is not bad: classic sound effects, percussion work straight out of the Alman Mulo Band and a synth sound straight from “Chronicle of the Black Sword” It’s a short and pleasant track, if nothing to write home about. Same with “Epilogue”: piano chords, percussion and effects are overlaid with synth, with the emphasis on melody rather than weirdness.
Great album then, but not necessarily in relation to its Hawkwind content.
This is very much a CD of two halves, the first of which is desperately awful and the second not too bad. Perhaps in a deliberate attempt to establish their own identity, the band plays mainly non-Hawkwind material – but, at this stage the new material was little more than formless jams so the set was bolstered by recourse to jazz standards and the ill-advised revival of a Sphynx track.
"Orion Sunrise" appears be a Turner sax solo cut from a longer jam. "The Awakening" sees Calvert's
The second half though is considerably better. “Blue Train” is Nik’s take on the Coltrane tune and at least is a welcome relief from badly played space rock. The following “Space Grab” is a passable early Hawkwind-styled jam, with Nik’s sax playing prominent throughout, and the same could be said of “Warp Out”. Between these, Nik introduces the band and recites his “Thunder Rider Rap” over the tune of Silver Machine. The set closes with a rather good 10-minute version of “D-Rider”.
Right at the end, as an unfortunate reminder of a best forgotten period, Nik Turner apologises to anyone who came along expecting to see “Hawkwind featuring Mr Dave Brock”, refers to keeping the spirit of the original band alive, and asks the audience for help in his court case against said Dave Brock.
CD 1 features “Sonic Attack”, “You Shouldn’t Do That”, “Odyssey Improvisation”, “Dragon Rider”, “Waiting For Tomorrow”, “Waiting For Tomorrow” (yes, exactly the same recording, repeated twice) and “Master of the Universe”, all taken from a concert in Wales in 2000. The sound quality is poor, as you might expect from what sounds like an audience recording. “Brainstorm” is listed but doesn’t appear and the CD carries a sticker apologising for the
The remastered version restores “Brainstorm” after “Dragon Rider” in place of the extra copy of “Waiting For Tomorrow” and adds a rather strange but quite effective version of “Children Of The Sun” – Nik sings falsetto and plays flute, mixing in what sounds like a rendition of the (traditional?) folk tune that appears as “Wild Hunt” on ICU’s New Anatomy.
CD2 kicks off with two tracks from the same concert, “Silver Machine” and “Spirit of the Age”, the latter being a particularly feeble version, and the one track here which involved none of the Space Odyssey band when it was written and recorded. The remaining four tracks (“Sonic Attack”, “Odyssey Improvisation”, “Brainstorm”, “Ten Seconds Of Forever”) come from the band’s previous (and first ever) concert. The sound quality is markedly better on these tracks. The lack of a keyboard player also makes for a generally cleaner sound. Extended instrumental jams are the order of the day, with “Sonic Attack” stretched out over 15 minutes and “Ten Seconds Of Forever” becoming almost 13 minutes of forever.
When I first played these CDs I couldn’t believe how awful they were but, after a few listens, the loose jamming around familiar Hawkwind tunes starts to make sense, the band are clearly enjoying themselves and it’s worth a listen even if only for the historical interest. In fact, there are some moments, especially the tracks on CD2 (from the first concert), that are quite good. However, a little more rehearsal - and investment in professional sound recording - could have made it a much more worthwhile exercise.
The album comes partially to life with "Nebulae" but it still whimpers where it should roar. The synth carries the keening melody, the rhythm guitar chugs away in the background, the drummer achieves a classic Ringo Starr slapping a tapioca pudding sound, the lead guitar kicks in for some minimalist soloing and the bass occasionally bubbles into the foreground. It's really not a bad space rock song, from somewhere in Damnation Alley/PXR5 territory, but the production is dreadful.
"The Frailty Of Man" comprises a minute and a half of synth, effects plus sampled spoken words from a space shuttle launch. It might have worked as an interlude if the band had got some kind of momentum going. Next!
"Mystery Part 2" kicks off on a decent riff; organ and vocals come in on the verse and again there's a good song trying to get out from under the horribly lifeless production. Instead of taking off though, it moves almost immediately into a weedy, self-referential and much too long spoken word section, backed by just bass and drums. After an eternity, a sequenced rhythm kicks in and organ and choral vocals take up the melody. After a brief reprise of the opening section, the track moves to a relaxed end, driven by some fluid bass playing. "A Glimmer Of Hope" is another linking piece: spoken words, sound effects, a few guitar shapes thrown in. Next!
"Beyond The Light" starts with an elegant synth theme, underpinned by urgent rhythm guitar, and moves through various, well-executed, fast and slow instrumental passages over the course of 10 minutes. The lead guitar lines are predictable but effective and there's some wordless singing (whoa oh oh oh etc) towards the end. You just know that this is designed to be a classic live number, which makes it such a shame that the production is again so feeble - and that they insert some pointless vocal samples along the way.
"Darkness" features sound effects, heavy percussion and Arabic-flavoured synth colourings, i.e. Alan Davey solo album territory. However, the chanted vocals recall "Magnu" and, although it's all stretched a bit thin over nearly 8 minutes, it ain't bad. "Deejam" is altogether harder-edged with a prominent bass-line, a better drum sound, a grinding riff and some lively synth and lead guitar work over the top. Tight and to the point, it segues neatly into "The Shading Suns", where synth, acoustic guitar, seagull sounds, and mournful vocal and a lyric about the end of time raise the distinct suspicion that MQB have been trying to recreate the mighty WOTEOT - the last three tracks being homages to (or pastiches of) Magnu, Opa Loka and The Demented Man.
On the other hand, the synthesized pipes on the closing "The Perplexity Of Infinity" suggest an unexpected excursion into Peruvian folk music. Overall then, some good stuff mixed with the dross, but the whole is still rather less than the sum of its parts. Released on their own Freaky Fungi imprint in 2000 as SPCD 014 and available from the MQB website.
"Snake Dance" makes all the right moves and is well-executed: the track builds gradually from a repeated synth pattern to achieve the full space-rock mix complete with obligatory grinding guitar riff and spacey sound effects. The main riff is dull though and the chanted vocals weak. Lesson one: unless you've got a truly killer riff, you need to have a tune. The mostly instrumental "Coming Down" builds slowly and effectively, with some good synth work
"Wake Up" is a straightforward "Brainstorm" rip-off, although owing more to the punky version on ICU's "Pass Out" than to the original. Unlike the rest of the album so far this is actually quite good fun! The following "Out There" maintains the momentum nicely, even if the vocals are barely comprehensible. "Another Visit" is a truly horrible filler track with a looped synthesized vocal repeating the title continuously. "Try" is 'let's do Brainstorm' part 2. Finally we get the unpleasantly titled "Bringing Up Acid" which is all rather elegant and tasteful until the end, where the band do indeed sing about regurgitation.
It draws on material originally issued in the 1980s: The album "Never Reach The Stars" (Flicknife, Sharp 023, 1984) featured six tracks, all repeated here: Seven Light Years, Robot, Forlorn & Lethal, Between Worlds, The Elite and Never Reach the Stars. The live/studio set "Through The
"Seven Light Years" is a strong opener, and "Robot" maintains the momentum, both featuring sci-fi themed lyrics. "Forlorn And Lethal" is a (mostly) tasteful heavy ballad, although it rocks out with a vengeance at the end - after a cringe-worthy spoken word interlude: "You really like this don't you? I mean, you actually enjoy what you do! You really are a twisted little bitch!". No political correctness in the 1980s!
"Between Worlds" starts gently, with a simple synth pattern and gradually builds up into full-on space rock. Even at nine-minutes long it doesn't outstay its welcome. "The Elite" also starts slowly, this time with a repeated guitar figure and is spoiled by spoken vocals - but it still builds up to a pretty intense finale. The amps are turned to 11 for "Never Reach The Stars", on which only the inevitable spoken word interlude detracts from our enjoyment.
"Rainbow Warrior" is a stately instrumental, the final two and a half minutes of which feature a gorgeous understated guitar part, the sound and atmosphere of which are not a million miles from some of King Crimson's more reflective moments. "Aimless Flight" is a monster of a tune, with a repeated melodic hook played in unison on synths and guitars. The track labelled "Atomhenge" (surely a Freudian slip as it think it was originally titled "Atomchild") makes up for a weaker melody with some sterling instrumental work, notably on keyboards (think Ray Manzarek or Dave Greenfield) and lead guitar. "Genocide" is suitably strident and intense, with a great riff and terrific keyboards, maintaining the high energy level right to the end of the album.
This rather fine CD can be ordered from the band's website. There's also a complete discography on the website so you can see where various other tracks and live versions can be obtained.
"Canes Venatici" should be familiar from the original Hawkwind Friends & Relations Volume 3 LP or the Best of friends and relations CD, and is pretty good. Live versions of "Robot", "Between Worlds" and "The Elite" show that the band's studio sound was fairly close to the live sound - and that this material works well in a live setting.
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