This is the album that defines space-rock. Never mind all the electronic tweaks & twiddles of Tangerine Dream et al. Hawkwind had those, too, but they also had unrestrained power. Before you buy this CD, be warned that it is LOUD. I don't mean loud: I mean LOUD. The version of Brainstorm here is probably the loudest and fastest piece of rock music you will hear, and several other tracks on the album come close to it.
The atmosphere is eerie and echoing, with even moments of relative peace such as Robert Calvert's The Awakening (actually the first stanza of his poem, "The First Landing on Medusa") and Calvert's recital of Michael Moorcock's The Black Corridor possessing a definite feeling of menace; some quieter songs, such as Down Through The Night and Seven By Seven shiver with an eerieness that was not so apparent in their original studio-recorded incarnations on the Doremi Fasol Latido album and the B-side of Silver Machine, respectively.
But when the peace is broken: boy, is it shattered. Calvert's Ten Seconds of Forever quivers into a stunning collision with Brainstorm, while his astounding performance of Moorcock's Sonic Attack (itself an unsubtle but potent rip-off of Peter Porter's famous poem, "Your Attention, Please") segués into a storming rendition of the Doremi-chant, Time We Left This World Today.
From the opening bars of Born To Go to the collapse of Master Of The Universe the band plays furiously but flawlessly. The CD bonus tracks include a frantic medley of You Shouldn't Do That and Seeing It As You Really Are that was a highlight of the mid-seventies collection, Roadhawks. This is definitely a CD to own, if you can stand the headaches.