Hawkwind - The Chronicle Of The Black Sword (1985)

Hawkwind's 1985 stage production based on Michael Moorcock's Elric books is showing its age a little. Featuring dated, naff video "effects" and editing that's amateur at best I can only surmise that this was one of those shows that you had to be at to fully enjoy the experience. The band's performance is fantastic, coming from the same source as the Live Chronicles album. Throughout the performance the band is accompanied by Michael Moorcock, who delivers a number of narrations with typical gusto and, er, dancers (mimes) who appear as characters from the Elric books, most notably Elric (Tony Crerar) and Zarozinia (Kris Tait) - these can appear unintentionally silly at times - the swimming 'miming' that goes on during "Sea King" is so daft that it almost detracts from the quality of the music. The screen is dark a lot of the time, with only vague shapes of Dave Brock and 'Elric' to look at, though in hindsight this may be a blessing as previously noted; some of the miming can appear a bit funny. The highlight of the show is undoubtedly Huw Lloyd-Langton's "Moonglum" (you can actually see the band's performance and the mimes must've been off having a rest). Though this DVD has been slated by the whole Spinal Tap-esque appearance of the concert (Dave Brock wears a black hood and the rest of the band appear to wear medieval fantasy garb and, except for Huw; funky face paint) it's still worth getting if: (1) you happen to be a fan of both Michael Moorcock's Elric books and Hawkwind (2) you want an idea of what the rare Chronicle Of The Black Sword material sounds like, or (3) if you couldn't make it to the shows. The audio can't be faulted, but sometimes you just might want to look away. ~Amazon

Tracks:
1. Song Of The Swords
2. Sea King
3. Master Of The Universe
4. Choose Your Masques
5. Needlegun
6. Zarozinia
7. Lords Of Chaos
8. Brainstorm
9. Mooglum
10. Elric The Enchanter
11. Magnu
12. Horn Of Destiny
Bonus Tracks
13. Coded Languages
14. Born To Go
15. Utopia
16. Levitation
17. Needlegun (Promo)

Personnel:
- Harvey Bainbridge / keyboards, synthesizers, voice
- Dave Brock / vocals, synthesizers, guitar
- Dave Charles / percussion
- Alan Davies / bass, backing vocals
- Huw Lloyd-Langton / lead guitar, vocals
- Danny Thompson / drums

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