Hawkwind: Warriors on the Edge of Easter

Hawkwind have announced that their Spring Tour is called "Warrior On The Edge Of Time 2013."

The statement reads:

The spring Hawkwind tour, which launches at their HawkEaster event in Devon on 30th and 31st of March will include a full performance of the Warrior on the Edge of Time album, and will be complemented by a long awaited and very special album release.

In what will be a first for Hawkwind, the current line up will play the entire Warrior album in its original sequence as part of their set.

Only one album release can really qualify for the phrase 'long awaited,' and that's a re-release of the 1975 album "Warrior on the Edge of Time". It's been out on CD before (Dojo in the UK and Griffin in the US) but copies aren't exactly plentiful.

"Warrior" was Lemmy's last Hawkwind album, before he started Motorhead.

Whereas Hawkwind material produced prior to 1975 belongs to EMI (who now have sole rights to the United Artists catalog) it seems the Hawkwind participants on "Warrior" have the final say on if or when that particular album is put on sale; and I've heard it was Lemmy who was blocking its re-release.

It's not clear to me if this is directly connected with Lemmy's famous comments about the album, where he described it as "a fuck-up from start to finish."

Anyway, it's seemingly now going to be an Esoteric/Atomhenge release (ie, Cherry Red Records) and this raises interesting possibilities, as different approaches have been used by them on their different re-releases in the past.

Scenario 1: Quark, Strangeness and Charm

This 1977 album was reissued in 2009 with a second CD containing alternative versions of various QSC tracks, including two alternative "Damnation Alley" versions, an acoustic version of "Days of the Underground" and the full length "Spirit of the Age" - 11 minutes instead of 7½.

Scenario 2: Levitation

This 1980 album was also reissued in 2009. The remastered album was on one CD and two additional CDs contained most of the Hammersmith Odeon gig from that year's autumn Levitation tour.

If Warrior gets either of those two treatments, it will be a pretty vital purchase for the fans.





The spring tour currently is scheduled to take in Bath, Cardiff, Preston, Rotherham and Seaton. More details are on hawkwind.com