This Japanese edition features the UK original cover design with eight-panel sleeve, including an inner bag. Also features regular edition cardboard sleeve. CD features remastering using the 1975 original UK stereo master. Hawkwind's fifth studio album found the band enjoying a rare oasis of stability after the multitudinous personnel shifts of the past five years. Only the recruitment of a second drummer, Alan Powell, disturbed the equanimity of the lineup that created the previous year's Hall of the Mountain Grill, although it would soon be time to change again.
Minneapolis blues-rock quintet Crow was formed in 1967 by frontman Dave Wagner, guitarist Dick Wiegand, his bassist brother Larry, and keyboardist Kink Middlemist. Originally dubbed South 40, they added former Castaways drummer Denny Craswell to the lineup prior to recording their 1969 debut LP, Crow Music, for the Amaret label; the single "Evil Woman Don't You Play Your Games with Me" cracked the U.S. Top 20, even though its distinctive horn arrangement was overdubbed against the band's wishes. Crow by Crow followed in 1970, although the single "Cottage Cheese" failed to attract much attention. In the wake of 1971's Mosaic, Crow disbanded, although Wagner resurfaced in 1973 with a solo LP, David Wagner D/B/A Crow.
With a small jazz scene to recruit from, and no funding in the early years, Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith has turned his country's national jazz orchestra into a world-class outfit. This Duke Ellington-dedicated recording, captured on the road, ostensibly represents the band in a more conservative, classic-repertory guise (they're just as adept at contemporary music or original material). But it's an exhilarating re-enactment of Ellington's gigs, right down to the stage setup, and a spontaneous celebration rather than a routine run-through of famous material. Smith got his players to memorise many of the parts so they could bounce off Ellington's directions without anxious glances at the map. Moreover, Smith decided to select music from Ellington's and Billy Strayhorn's canon from the 1920s to the 50s…