The Text of Festival is an archive album by Hawkwind consisting of BBC sessions and live performances between 1970 and 1971. It was originally released in 1983 after the band had exited their Active Records contract, and has continuously been repackaged and retitled ever since.
The copyright of the recordings on the first disc is owned by the BBC who were not approached for permission for their commercial use, so the legality of this album is questionable. The source tapes used are not from the BBC, but inferior-quality off-air recordings of the broadcast. The recordings have also appeared on The Weird Tapes, Hawkwind, Friends and Relations and Hawkwind Anthology.
Track listing
Side 1 "Master of the Universe" (Nik Turner, Dave Brock) – 6:00 "You Know You're Only Dreaming" (Brock) – 4:15 "You Shouldn't Do That" (Turner, Brock) – 5:52 "Hurry on Sundown" (Brock) – 6:20
Side 2 "Paranoia" (Hawkwind)"Seeing It As You Really Are" (Hawkwind) – 11:50 "We Do It" (Hawkwind) – 13:45
Side 3 "You Shouldn't Do That" (Hawkwind) – 21:35 [listed as "Sound, Shouldn't, Improvise"]
Side 4 "The Reason Is?" (Hawkwind) – 11:35"Be Yourself" (Hawkwind) – 5:51 [listed as "Improvise, Compromise, Reprise"]
Personnel Dave Brock - guitar, vocals Nik Turner - saxophone, flute, vocals Huw Lloyd-Langton - guitar (track 4) Thomas Crimble - bass guitar (tracks 4–6 and disc 2) Dave Anderson - bass guitar (tracks 1–3) Dik Mik Davies - Synthesizer Terry Ollis - drums
Notes "Come Home" is listed on the album following "We Do It", but has never been included on any of the releases of this album. It does appear on the Hawkwind Anthology compilation set. "The Reason Is?" and "Be Yourself" have never be issued on any of the CD versions. Later releases erroneously claim that this recording is from the Cambridge Corn Exchange. There is a recording in existence from The Six Hour Technicolor Dream featuring Hawkwind, Pink Fairies and Syd Barrett at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on 27 January 1972, the Hawkwind portion of which was released in 2011 as Leave No Star Unturned (see Discogs entry). Sources Track 1–3: Maida Vale, London, 19 May 1971; Broadcast: Sounds of the Seventies, 27 May 1971 (with Wishbone Ash) & 24 June 1971 (with Cochise). Track 4: Maida Vale, 18 August 1970; Broadcast: Top Gear, 19 September 1970. Tracks originally broadcast from this session: "Hurry on Sundown", "Seeing It As You Really Are" and "Some of That Stuff" [aka "Come Home"]. Track 5–6: Paris Cinema, London, 5 November 1970; Broadcast: John Peel Sunday Concert, 15 November 1970. Disc 2: Recorded at Colchester Technical College, 19 February 1971 (with Uriah Heep). Credits Cover art by John Coulthart. The album title is a reference to the debut novel by Mick Farren.
Release history
Date Title Format Region Label, Catalogue NoteJul/1983The Text of Festival2x12"vinylUKIlluminated Records, JAMS29Jul/1985In the BeginningCDUKDemi Monde, DM005sides 1 and 2Nov/1988The Text of Festival2x12"vinylUK, GermanyThunderbolt THBL 2.068Dec/1988The Text of FestivalCDUKThunderbolt CDTB 2.068sides 1–3Jul/1992Masters of the UniverseCDUK, USA, GermanyThunderbolt, CDTB105sides 1 and 21993The Text of FestivalCDUKThunderbolt CDTB 068sides 1–31996Masters of the UniverseCD digipakFranceSpalax, SPALAXCD14972sides 1 and 2Jan/1996Masters of the UniverseCDUSAMagnum America, MACD028sides 1 and 2Feb/1998Welcome to the FutureCD1 of 4UKDressed to Kill, CLP0220-2sides 1 and 2Feb/1998Welcome to the FutureCD4 of 4UKDressed to Kill, CLP0220-2sides 1–3Mar/1999The Entire and Infinite Universe of HawkwindCD1 of 4UKDressed to Kill, REDTK98sides 1 and 2Mar/1999The Entire and Infinite Universe of HawkwindCD4 of 4UKDressed to Kill, REDTK98sides 1–3Aug/1999Live 1970 1972CDUKPegasus, PEGCD197sides 1–3Sep/1999Year 2000: Codename HawkwindCD2 of 2UKNew Millennium Communications, PILOT33sides 1 and 22000Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin: Live At the Empire Pool 1976CD2 of 2GermanyFalconsides 1 and 2, omits "Master of the Universe"Oct/2002Cosmic OverdriveCD2 of 2UKNew Millennium Communications, PILOT 146sides 1 and 2Mar/2005Codename HawkwindCDUKNeptune Records, TUNECD102sides 1 and 2
References