Sonic Attack

There are some cracking tunes on this album, particularly the romping 'Angels of Death', 'Living On A Knife Edge', 'Streets of Fear', 'Coded Languages'(thanks, MM), 'Virgin of the World' and 'Rocky Paths'. The return of HWL brought the guitar up in the mix of these songs and the steady bass of HB made for an expansive, wide-ranging and tight set of tunes. Really great stuff.

Hawkwind at their finest

Being one of my favorite Hawkwind albums, I love this remastered version of Sonic Attack, and it includes some interesting and excellent bonus tracks! It has never sounded better, and the bonus tracks are nice! I especially love the extra track "The End of Earth City". I definately recommend this to any Hawkwind fan!

I bought the vinyl LP of Sonic Attack and was disappointed. I have many of Hawkwinds albums and CDs from the early 70s to 2000's and I like all of them to some degree. This album had no memorable tracks and this is my least favorite Hawkwind studio album I own. I felt I was just listening to repetitive noise. "Warrior on the edge of time" and "In search of space" are my favorite Hawkwind albums. And there are many other great Hawkwind albums. I cannot recommend Sonic Attack.

Sonic Attack might sound like a name of one of their endless (often useless) compilation albums, but it was actually an album of brand new compositions, with the exception of a reworking of the title track. This album was originally released in 1981 on RCA, during one of those times the band just witness yet another endless shift of personnell. At this point Ginger Baker and Tim Blake had left, with Martin Griffin returning, and Harvey Bainbridge now also handing the synthesizers as well as bass. Sci-fi author Michael Moorcock also guests on vocals on "Coded Languages" which comes to show the one thing he isn't particularly good at is singing. 1981 is smack in the middle of a big prog rock dry spell, but for some reason, Hawkwind was able to make it through that decade without any problem, as Sonic Attack is some of their most energetic and exciting works I have ever heard! Just listen to "Rocky Paths" and you'll know what I mean! The album seems to be a concept about the invasion of privacy, abuse of technology, the suppression of free thought, surveillance of the population, it seems to reek of George Orwell's 1984, but what really scary about this album (like 1984) is a lot of this stuff is coming true. Several songs addresses these social problems that seem to be coming true like "Psychosonia", "Living On A Knife Edge", and "Coded Languages". While many of the other progressive rock bands had pretty much disappeared by 1981, like Yes, Gentle Giant, ELP, or started turning to a less interesting direction, like Genesis, for example, I am amazed how this band was able to go through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and released great albums through each of these decades (but of course, Hawkwind had the habit of giving us a lot of useless compilations and live albums from tiny labels as well). Because of the fairly consistent work of Hawkwind that you can't claim with lots of other prog bands, it's no wonder why this band had kept such a loyal audience through the years (that's also a big reason why Ozric Tentacles also received quite a loyal audience through the years as well). If you're a Hawkwind fan, pick up a copy of Sonic Attack, you won't be disappointed!

The brave Hawkship sailed on through the 80s and 90s, even after it was fairly clear that their time had passed. Listening to Sonic Attack seems to confirm the suspicion that by this time, the silver engine had begun to sputter a bit. The previous year's Levitation (the group's last true masterpiece) was--and still is--a stunning testament to the band's resiliency. Sonic Attack is certainly entertaining, if somewhat inconsequential, and there are several excellent tracks that make the album a worthwhile effort: the blazing "Angels of Death" is an instant classic, while Huw Lloyd-Langton's aptly titled "Rocky Paths" smashes through the sound barrier at Mach 3; "Living on a Knife's Edge" and the Moorcock-penned "Coded Languages" also light up the intergalactic dustlanes with fiery guitar work and crashing synths. For hawkfans, it's another enjoyable trip, but the decision to rework "Sonic Attack"--how can you improve upon the original?--was a mistake, one which would ultimately lead Dave Brock on future Hawkwind albums into further self-parody. To be sure, Hawkwind certainly did far worse later on as they moved further and further away from the signature psychedelic space rock sound they pioneered in the 70's. Sonic Attack still finds the group in good form, even if it's quite obvious that Brock and crew were beginning to run out of ideas as the 80's dawned. Definitely worth hearing if you're a dedicated roadhawk.

First off the sound quality is excellent. As a fan of Hawkwind for more years than I care to mention, this one is a disappointment. I have listened to this CD a few times and there is nothing that grabs me. To me this is a cop out. All they wanted to do was release an album for the record label to make money from and then to fund future releases. Gone are the sax and orgon accumulator only to be replaced with some dodgy guitar and synths. It also appears that the vocals take centre stage. There is no throbbing bass or pounding drums. To rub salt into the wound, this cd comes in at about 38 minutes. Then what do you get on CD 2 ,well it should have been left in the vaults. I was lucky enough to have not had to pay a small fortune for this.

I can't believe I paid £14 for this album. However I couldn't find it in a download store.I like the album a lot, although I never bother with the title track anymore. I guess it puts some new folk off as it would be the first rack they hear. The track Streets of Fear, having the line, "I can murder, steal, or r***", could put some off too. However it appears more like a warning of, 'don't go out late at night alone'. I mean, it even opens with the lyrics, "What is this that I see here, You're walking through the streets of fear"........Anyway I just bought this album again on CD, after someone stole my vinyl.Tracks like Rocky Paths, and Living on a Knife Edge, are tracks that I could not live without. The whole (first CD) album is very good. I will copy/rip it omitting the title track Sonic Attack as I am not keen on that track. Then adding on a few tracks from the second CD that I like. Therefor making one large ripped album.I don't understand how people can miss this album or say it's not as good as others. It's pure Hawkwind gold. OK it's not quite as guitary as Doremi Fasol Latido, but it's very close. The first album Hawkwind - Hawkwind often mentioned as a classic on its own. Sonic Attack fits in perfectly.I listened to an upload of the two Sonic Attack CDs on Youtube before buying. Therefor I knew I liked enough of the second CD of bonus material. Like I liked the extended version of Living on a Knife Edge, before buying.

I've bought this CD now mainly for nostalgic reasons. I got into Hawkwind the year before Sonic Attack was released, and after seeing the band play for the first time at The Roundhouse in December 1980, I became a regular follower of the band, seeing them live quite a few times on tour and at festivals during the early 80s. Thus the songs on this album seem to have worn deep grooves in my brain: although I haven't listened to this record in years, it is all so familiar. I'm guessing that many attracted to revisiting Sonic Attack in 2010 will be treading a similar path of reacquaintance.Those considering dipping in again may be wondering what you get. The album comes in a double CD jewel case enclosed in a card slipcase. The latter nicely shows off the striking album artwork. The first CD has the remastered version of the original album. The sound quality is good, though I have no other versions of the album to compare it to. The second CD has a generous collection of bonus material of varying quality and interest, including extended and alternate versions of some of the songs on CD 1. All in all it's a very nice package, and it is hard to think of any way in which Atomhenge could have bettered this release. I would like to emphasise that I have given `5 stars' for the quality and value of the re-issue. Anyone who likes this album will surely be more than pleased with this release.Regarding the music itself, I would hesitate to go beyond 3 stars. There are some good songs that have stood the test of time: Rocky Paths, Angels of Death, perhaps Streets of Fear, but this is not an album that I would very often play all the way through (my preferred way of enjoying music). Even back in the day I think we all realised Sonic Attack, for all the fun of being into the band at that time, wasn't really up there with the early to mid-70s space rock `glory days' of Hawkwind, or even the eclectic and experimental late 70s Charisma period.However, to give them their due, Hawkwind were never a band to stand still, and undoubtably updated their sound on Sonic Attack. You could say that the 70s-style spacey chugga chugga bleep whoosh had given way to a much more rocking dagga dagga crash bang. The tone is also quite different to the slick, sumptuous studio perfection found on the previous year's Levitation - there is a harder edge to Huw Lloyd-Langton's guitar chops, and a brisk, urgent rhythm section. The vocals are strident, even shouty; the drum sound is quite harsh and crashing, and the playing has an automaton-like metronomic quality, all perhaps reflecting the technofear and distrust of authority evident in the lyrics of several of the songs. Here, at least, the band were prescient: in the nearly 30 years (I can hardly believe it is so long) since Sonic Attack first hit the largely CCTV-free streets, Big Brother has certainly been very busy!To sum up: although not amongst my personal favourite Hawkwind albums, this is a very high quality re-issue that anyone who is into early 80s RCA period Hawkwind should not hesitate to acquire.

Once more Atomhenge give us a CD re-issue with a bonus CD packed full of goodies and a decent booklet. The actual disc is pretty much as you would expect, though I think Huw is a bit muddied on Rocky Paths. Apart from that the disc is fine, but not startlingly better than the last CD version to my ears.The extras disc starts with a single release version of Angels of Death and Transdimensional Man then moves to the good stuff, lots of demo and extended versions of tracks. Brock's Sonic Attack is not as good as Harvey on the main disc, much material points to overlap with Church of Hawkwind (coming soon) and I liked the Living on a Knife Edge (extended). Definitely worth a few listens.Overall a good set of tunes, some better than others, well produced, packaged and priced.Keep it up!

i have to go against the previous reviews,i dont believe this has ever been a five star album,it was a pretty decent album back in the 80's but not 5 stars.What do we get ,the original disc remastered and to these ears a couple of muddy moments ,certainly rocky paths,and not an improvement on the essential broadcast system release .so the 2nd disc has all the points to prove,like the other releases atomhenge have found some superb stuff,the highlight being the extended version of livin on a knife edge.This period of Hawkwind found the band becoming slightly heavier amalgamating their SciFi rock with the metal fans(Angels of Death) and they do it very well,however it is a good album rather than top drawer like its predeccesor 'Levitation'Congrats to Atomhenge again