The first Greasy Truckers Party took place in February 1972. The concert was a benefit for the Greasy Truckers who were "a loose organisation of individuals whose ideals were based on those of the Diggers in San Francisco, recycling money into worthwhile causes.” The San Francisco Diggers appear to have been an “anarchist guerrilla street theatre group” (the mind boggles). The concert featured Welsh rock band Man, Brinsley Schwarz (which included Nick Lowe and Ian Gomm as members), Magic Michael ((I have no idea who he was or what happened to him) and of course Hawkwind.
A double album was released featuring excerpts from the concert. Hawkwind’s contribution was recordings of Masters of the Universe and Born to Go. Although I am not much interested in Man (although I saw them supporting Hawkwind a couple of years ago and they were not bad) or Brinsley Schwarz I always meant to track the album down just for these two tracks.
I was delighted to see that Greasy Truckers has just been re-released as a triple CD featuring the full sets of all the bands playing. Again I am not too worried about the Man, Brinsley Schwarz and Magic Michael sets (okay one ten minute song from Magic Michael is not much of a set!) but I am looking forward to hearing the Hawkwind set:
- This is Your Captain Speaking
- You Shouldn't Do That
- The Awakening
- Master of the Universe
- Paranoia
- Earth Calling
- Silver Machine
- Welcome to the Future
- Born to Go
- Brainstorm
Okay, I have the Space Ritual (even the recent CD/DVD release) and the BBC concert which were both also recorded in 1972 but I can’t wait for it to drop through my letter box!
