HAWKEYE: TO CONQUER THE WORLD

This article was originally published in Standard #2 1986. This magazine was produced by Max Admiraal and Gerard Davelaar from the Netherlands;  Marie Presager in France, and Jan Erik Justesen in Norway. 
The author was Gerard Davelaar





THE HAWKEYE STORY

Hawkeye was not so much a label as it was an idea. They were only in it for the fun of releasing albums, and not for the money. The only thing the Hawk got for his idea’s were some sample copies from the released albums. Another reason was that, by offering new titles, other “companies” wouldn’t repackage old albums and release these over and over again. Thanks to this policy a variety of albums is or was available. Only recently the silly repackaging and digging up old stuff has begun again. (An example is the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” album, no information given about the tracks, and all the tracks taken from previously released gigs.)

The albums came not from one “company”, but were produced by various people in the USA and Europe. But the idea for Hawkeye started much earlier, under a different name and produced various EP’s. It started in the spring of 1982, when someone got access to doing EP’s cheaply. He didn’t have material though and turned to a long time friend and asked him if he had any idea’s. This guy was a Joy Division fan from the early days on, and he had noticed that cassettes with Joy Division gigs were going very well, so he suggested a Joy Division EP. The choice was not too difficult as the “Ideal for Living” EP was never properly available in the Netherlands and that becomes the first release. In a couple of months the record was out on the Coco record label. The producer used silly labels on the actual record and proper labels were printed on various colours of paper and included separately with the records. Some “promotional” sleeves were made on all kinds of different cardboard and paper, all in about 40 copies.

A limited edition was made of the very first issue of the History in Cuttings book, including a cassette with Joy Division’s second Peel Session and New Order’s Western Works demo’s. The “Ideal” EP in a special silver pouch , all together in a see-through plastic cover. Not much of these were made, 50 or 60 copies. A year later a repressing was done and this time several white label copies were made.

The second release was, the now legendary, “Solitary Demands” EP. It was released in the summer of 1982, again on the Coco record label. It consists of the Paradiso tapes and two tracks from the second Peel session, then also available for the first time on vinyl. The cover shot was made during the Dutch tour. The picture on the back was made by Kevin Cummins at the Russel Club gig (17-7-1979). Again, a lot of different paper sleeves were made to frustrate the collector who “wants everything”. In the case of Joy Division impossible now! The EP was sold out quickly and has not been repressed.

The third release was the “Out of Balance, Out of Tune” EP. Some people thought the title did injustice to Joy Division, but in my view it’s a good one, as the title covers the contents.









The recording was made during the soundcheck for the gig in High Wycombe on February 20, 1980 (the gig itself is available on the “Live Transmission - Dance to the Radio” album). For the release the tape was heavily edited, as there were a lot of false starts. One track was omitted totally, because only about 10 minutes playing time per side was available. It’s a nice EP though with an OK sleeve. The review on the back comes from the NME review of the University of London gig (Febr. 8, 1980). This time a numbered edition was made. 500 copies it says, but I think some more records were pressed, as the EP is still available.

But now, finally, we’ve come to the Hawkeye releases.

Early 1983, a good quality tape from the Russel Club gig was circulating. A master tape was prepared, together with three tracks from New Order’s second Peel session (at that time not available on vinyl). The Joy Division encore was not included because the quality dropped heavily on the last two tracks. The tape was sent to Germany, because a lot of these albums were produced there. The sleeve was also designed, with on the front a picture of Ian at the actual gig and on the back an “In Memoriam” written by Steve Davis, which appeared in the UK Fanzine “In The City” - No 15/1980, under the title of “New Dawn Fades”. Together with the Russell Club tape, a second master tape was made, the complete gig done at the Winter Gardens in Malvern, April 5, 1980 and three tracks from Eric’s, Liverpool August 11, 1979. Although the quality was not too good, these recordings were valuable, as the Malvern gig was played very well and included a jam with Section 25, and among the Eric’s tracks was one song, never played before or after, titled “Gimme your Heart”. The Russel Club album was released first as Hawkeye SCX 5443. Unfortunately the mother disc was cut in a bad way, so the first track on side one was marred by a dent in the vinyl, but overall it’s a nice release. The first edition was 500 copies and it was repressed later on five different colours of vinyl. The coloured vinyls sound not as good as the original black pressing.


The Malvern/Eric’s album took very long to appear, and when it finally came out (not as a Hawkeye, but on the Elf record label as “Curtis and the Boys”) almost all the copies were seized by the German police in a raid in the South of Germany in the autumn of 1983. A few copies escaped, and in 1984 it was repressed under the title “Isolation”, poor quality, again on various colours. The original album has a well known picture on he front: taken at a rehearsal session at TJ Davidson’s in Manchester where the "Love will tear us apart” video was shot. The back cover wasn’t designed by Hawkeye, but taken from the 'History in Cuttings' book.

After this it took almost a year before the next albums came out. In the meantime a sleeve was designed for someone in the USA who released the “Autosuggestion” EP in an edition of 500 copies. The photo was taken at TJ Davidson’s again on April 20th 1980. It was a one sided 17 - 17cm b/w sleeve.

July 1984, two new albums were prepared. The first one was the Paradise Garage gig from New Order (July 7th 1983) - Hawkeye 006. A very good performance. The sleeve depicts New Order before the Paradise Garage in New York, taken from the NME, and on the back a part from an article from Sounds is reprinted about the gig. The quality is great and a first edition was pressed on white vinyl (500 copies). However the record didn’t sell very well and is still available. If you want a nice New Order live album this is the one to get!

The second release is the already legendary “Retrospective” album from Joy Division, with all the rare and hard to get vinyls collected on one album. The sleeve notes were taken from the Christmas issue of the NME (1983) where a very good article on Joy Division and New Order was published. As an added bonus, two remixes were included from the “Unknown Pleasures” album. “Candidate” and “New Dawn Fades”, both almost drowned in Martin Hannett’s echo chamber. Unfortunately these two tracks were mastered on a much higher level than the other tracks, so they came out slightly distorted on the album. In my opinion it’s a playable collection and an album that Factory should have done.
In the meantime a fourth EP was released in September 1984. This time it was meant to be a New Order EP but in the end it became a single only. Side one was the rough mix from “Confusion” produced by Arthur Baker and taken from a Streetwise white label 12” (Hawkeye didn’t expect that in the end 4 different mixes were released). Side two should have had two tracks recorded live at the 688 club in Atlanta on their USA tour “Confusion” and “Cries and Whispers”. Sleeves were prepared according to the information but when the records arrived (on the Paradise label this time) it was discovered that only “Confusion” was on side two. A few copies were sold in the original “wrong” covers, printed in black and blue, but soon after that a new grey sleeve was made with the right tracks on it. The pictures came from an issue of the Face magazine in 1983. All in all, a disappointing release.


In May 1984 New Order played an almost unannounced gig at the Paradiso club in Amsterdam. It was quickly sold out, and everybody expected something special as it was four years ago Ian died. Hawkeye was there as well and they released an album of the concert called 441. The gig was great. New Order started with an “unknown” track and Bernard wrote “New Guitar One” on the setlist as they hadn’t decided on a proper title. This track hasn’t turned up yet. The rest of the gig was very good and at the end, two Joy Division tracks were played “Decades” very good, and “Love will tear us apart”, ragged, careless and quick. After some feedback New Order left the stage and Hawkeye had another live album to release (Hawkeye 007 - released 11/84). The front picture of Bernard was taken at the Atlanta gig (1983) while the photo on the back came from the Paradiso gig. The liners were taken from an issue of the Record Mirror. The bad thing is that the album was mastered on a very low level this time, you have to switch your amplifier high to get a good sound. But this also increases the hiss, crackles and bobs, so watch your speakers! What happened to the last tracks on side one is unknown to me, but this really sound shitty!


In the spring of 1984 an excellent quality tape of Joy Division’s Effenaar gig became available. A cassette of this gig was available for years but it lasted for about 55 minutes excluding the encores “Warsaw”. It was an audience recording made on a Sony Eleaset recorder. The master tape was sent to Factory, but they did nothing with it. Part of the gig was filmed on 8mm and these were used in the “Here are the young men” video. A master tape was prepared and it turned out to be enough for three sides. A fourth side was made up with the second Peel session and a “long” version of “She’s lost control”. Later I discovered that this version is available on certain Dutch pressings of the “Atmosphere / She’s lost control” 12” released by Megadisc in Amsterdam. The double album was released in the USA only as Hawkeye 008. All the pictures on the (hand made) sleeve were from the actual gig. Quality is great, only marginally less than that of the “Amsterdam” album. Go for this one and not for the terrible Swedish picture disc or the hissy “Morituri te salutant” incomplete album (in a horrible cover as well!).
In 1985 no more good quality Joy Division tapes were discovered and Hawkeye’s New Order albums were selling poorly. The question arose if different groups could be used for Hawkeye releases and that’s where these three albums came from: John’s Children - Direct Action (Hawkeye 010), a sixties “Who” like band featuring Marc Bolan, The Nomads - Psycho Live (Hawkeye 011), Swedish garage rockers and the Velvet Underground - Amsterdam 1971 (Hawkeye 013).


Together with these albums one new Joy Division Hawkeye was made: “Here are the young men” (Hawkeye 009), which came out in July 1985. The album had the remaining tracks from the “Here are the young men” video which were not on the Effenaar double album and some tracks from videos, notably the Australian version of “Love will tear us apart” with nice double tracked vocals. Also mentioned on the sleeve is “Shadowplay” from Granada TV, which unfortunately doesn’t appear on the record. (Later this track became available on the German “Shadowplay” album). The front sleeve was made with one of the many Joy Division postcards which appeared in the shops during the summer. The back was a rare “posed” shot from the band, also used on some later editions of the “History in cuttings” book. Origin unknown.

Another Joy Division album was also mastered titled “Le Terme - part 2”. As the Hawkeye label was a kind of guarantee for at least decent quality, this album was not meant to get the Hawkeye tag, but the people who actually produced the album decided different. The album was given a Hawkeye number (016) and released. The quality was not too good. The Preston gig was disastrous, as almost the whole equipment of Joy Division broke down and most of the gig was played through the bass amplifier only. The performance is interesting though because there’s communication between Ian and the audience, at least he tried to explain what went wrong. The Derby tracks are roughly the same quality as those on “Le Terme” and the University of London track is OK. Nevertheless it’s a questionable release.

As yet unreleased, an quality wise not much different from the above album is “Futurama 2 / Live 1979”, an album with the Futurama gig (Leeds Sept 8th 1979) plus “Incubation” (to complete the “Komakino” album), “The Sound of Music”, the missing track from the “out of Balance, Out of Tune” EP, “Candidate” and “New Dawn Fades” (retrospective), properly mastered this time. This album is not given an “official” Hawkeye number, but I don’t know if, and how it will be released.
During this time another New Order album was prepared. The front sleeve was ready but the album was never mastered. Side one had the BBC gig from August 25th 1984 and side two: “Thieves Like Us” (Pop Elektron May 25th 1984), “Lonesome Tonight”, “Temptation” and “Thieves Like Us”, recorded live at the Hacienda and incorporated in the special “Play at Home” (broadcast August 21st 1984) while the last track on side two was an edited / remixed scratch version of “Blue Monday” made by a disc jockey from a NT radio station. An unusual but nice version. However the other Hawkeye New Order albums were not selling and the producers lost their interest.


A couple of weeks before these releases a fifth EP came out and that was the infamous “Rough Trade” promo EP with the missing tracks from “Le Terme - Part 2”. An interesting (edited) version of “the Eternal” is included with three other OK tracks. The sleeve notes from Steve Morris were adapted from the letter he sent to record shops and promoters when the “Ideal” EP was released in 1978. One hundred of these EPs came with a free postcard. Distribution is low on this item and although it’s been out for a couple of months now it’s hard to get one. It is not likely that more genuine Hawkeyes will be released. New, good quality Joy Division tapes are unavailable and not likely to turn up, while New Order is not strong enough to sell. Even a kind of “Greatest Hits” was tagged unsuitable. The album should have had the promo versions of Confusion, Thieves Like Us and The Perfect Kiss together with the Hacienda flexi, the Blue Monday remix and 5.8.6 from the “Touch” cassette.

Other people understood the Hawkeye thought and the recent release of New Order's Tokyo 1985 album was given a fake Hawkeye number (010), it's great quality, so keep up the standard!

The Hawkeye label produced many of the best Joy Division and New Order bootlegs:

Hawkeye releases:
001 - Ideal for living EP
002 - Solitary demands EP
003 - Out of balance, out of tune EP
004 - Russel Club album
005 - Retrospective album
006 - Paradise Garage (New Order) album
007 - 4 4 1 (New Order) album
008 - Eindhoven double album
009 - Here are the young men album
010 - John's Children (w/ Marc Bolan) album
011 - Nomads (swedish group) album
012 - BBC (by who?)
013 - Velvet Underground - Amsterdam 1971
014 - Greatest hits (New Order) 
015 - Echo & the Bunnymen - Peel / YMCA


Hawkeye related releases:
New Order - Confusion single

Joy Division - Malvern / Eric's album

Joy Division - Le terme - part 2 

Joy Division - Rough Trade EP

Joy Division - Futurama 2 / Live 1979 album