Hype

had this album on a record way back. mp3 download sounds better.

Quite brilliant. Early synth pop (Ultravox will never sound the same again to me) mixed with some rock - and Calvert's excellent lyrics and delivery. Some real classics on here!

Not as good as Lucky Leif or Captain Lockhead but still worth having. He was a genius

This is a great album from Bob's superb catalogue, a transitional album moving towards a synth heavy sound. It's full of timeless, quality songs that don't sound dated in a way that a lot of synth pop does.The novel of the same name is also a very good read.My problem lies with Cleopatra, who are happily reissuing stuff with the obvious motive of fleecing fans. They've reissued this album in 2 colours knowing that most people desiring a copy would be collectors and as collectors they require both colours. I wish I could resist and be satisfied with one but thankfully Amazon offer reasonable prices. Don't even think of going direct to Cleopatra, they charge a very high price, shipping costs to the UK are almost as much as the album and then, as a final insult they slap an import charge on top making the total outrageously more pricey than here.

'Hype', originally released in 1982, is probably, along with the brilliant 'Test-tube Conceived' (1986) Calvert's most accessible album.The concept - the songs arranged on 'Hype' are billed as the 'Songs of Tom Mahler', the fictional rock star whose story is told by Calvert's accompanying novel, now long out of print. This is Calvert playing the rock star, rather than hamming up on the quark, strangeness and charm. And he plays it so well one has to wonder - why wasn't he a star?'Hype' kicks off in fine fashion with the witty, jaunty 'Over My Head', where Calvert's familiar lyrical wizardry becomes apparent: "She said had I seen that Fritz Lang movie, where the hero loses his soul, I said I didn't think that sounded so groovy, I'm more into rock and roll". The song deals with Mahler's rather lame attempts at courting a sophisticated, intelligent woman. The excellent guitar solo sounds like something Mike Oldfield would echo a few years later...Other highlights are the moody, edgy 'Hanging out on the seafront', the crunching, lilting 'Evil Rock' with Nik Turner's wonderfully tuneless sax solo, and the crisp 'Teen Ballad of Deano' (but check out the live version recorded with The Maximum Effect, if you can!).But the best two songs on the original album are probably the last - 'Lord of the Hornets' and 'Greenfly and the Rose'. Originally released as A and B side of a 1980 single (those versions can be found on 'Freq'/'Freq Revisited'), the tracks were reworked for 'Hype'. The version of 'Hornets' is pretty similar, and it's a song that sounds like no other in the known universe. 'Greenfly' is quite different to the 'Freq' version, with a cleaner sound and Pete Pavli's cello all backing Bob's characteristically edgy vocals wonderfully.And then come the bonus tracks - they're all essentially demo versions, with Bob playing all the instruments. The sound quality is ok, similar to Calvert's home-recorded demos from 'Blueprints from the Cellar'. The instrumental version of 'Flight 105' is compelling, as is the raw, one-man band take on 'Over my head'.Buy this album, play it to all your friends. Let's try to get Calvert some of the recognition he so obviously deserves.

A remarkable album. Totally ignored on its release, this is packed full of superb songs by the late Robert Calvert. Pitched midway between his "Quark" days with Hawkwind and electronic pop it's possibly the most accessible and straightforward of the great man's recorded legacy.It's worth buying for the first track alone, "Over My Head" with typically Calvertesque lyrics (neat backing vocals too) or the cleverly cynical "Ambitious".

A great record but the re-mastering is unimaginative as oppossed to the mastering of the original LP which has a lot of deep bass nocturnal city life to it.

Yet another fine album from Mr Calvert. Try finding the book to go with this if you can!!!!! Personnellly I would recommend Lucky Leif and Capt Lockheed and rate these as Six stars (beware the CD version used to different from the original vinyl version for Capt.) but before FREQ (although still good). As check out Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness and Charm, PXR5 for more stuff by Bobby Boy