Joburg Hawk - Joburg Hawk

Joburg Hawk or also just Hawk as I assume they were known by in South Africa.
This is a tribute thread to this album but also the bands discography in general.
If you have anything to share regarding the subject feel free to post.

There are a few things Ive wondered about.
For example why they changed their name to Joburg Hawk for this album, copyright laws in the EU perhaps? The original South African release has just "Hawk" on the cover at least.

Has the track Dark Side of the Moon somehow inspired Pink Floyds album? This did come out just before Im pretty sure.

Whats with the other foreign releases being so expensive compared to the UK counterpart? At least on Discogs they go up in price a lot.
Maybe its just to do with rarity?
The UK has Porky in the runout which makes me assume its the best sounding version.

And lastly, speaking about sound. Whats the best sounding press to those who compared?
I believe the master tapes burned up in a fire but Im not sure if that was after the EU releases. If it were before then the South African releases would be the only one cut from the original tape.
I have a copy from the Netherlands and it sounds really good just for the record. But Im curious about the UK and South African mostly.

 

The name-change may have been some sort of promotional move when they signed to Charisma(?). I vaguely remember reading something about it years ago, can't remember where.
Fresh Music

Sorry, but the only track of theirs that I've ever heard is Dark Side Of The Moon, on the compilation albums 'Charisma Disturbance.'

 

Thanks for the input!

The Dark Side song came out before the Pink Floyd album though right?

 

Released the year before in South Africa (JH 1972 - PF 1973), but Pink Floyd performed Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics on 17th February 1972, and recording for the album began in June 1972. So the Jo'burg Hawk song came out first, but Pink Floyd were already working on, and had provisionally titled, DSOTM when it did. The Jo'burg Hawk LP wasn't released in Europe until 1973.


I'm going to get slaughtered if I've got anything incorrect about the Pink Floyd bits above!

 

Promoting a South African multiracial band in Europe in the early 1970s would have brought in good publicity, and have a novelty value, with the name Jo'burg Hawk giving them a South African identity, rather than a nondescript name like Hawk. A planned cricket tour of the UK by South Africa had been cancelled in 1970 after mass demonstrations here.

I don't know why the apostrophe was put in, as Joburg seems to be the common abbreviation for Johannesburg, not Jo'burg.

 

I have Hawk ‎– African Day (Parlophone ,South Africa 1971) and Jo'burg Hawk -s/t (Charisma UK 1973) LP's.Have to relisten those at the weekend.

 

As I thought then. Quite the coincidence I have to say.

 

Great! Tell us what you think then.

 

Listening again to my Dutch press, its absolutely fabulous sounding. I really wonder if its possible to do this good a job without the original master tape.

 

Out of curiosity I got myself a near prestine UK copy. If it sounded better and was less scratched I thought it would be a win win for me.

But sadly I found the UK to be less engaging overall. Heres what I said on Discogs:

Comparing with my Dutch copy I finally realize the reason for price differences being so drastic.
The Netherlands might have been the last place to recieve the original tapes or close to it, because the sound is clearly more detailed, dynamic and full on that release compared to the more strained UK. Its by no means bad sounding, and Porky probably did his best. But this is a case that really shows what a better source can do, or so I speculate. It reminds me a bit of King Crimsons debut LP where the tapes were lost and Porky had to work on worse quality sources. The consensus was still strong in favor of the original.
The drum cymbals really shimmer on the Dutch and voices sound more in the room. The bass is also not as present on the UK.
For the price a UK might be more worth it though. Find any copy cheap and you will be happy.

Equipment Used:
Rega RP1 with Nagaoka MP-200 Cartridge
Cyrus 2 Amplifier
System Fidelity SF-3050 Tower Speakers
Custom made HQ Speaker Cables

 

Relistened to this today at work, and now at home. Such a great album, more prog heads should try this.
Ive tried other African rock, prog and psych stuff but this is firmly at the top still.