What does it sound like?:
Hawkwind, ever changing, ever the same. Over 50 members, and as many albums. You want the riffage and whooshes? Science-fiction poems and rave beats? Swashbuckling almost prog? Honk n’ skronk? Clever pop songs? Depending on where you dive in, you may get any of these. Live, it’s populated by drugs and parties miscreants aged 15 to 75, some of whom may have retired from active service, on audio, it’s a more refined experience. Yes, refined. They’ve been playing for decades, and know their way around a recording console. Like last year’s Hawkwind Light Orchestra “Carnivorous” (geddit?), 80-years young and probably wasn’t an angel Dave Brock has been working far harder than he should do, refining and extending the various strands of Hawkwind mythos and audio ambience for a concept album about sleep and it’s various implications (dreams, insomnia, nightmares, being woken up…). We have jams, we have songs, we have driven bikerdelia, drum n’bass breakdowns, the occasional Arabian flourishes … “Strange Encounters” is a complex freakout, the mellow “Alcyone” (either a star in the Taurus constellation, or daughter of Aeolus, Greek god of the wind; do you get this with the Sham 69?), “Counting Sheep” (a “Vegan lunch”-like take it or leave it track to me), “China Blues” – which could also about being strung-out on heroin, and the charming “meditation” with some nice acoustic work plus the use of drones to good effect. “Sweet Dreams” (not that one, prog fans) had me think “Game of Thrones”, which i don’t know why, given I’ve never seen an episode yet (and this show even looks like a Hawkwind world if the photos are any indication). I wasn’t much bothered by “I can’t get you off my mind”, another blues shuffle , but more in keeping with an unenthusiastic support band’s “new one”. All is forgiven with “Small Objects in Space” which is swirly and spacey, with a piano break and a bit of a Latin groove jam – and why not? “Barkus” is an 80s sounding thing with a reggae breakdown, and either inspired by the children’s book, or the name of a faithful hound, i suspect. The final track, “Cave of Phantom Dreams” ends the dreaminess, but just as it warms up into a promising groove, it stops. It might be extended live, i suppose. All in all, it’s like walking around a Hawkwind-themed festival with different bands playing the different Hawkwind-era tracks.
What does it all *mean*?
I like this sort of thing, and some of you might, too. others will think this is not one of their vital releases. I think they are doing pretty well for their venerability, and Brock seems as indestructible as ever, but we all know that isn’t quite true. There’s an argument that Hawkwind, like Gong, could exist without a single original member as long as there are psychonauts into science fiction, getting out of it, spacey sounds, and loud guitars, and something tells me there will be. They have created a unique world and nobody is quite like them. Looking forward to seeing them in my first post-pandemic gig.
Goes well with…
“Amnesia Haze”, “homegrown”, trying to be vegan, beer and cider, early mushrooms…
Release Date:
out now, pop=pickers
Might suit people who like…
Space rock, free festivals, Gong, Deviant Amps, 70s music for “heads”…
Hawkwind Light Orchestra – Carnivorous?
No, that’s completely over my head.
Anagram of coronavirus
I’m tempted. I liked Into the Woods a lot, I thought it was a good album where the band were playing to strengths, trying a few new things out and generally having fun. I also liked the Mike Batt thing but I wasn’t impressed with All Aboard the Skylark when I streamed it. Maybe I need to give that one another go. This one sounds interesting.
Their discography’s impossible of course. Surely only Zappa’s is more difficult to navigate. They’re a band that have that “enjoy them while you can, last of a dying breed” vibe about them, which reminds you that you’re old, but makes you feel comfortable about it at the same time.
I have a place in my heart for ‘ver Wind, having been still at school when Silver Machine ruled the charts for a while, Stacia danced with the band, and our ears rang for two days after seeing them play at the Guildhall. I saw them once more a little later, playing from the back of a flatbed truck somewhere or other in mushroomland, possibly at Stonehenge. I bought a boxed set of their early stuff called ‘This Is Your Captain Speaking’ but I’ve never ventured any further into the Halls Of Hawkwind History, for fear of aural damage and fiscal failure – the catalog is HUGE.
Any pointers for, say, three further later albums to explore?
“Later” is relative. I liked “Carnivorous”, and regularly return to “Quark, Strangeness, and Charm”., which you probably know I have to admit that they get patchier after the mid-80s (not a fan of the native American inspired stuff), but think they returned to form in the 00’s. “The Machine Stopped” is a good one, too.
Some judicious curation of the back catalogue might be in order.
Quark, Strangeness and Charm (the song) cropped up on one of my Spotify Discover Weekly playlists the other month, and I loved it, so went off to listen to the attendant album, and liked that too. Prior to that my only exposure to them was Space Ritual (always seemed a bit of a muddy shambles, with horse-drawn riffage and not much space) and the ace Right to Decide EP from the early 90s. Anyway, my interest piqued by Q, S & C, I decided it was time to tackle the Hawkwind catalogue head on, and I dived into Spotify. But what I found was that albums in the same neighbourhood chronologically are not necessarily stylistically comparable. I didn’t like anything I heard immediately before and after Space Ritual, Q, S & C, or Right to Decide, and without further directions I quickly lost interest in the task.
The Robert Calvert years for me. PXR5, the Hawklords Album (And Live ‘79) . Not really a fan of the early stuff , horse drawn riffage is a great description, but Right to Decide was a corker indeed.
Thanks guys. That’s ‘The Charisma Years’ for me then.
*wipes hands on jeans, opens a bottle of cider, rolls a biffter, farts and leans back into sofa*
I’ll be round in a minute.
*plumps cushion on other end of sofa, burps, heads to fridge for another bottle*