Decades after they launched, Hawkwind are back keeping the hippy tradition alive at the Brixton Academy.
Old hippies don’t die, they just lie low until the laughter stops and their time comes round again. Encouraged by a new generation’s fascination for minor mind-alterations, this weekend offers two chances for young and old to assess each other’s space-cadet qualities. Both happenings, incidentally, are in London, where “scenes” rarely reach the state of comic-book hypertrophy now afflicting, for example, Manchester.
On Saturday the Brixton Academy hosts the Twelve Hour Technicolour Dream, the main attraction being Hawkwind. The group’s members were formerly in bands called Famous Cure, Mobile Freakout and then Hawkwind Zoo, and their LPs rejoiced in such titles as In Search Of Space, Hall Of The Mountain Grill, Warrior On The Edge Of Time and Church of Hawkwind.
They also used to have bassist Lemmy until he was busted and went off on a different tack to form heavy metal monsters Motorhead. “Space rock” is the musical category (of one) that Hawkwind inhabit: “Silver Machine” is the single you’ve heard, which is probably just about ready for its fourth release.
Also playing will be the Bevis Frond, Ozric Tentacles, Magic Mushroom Band, Ambitious Beggars, Radical Dance Factor, Chemistry Set, Nutmeg, The Dark Side and World Exit, plus DJ Christian and Doctor from the Medics, and lots of groovy lights and quadraphonic sound…
-Joseph Gallivan
Cornwall cancellation (unknown date & publication):
Police clampdowns on the travelling community have been blamed for the cancellation of planned Hawkwind and Adamski concerts in Cornwall over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Preparations for the concerts, due to take place in a circus tent in Camborne, Cornwall over the weekend, started five months ago. Last week, however, local police decided to step in and revoke the licence for the events, citing possible ‘noise pollution’ problems as ground for cancellation.
Organisers Show Me Promotions say they believe the police are worried about Hawkwind’s traveller following staying in the area. The promoters feel that police threats to prevent the nearby unlicensed White Goddess festival taking place over the same weekend could result in overcrowding at the Hawkwind and Adamski shows.
Camborne police refused to comment on the event, but have allowed organizers to reschedule the Adamski gig to Camborne’s indoor Berkeley Centre on August 29.
Underground press news item (1970, precise publication unknown):
Hawkwind, for whom things looked extremely black when guitarist Hugh split, have gotten themselves nicely together. First gig after Hugh’s departure was at Southampton and the band played so well and got such a good response that they’re carrying on without a guitarist.
(Did anyone tell Dave the good news, I wonder…)
Local Boston, MA press article (1989, precise publication unknown):
In club-land, the hot, albeit oddball, item of the season has to be an ultra-rare appearance Sept 29 by the veteran British cult band Hawkwind at Johnny D’s in Somerville’s Davis Square. How rare? Well this is their 20th anniversary tour and it’s the first time in memory that the group has come anywhere near Boston. And although it’s an anniversary, it’s anyone’s call as to what the current lineup, which once included sci-fi novelist Michael Moorcock and Motorhead’s Lemmy, consists of. Chances are diehard singer-guitarist Dave Brock is still involved, and chances are the show will be highly entertaining. Hawkwind, which was briefly called Hawklords midway through their career, exists in a weird, most enjoyable interstice. Their sound tends to be minimalistic, three-chord garage rock thrash coupled to low-fi space rock. In their early meandering days -and [over] narrations both comic and cosmic- they were the ideal late-night headphone band for those with no particular place to go, a poor man’s Pink Floyd.
As the punk era hit, they toughened up and crafted some crunchy space rockers, musing about the sexual proclivities of astronomers (“Quark Strangeness and Charm”), decrying society’s compartmentalization (“The Age Of The Micro Man”) and singing about dodging a nuclear blitz (“Damnation Alley”). When they played England’s theaters they used to have a massive, swirling psychedelic lightshow, complete with nude dancers and banks of synthesizers churning out the rhythmic waves. Who knows how all that will transpose itself to the confines of Johnny D’s stage? But go for it! Look for an astral journey with a hard kick to it.
Boston Phoenix 22/9/1990, entertainment section news item:
Hawkwind: this British art-rock combo cancelled out an earlier ’89 date at the last minute - we presumed it was due to lack of consumer interest. But lo and behold, the gig’s been rescheduled - somebody must still care. Original Hawkers Dave Brock and Huw Lloyd Langton, in true This Is Spinal Tap fashion, refuse to die or read the writing on their spaceship wall. If the old cliché is true and persistence pays, they’ll likely retire in luxury - but apparently not anytime soon. Expect a big light show, ye lords and ladies of the cosmos. Hawkwind reportedly carries *three* lighting technicians!
The Soul Of Hawkwind: the Grateful Dead of England chronicled (unknown date & publication):
For almost 20 years, Hawkwind have been recognized as the kings of space rock, “the Grateful Dead of England”. Hawkwind’s unique combination of progressive music, extemporaneous dance and poetry, and extravagant light shows have gained them a large cult following of hippie-types throughout Europe. Their pioneering brand of head music still draws thousands of women in print skirts and men with long hair and beards to their multimedia performances in the United Kingdom. With a list of ex-members that includes science fiction writer Michael Moorcock, poet Robert Calvert, former Cream drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister (of Motorhead fame), it is indeed an enigma as to why Hawkwind have never broken ground in America.
Their latest U.S. release, Live Chronicles, (GWR/Profile) is a double live album that exemplifies the magnitude of the Hawkwind live performance. Filled with poetic narrations and ritualistic space jams, Dave Brock and company give new meaning to the limited definition of a rock stage show. Rich and textured, yet hard and electric, Hawkwind are up there with vintage Pink Floyd or Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. And although Live Chronicles omits some of Hawkwind’s biggest hits -“Kings of Speed” and “Silver Machine”- there’s more than enough quality material from their 17 other albums on this flawless release.
As early purveyors of the electronic age, Hawkwind’s influence on younger bands has been immense. Their incorporation of lights, film, dance and recitation into progressive music is best seen today in leading alternative bands like the Butthole Surfers.
-Steven Blush
Review of the Hawklords at Manchester Apollo (Sounds, 1978):
Despite difficulties with the sound, this second date of their massive UK trek was a total success in terms of entertainment. In the words of some Mancunian fans after the show, “it was great”.
Yet, although the audience was satisfied, there were several problems in need of immediate attention: the primary being to sort out the film, being projected onto a screen behind the band, into a more relevant aspect of the proceedings. Last weekend it was somewhat disjointed and hard to follow, particularly as the images were frequently veiled by the shadows of those on stage.
However, tours generally commence with setbacks in some form, and I’m sure that the Hawklords will soon be in top gear, for, like the denim brigade which filled the Apollo, I thoroughly enjoyed their performance and it was especially impressive to see the way in which the newly joined musicians have swiftly adapted: also interesting was the apparent revitalization of old hands Bob Calvert and Dave Brock.
The set revolved around the latest album and such numbers as “Flying Doctor”, “(Only) The Dead Dreams Of The Cold War Kid”, and the current single, “Psi Power” emerged with tremendous force. A spectacular lighting display and the extensive talents of three dancers added to the whole rock / theatre combination, though I never felt either attraction placed the music into a secondary position.
The concert was a pleasure to watch, and that heavy live approach was ever present, as well as the commercial element which featured strongly on the new LP. The Hawklords are well worth checking out, and if you’re lucky, as we were on Saturday, they’ll treat you to those classic cuts “Master Of The Universe” and “Silver Machine”. All good stuff, that.
-Steve Gett
Hawkwind go down a storm (Lancaster Evening Post, 1985):
Ageing rockers Hawkwind drifted into town on the third leg of their latest nationwide tour - this time to promote the new Chronicle Of The Black sword platter.
The latest album dominated a thoroughly tight and professional show for a two-thirds full Guild Hall. The Black Sword concept, based around science fantasy supreme Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone creation lasted virtually two hours. The gig was an aural and visual assault on the senses. But, however well choreographed the package, the music was still based along the well trodden cosmic path used by the Hawklord.
Many of the denim-clad devotees may have been surprised that the band’s old material took a back seat. After so many years on the road and so many pannings from the critics it is pleasing to see the original time-warp warriors back in fine form.
-Barry Turnbull
Review of Chronicle Of the Black Sword (KKK), The Church Of Hawkwind (KK) and Live Chronicles (KKKK) (Kerrang!, 1994):
Maybe I’m not in the right mood for the old Sparrow’s Chuff right now, but listening to the re-release of ‘Black Sword’, it emerges that my original vinyl copy has been swiped from my collection and I probably wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for this. I guess that says a lot about the record; great at the time, especially if you caught the live shows, but hideously dated now and merely dredging up unwanted memories.
Likewise ‘The Church…’ has long since had the lead nicked from its roof and stands like some ancient relic left by a tribe long since deceased. More by luck than judgment I didn’t buy this one first time around (1981) [sic], but even then it would have been considered dire by all but the most avid (stoned) Hawkie.
‘Live Chronicles’ is a must for even the most casual fan. An outstanding 29-track double CD effort recorded on the ‘Black Sword’ tour, it also includes a collector’s reprint of sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock’s ‘The Dreaming City’, plus old faves like ‘Angels Of Death’ and ‘Master Of The Universe’. With so many Hawk rehashes and bootlegs on the market, this stands out like an eagle in a chicken coop!
-Morat
Excerpt from a reader’s 1971 gig review (Sounds, 3/04/71):
This week sees the first in an occasional series…we will be printing reviews from Social Secretaries up and down the country. The emphasis will be on bands that are figuring prominently on the College scene, without necessarily being very big on the national circuit. This week, Dick Roberts of University College, London, reviews the Pink Fairies / Hawkwind concert which took place at his college a couple of weeks ago.
“Both of these bands are loud. The Fairies maintain a juggernaut of rhythm which pounds the flesh and seems to make the heart beat faster, while Hawkwind assaults the mind with hypnotic phrases and electronics which seem to probe one’s subliminal depths. [They] have now achieved the coherence as a musical entity for which they seemed to be striving last time I saw them, nine months ago. The electronics have become music rather than noise; the drumming especially is incisive and outstanding. As a band they are approaching a mature musical subtlety.”
Riding new popularity, Hawkwind orbits again (Chicago Tribune, April 1995):
The British geezers in Hawkwind regularly go out of fashion, eclipsed at various times by disco, punk, synth-pop and grunge. Just now, however, they’re enjoying a resurgence, thanks to the cutting-edge popularity of ambient techno, with its clear debt to Hawkwind’s psychedelic-era space rock.
At the Park West on Wednesday, the quartet’s sole original member was guitarist-keyboardist Dave Brock, but the sound and presentation were essentially unchanged from the group’s 1970’s heyday: part “Spinal Tap” bombast, part incredible journey.
Against a backdrop of kaleidoscopic images, strobes and lasers, Ron Bastard was as much a performance artist as a singer. With his whacked-out costumes (everything from a sword-wielding Persian to a glowing robot) and writhing upper torso, Bastard adopted the voice and persona of the aliens, time travelers and hallucinators that populate the Hawkwind universe.
The lyrics juggle the wondrous possibility suggested by the future with its potential horror, and the songs are shaped like rocket rides: moody, tension-building introductions, zooming liftoff, dreamy leveling off in the cosmos and then a quick descent.
Drummer Richard Chadwick and bassist Alan Davey kept the tempos on a roller coaster, while Brock made the synthesizers gurgle, percolate and swirl. Classic early Hawkwind such as “Master Of The Universe” and “Silver Machine” sounded every bit as contemporary as the more recent “LSD” and a terrific new song that Brock introduced for the encore, with its latticework of half-speed rhythms and disembodied voices.
-Greg Kot
Warriors at the Edge - News item in local Milwaukee paper (April 1995):
Psychedelia continues to mutate. Hawkwind’s trance-inducing, metallic-tinged guitar rock, plugged into a light show and multimedia theatrics, helped launch the space rock genre in the late 60’s. They recently released an album of ambient house music, White Zone, under the Psychedelic Warriors pseudonym.
“We had a lot of instrumental ideas, good enough to release but not in the context of a Hawkwind album,” explains the band’s drummer, Richard Chadwick. Still, the edginess of space rock and the unwound ambient sound are both manifestations of the psychedelic impulse. “A lot of people in newer music cite us as being one of their influences, with our combination of electronics and mantra-like rhythms.”
After a quarter-century only one original member of Hawkwind remains, guitarist Dave Brock. During those years all sorts of well-regarded figures have come and gone through the group, including ex-Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor and Cream drummer Ginger Baker, future Motorhead leader Lemmy and even science fiction writer Michael Moorcock.
“This tour is a compendium of the last 25 years,” Chadwick says. “We’re playing stuff from our first album through stuff that hasn’t been recorded yet. There’s a lot of new creative ideas coming out of this lineup, but we’re still able to play music that originated years ago.”
-Dave Luhrssen
CD review of Hawkwind / In Search Of Space / Space Ritual / Doremi Fasol Latido / Hall Of The Mountain Grill (NME, 27/4/96):
Hawkwind emerged from the early 70’s post-Floyd English underground as *the* hardcore freak band. They were the stalwarts of the free festival circuit, raising pitiful amounts of cash to free the Tooting Two or Notting Hill Nine or whatever. They have survived intact for nearly 30 years, like an English Grateful Dead, still fired by some of that hippy idealism, and still making music that sounds like they’ve just had their first mind-altering experience, and totally freaked out.
Their eponymous 1970 debut is heavily indebted to Pink Floyd, which weren’t then synonymous with the comfy-slipper guitar wank bought by billions of engineering students. There’s a bonus track on the CD, a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Cymbaline”, which along with the sub-Amon Duul workouts like “Paranoia” indicate where the ‘Wind’s heads were at then. (5). With “In Search Of Space”, though, their own space-metal sound started to emerge and “Master of The Universe” is one of the greatest cosmic rockers ever. “Silver Machine”, their greatest hit, and its B-side “Seven By Seven” are both included as bonus tracks. (7).
“Space Ritual” is still one of the best live albums made. Lemmy had joined by this stage and his contribution gelled Hawkwind into the godfathers of metal. “Brainstorm”, “Orgone Accumulator” and “Time we Left This World Today” made hard rock gods like Sabbath and Uriah Heep sound timid. While Robert Calvert’s “The Black Corridor” and “Sonic Attack” must have launched more bad trips than Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and ‘White Light / White Heat’ era Velvets combined. (9).
“Doremi Fasol Latido”, the band’s third studio album, is almost superfluous after “Space Ritual”, where all the best tracks –“Lord Of Light”, “Brainstorm’ etc.- were all done better. This reissues, though, has three killer bonus tracks: “Urban Guerilla”, the great ‘lost’ Hawkwind single (withdrawn when it coincided with the IRA’s early-70’s bombing campaign), the b-side “Brainbox Pollution” and “Ejection” that has one of the best guitar riffs since “Satisfaction.” (7).
By the time of “Hall Of The Mountain Grill’, Hawkwind had moved away from noise jams and underground politics to being just another rock band, “The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)” is almost a self-parody, while the ‘cosmic’ instrumentals on “Wind Of Change” is the sort of crap the Floyd were cleaning up with. Although Lemmy’s “Lost Johnny” is almost a precursor to the Motorhead sound that would eventually eclipse his former band. (6). This isn’t the end of the Hawkwind story, but it never really got better than “Space Ritual”.
-Tommy Udo
In comes the dronewave, the fuzzchords, the mellowash, the metrodrums, the pound-bass. Mix into a soundmush and, hey presto, we're off again - it's another Hawkwind album. Add sax fading in and out and in again and the first track is well under way. All set? Hold tight, another rollercoaster ride into moebius mindloops. The first track (the single) "Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" disappears into, well, smoke, or wind ( = sort of black noise sound effects). More mellotron waves lead into "Wind Of Change" (not the Harold Macmillan variety). A pleasant stately melody on top (sounds like early King Crimson, tho'). "D-Rider" (from Nik Turner) is back to the fuzzchords, with phased oboe, twittering Swaneewhistle synthesizer and quasi-Floydian vocals. "Web Weaver" has ordinary piano and acoustic 12-string (two non-electronic instruments in one track, even).
"You'd Better Believe It" is a Brockian exercise in the Hawkwind predictability (thrasher variety) stakes (see later). Then there's two left of centre instrumental interludes from keyboardist Del Dettmar ("Goat Willow", a cracked piece of pastoralism) and Simon House's title track. But the overall impression from the album is of the archetypal Hawkwind sound - the basic track style (of which there are six examples here, by far the longest proportion of grooves) seems to be to build up layer upon layer of sound, progressively increasing volume and intensity, get into top [gear] and blast along. That's a rough resume of what it sounds like.
What's it all about? God knows. Not in a lyrical sense, although they're as obscure(d) as ever. But what of the rationale behind this? Hawkwind travel on, and the journey continues, going nowhere in particular it seems. Not even 'further' in a Keseyian sense. Is your journey really necessary?
I'd like to like Hawkwind - I think they're an admirable bunch (without being condescending), people in large numbers dig them, and as far as I can hear this is a good H'wind album, but utlimately I find them unlistenable. Maybe I'm missing the point (maybe the lack of point is the point). It escapes me - music should be stimulating in some way or another. And as far as I'm concerned, Hawkwind fail. Mindnumbing. But if, as Lord Buckley said, you dug them before, re-dig them now.
-BH
Aylesbury Friars gig review (Melody Maker, 6/05/72):
A space movement at Friars - and it was too! From the moment the lights dimmed until they lit up again, Hawkwind took us all on an incredible sound trip into space.
They began as on "You Shouldn't Do That" from their second album, with the sound of an audio generator, gathering speed and height. With the rhythms of an engine pulsating in our heads, coloured strobes and Nik Turner's sax screaming what I once called free jazz, they carried us all for an hour or more, never stopping for applause. And somewhere amongst it all I remember the sound of a simulated heartbeat, the sizzling of the cymbals and someone breathing into the mike, as Hawkwind, in a maze of electronics, induced a truly amazing adventure. For they make real the experience of travelling in space, and at the same time, an exploration of yourself.
Despite all kinds of incredible hassles, like changes within the group and a putdown campaign which says "that's not music", they overcame everything at Friars Aylesbury last week. And at the end of it all the applause was deafening. But I'm still undecided as to whether an audience should so fanatically demand an encore following a performance of this kind.
-John Sivyer
Review of the "Spirit Of The Age" remixes CD/EP (unknown publication, 1993):
More mad hippies. The proverbial godfathers of space rock, in collaboration with 4 Real and Alien Prophet, drift back with four radical remixes of the hoary anthem. Fans of Hawkwind's experimental ambient edge will be delighted, and everybody else will cry. It's released to coincide with this week's Solstice Day, a mind-f*** for the pagans who prefer to sit in flotation tanks to relax rather than go to the pub for a pint like everybody else. Incidentally, if God had intended dogs to be dragged round the countryside on bits of string, then he would have given them clogs. The New Age? I shit it!
Review of the 'Acid Daze' Finsbury Park gig (unknown publication, 1987):
...Hawkwind and I have an on/off love affair. Tonight must go down as one of our tiffs. They kick in with "Angels Of Death", and that's just how I feel. I'm jammed in between a mass of bodies that all seem to want to move in the opposite direction to me. I feel a need for air and sanctuary as Hawkwind's aural assault moves into overdrive.
Outside the air is cool and sweet and I can even see vague flickerings of a band onstage. Do all Hawkwind songs sound the same? Out here, away from the frenzy, it certainly seems that way. The ground shakes and it's enough to make your ears bleed but it's not until they hit "Master Of The Universe" that my addled brain begins to recognise something from their repertoire.
Just then something explodes to me left and a cloud of orange smoke starts to drfit my way. "What is it?".someone cries. "CS", another answers. He's wrong, but just as I begin to appreciate that things are in imminent danger of turning decidedly ugly, the corrugated iron fence gives way and hordes of ticketless hippy fans pour in like liquid. Time to go, I decide, and quit while I'm still relatively safe and ungassed.
I leave Hawkwind to continue their perpetual struggle toward rock'n'roll immortality, content in the knowledge that though I hated this entire sorry saga, they'll be back and doubtless so will I.
-Dave Dickson
Review of "Early Daze (best of...)" (unknown date & publication):
And this week's Hawkwind album comes courtesy of Thunderbolt Records, the 183rd (at least) label to put out their material. Doesn't it make you wonder just who buys all this stuff? I mean, if all the Hawkwind albums in the racks at my local Virgin store were to be placed atop of one another, you'd never be able to reach the top one to play it.
"Early Daze", as the title indicates, dates back to the band's humble (and I mean humble) origins and cultivates seven cuts, both studio and live, from their first two years together. And, like so many Hawkwind rip-off compilations about, the material chosen is hardly startling (who needs another bloody version of "Silver Machine" or "Master Of The Universe"?) and in this case is devalued even further by the awfully tainted and inferior sound quality.
Drippy, aimless, dated and completely pointless. Somewhere Dave Brock is holding his head in shame at this one escaping from from vaults. Take my advice and save yer dosh for the real McCoy.
-Paul Miller
Review of "Electric Tepee" (KKK) (Kerrang!, 1992):
The title says it all doesn't it? 25-odd (and I mean odd) years on the road, and Hawkwind still haven't changed their approach. But why should they? After all, it's one of their greatest qualities.
To be honest, though, a lot of their recent LPs have sounded pretty much the same, and were beginning to get a little bit tedious. Hawkwind were never a band blessed with the element of surprise, but that never mattered too much in the past because each offering was different.
"Electric Tepee", however, is simply a standard-formula Hawkwind album with no highs apart from the ones the band were on when they recorded it. I haven't paid too much attention to the lyrics of "LSD" or "Space Dust", but I think it's safe to say we're on the same subject matter as ever. Nothing wrong with that - but if you're going to indulge in the abuse of these substances, you wouldn't want to do it to this album. Not because it's some sort of mind-f*** or anything - it's just very dull.
"Electric Tepee" tries hard to evoke all the druggy euphoria, and in some places, intensity of albums like "Masters Of The Universe" and "Roadhawks", but unfortunately it fails almost completely. Maybe after all this time, and with Robert Calvert sadly pushing up daisies, Hawkwind have simply run out of ideas. Or maybe, with free festivals being almost a thing of the past, the spirit is finally dead and there is no longer a need for this sort of band. I sincerely hope neither is true.
-Morat
Review of the "Dave Brock and the Agents Of Chaos" album (uknown date & publication):
Dave Brock, leader of Hawkwind and the proud owner of a lanky mass of tatty barnet, has never been a man to give much of a toss for the conventional. If Dave wants, then Dave does, and if you don't like it man, then you can stick it. Dunno if I myself am possessed of that laudable single-mindedness, cos I'm sure Dave's had to make some financial sacrifices in the name of artistic integrity. Still, some people measure success in terms that are very different to the conventional. I'm sure you can number Dave Brock amongst 'em.
"The Agents Of Chaos" is an interesting artefact, a piece of black vinyl quirkiness that will doubtless appeal to the Hawkwind die-hard and make a few converts of part-time hippies like myself! Dunno if it would be a very wise move to pull tracks out at random in order to dissect. It's more a question of digest...digest the whole atmosphere of a record created to be listened to, but also felt. Is this here "Agents Of Chaos" LP the dawning of a new era - that of hard rock ambience music?! Could well be, especially with the likes of "Hades Deep" for you to submerge yourselves in (see, I've started pulling tunes out already) and let yourself be drifted off into a flush of hippy-induced technology.
I'm not sure how seriously Dave would want the album to be taken. In some ways tracks such as "Heads" and "Words Of A Song" sound as if they were more the product of Mr. Brock doodling with his synths, sequencers and porta-studio in the privacy of his own bedroom. The use of a Casio drum machine (which always sounds like something Rolf Harris should have advertised - remember the Stylophone?!) indicates that this might well have been the case. Which also begs the question as to whether the Agents Of Chaos are a real band at all - or just a figment of Dave's imagination.
To be honest, though, neither I nor the people who buy the disk will care a jot. The music is the message and it's probably a message that sounds all the better for a bloddy great Havana of a joint! Still, stone cold sober as I am when reviewing this here album, I can still get plenty of kicks out of the likes of "Nocturne" and 'into The Realms". I guess that says a lot. This is twiddly-twiddly I can dig. When the mood takes you, you can't beat a bit of Brocky.
-Howard Johnson
Review of "Xenon Codex" (KKK) (Kerrang!, 1988):
This is what the kids want, a new Hawkwind album. Just when you thought the old hippies had been run down by a silver machine or caught by one too many sonic attacks, they're back. Hawkwind are one of those bands who have always been there and hopefully always will. When the Bon Jovi's of this world have grown old and ugly the Hawks will just be older and uglier.
The new album 'Xenon Codex' is a good solid Hawk album. There's no messing about, even though someone's found a tape of animal noises so there's seagulls and horses making various noises at different points.
It's all cosmic war and swirly synths, necromancing and laidback guitar. The Hawks rarely surprise but they never disappoint. "Lost Chronicles" is a cracking little instrumental, as is "Seagulls"; "Slaughterhouse" is a gentle little ditty about...well, I'm not entirely sure what it's about except for sudden death of a particularly horrible kind, but who cares, that's what lyric inners are for.
Do yourselves a favour, go out and buy this album - your ears will thank you and you'll be making some old hippies happy men.
-El Rose
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