Music from the Hawkwind family tree

Music from the Hawkwind family tree - Part 20

Thanks to Graham for these reviews - except where noted otherwise, of course

Approach With Caution : Amon Düül (UK) – Fool Moon

This album was released on Dave Anderson’s Demi Monde label and was the follow up to the infinitely superior “Die Losung”. As on that and a couple of other albums, the presence of Anderson and guitarist John Weinzerl justified appropriation of the Amon Düül name.

“Who who” is an unpromising start: what sounds like the banging and clattering of kitchen utensils and the guitarist running his fingers up and down the strings gives way to spoken vocals interspersed with chants of “too-wit-too-woo”. Track 2, “The Tribe” is a decent enough instrumental that chugs along nicely on the back of a glam rock rhythm guitar track, the interest being maintained by some tasteful lead guitar. Track 3, “Tik Tok” is built on a rhythm track comprised of rapid, brittle, clicks and ticks, enough to set your teeth on edge. Later on the lead guitarist throws some glacial and bombastic shapes, but it be better without the mechanical insects in the

background. Track 5, “Hymn for the Hardcore” comprises little more than some faux-oriental strumming and percussion, the sort of thing that sounded groundbreaking when the Beatles did it forty years ago.

This leaves the longest track, “Haupmotor”, which begins as a field recording of someone walking through the countryside into a farmyard (complete with birdsong and mooing) and arriving at a building - where security guards apparently let him/her into a party. He/she then moves out into traffic until, at just past the six-minute mark, the main riff kicks in, shortly followed by a vocal track sung in German – by someone who sounds remarkably like an uncredited Bob Calvert, as several commentators have previously noted. Assuming that this is correct, this song (aside from the tedious intro) pretty much justifies the purchase of what is otherwise an inessential album.

“Fool Moon” was originally released (on Demi Monde) in 1989. My CD copy (Magnum CDTL 011) is dated 1990. Anyone who owns the LP will immediately notice that the tracks listed on this CD (and on the inlay and inside the slipcase booklet, where they are accompanied by equally spurious credits and photos) have nothing to do with the album. A little research confirms that information about another Demi Monde release, “Beyond the gates of Ull” (1986) by Ozrics offshoot The Ullulators has been substituted! For the record then, Amon Düül UK didn’t record tracks called “Don’t Thump The Hamster” or “Mustaffa Vole”.

Approach With Caution : Spaceship Eyes – Truth In The Eyes Of A Spaceship

This album is the brainchild of one Don Falcone, although no less than 12 collaborators are listed, including Harvey Bainbridge on track 7, “The Great Yew Hedge”. Rarely though have so many people collaborated to produce so meagre an artefact…

The album actually starts promisingly, with a soft bed of synthesised strings leading us into the opening track, “Mind The Alien”. A few seconds later though the true intent of the album is revealed: the rest of the track, and indeed the majority of the tracks here, comprises little more than dense electronic percussion, sometimes underpinned with minimal bass, sound effects, vocal samples, or the briefest flashes of synth melody. On “The Great Yew Hedge”, Harvey is credited with samples and synth so I guess the repeated minimalistic melody line must be his.

However, like all the tracks, the percussion dominates and it is thoroughly and resolutely dull. Categorised by Amazon as electronica, possibly the album counts as drums ‘n’ bass or hard trance or some such dance genre but this is not music as I know it and I found it totally unlistenable. If you like this kind of thing, it was released on Cleopatra’s Hypnotic imprint (CLP 0248-2) in 1998.

Worth A Listen : Earth Lab – Element

With several ex-Hawks aboard, this Jerry Richards-led enterprise should be an essential item. Jerry Richards writes or co-writes everything and plays guitars and synths. Simon House contributes violin on two tracks, Ron Tree provides vocals on three (and co-writes one), and Steve Swindells sings and co-writes four tracks and plays keyboards on one. Steve Taylor plays bass on one track. Other contributors are Alf Hardy (synth, harp), Chris Aldridge (flute, sax), Barry Jones (bass), Robin Hill (drums, synth), Winston Blissett (bass) and Jon Moss (drums).

Divided into five sections (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Quintessence), the album embraces a diversity of styles, although generally eschewing conventional song structure, and ultimately lacks cohesion. One problem is that not much of the album is space rock but another is quality control. Too many of the songs

sound like studio jams and Steve Swindells’ contributions are particularly disappointing, certainly if compared with his second solo album “Fresh Blood” (the one with “Shot Down In The Night On It”, and backing by Huw Lloyd Langton, Simon King and Nic Potter). This man can sing with passion and he can write excellent songs but he shows little evidence of either talent here. Having said that, Jerry Richards, Ron Tree and Simon House all make sterling contributions.

Section 1, “Earth” kicks off with “Separation By Skin”, built around a heavy tribal beat with Simon House’s violin providing an eastern flavour and Ron Tree’s chanted vocals prominent. This is a case of more is less and the dense mix of instrumentation, effects and vocals ends up being something of a mess. “Eight and One” is more laid back, less dense and consequently slightly more successful. Ron again takes vocal duties and the track is mainly propelled by a cyclical rhythm guitar figure underpinned by bass and drums, with some flute colourings and Jerry also contributing a solo.

Both of the “Air” compositions are sung and co-written by Steve Swindells. “Back Seat Angel” has Steve Swindells doing his best John Martyn impression over a slow, percussion-heavy backing track. A brief a-cappella section near the end provides welcome relief. “Thin Air” features a more conventional arrangement and a nice underlying melody, although the drums are too prominent, but Steve Swindells rather spoils things with a positively tortured vocal performance.

The “Fire” section rocks. On the pure rock’n’roll of “Digital Age”, Ron Tree and Jerry Richards do a fair impression of the Undertones. “Wheels Part 2 / We Took The Car” (as the title suggests) revisits the thrashy Hawkwind style of Distant Horizons, although at times recalling the classic Hawkwind sound of Doremi or Mountain Grill. Steve Swindells again contributes “tortured” vocals and we get to hear too much of him and not enough of the basic track.

The “Water” section comprises a field recording/sound collage “designed” by Jerry Richards (“Discovery: the Quest Begins”) ahead of the final song on the album, “Liquid Crystal Clear”. The latter is a Richards / Swindells number, a heavy ballad and, although Swindells again delivers a fairly extreme vocal performance, this time it fits reasonably well. Simon House adds violin and this track also veers close to a Hawkwind sound in places.

The album closes out with the instrumental “New Light”, making up the fifth and final “Quintessence” section. Here Jerry goes all new age on us (at least until the guitar comes in) for a relaxed ending to an otherwise edgy and somewhat difficult album. The album is available on the band’s own Earth Lab Records (ELR 12) and can be acquired from Compact Disc Services.

Worth A Listen : The Alman Mulo Band –Afrodiziac (Dream Time)

An early drum‘n’bass album? Certainly there’s not much going on above Norman Alman’s percussion on the first few tracks, suggesting a paucity of ideas and inspiration. However, persistence is rewarded as Harvey remembers to write some tunes and the best tracks achieve a Tangerine Dream-like ambience.

“Intro” comprises a basic acoustic percussion track, birds squawk and Harvey mumbles in Spanish. “Cinshe Bane” is equally inconsequential: again built on a percussion groove and Harvey mumbling away in the background, a few effects here and there and some bass courtesy of Phil Deacon. “It’s Up To You” actually has a tune, carried by Harvey singing over the basic percussion, bass and effects. “It Could Be Day” starts off as a simple percussion track with Harvey half singing, half chanting before some synth fills and effects join the percussion and things meander aimlessly on for several minutes.

On “Water”, the most developed composition so far, synth and percussion set up a Tangerine Dream-like groove and Harvey does his half-sung, half-chanted thing, something about an instant trip from the mountains to the sea. “What’s In It For Me” has two guest vocalists, Richie Winearls and Grant Oatley, the former also co-credited with composition. It is basically a rap track, although laid back and playful rather than in your face, with the synth providing the melody, and the it doesn’t outstay its welcome. “All At Sea”, the longest track at just over 8 ½ minutes, features synthesised seagulls, water and wave effects and dreamy synths. After a while the percussion joins in and the synth settles into an insistent sequence: very Tangerine Dream, very effective indeed and the best track so far. “Peaches Are Free” has sampled vocals, up-front percussion, synth, Harvey singing and sound effects but no sense of direction. Another mis-step.

“Warriors Of Ancient Times” gets things back on track: a proper song with a reggae groove, more dreamy synth, and Harvey singing well back in the mix. On “Say Goodbye”, the sound effects, synth and Haryey’s singing set up an unsettling and mournful atmosphere, somewhat at odds with the jaunty percussion. Finally, “No Hay Calabaja” (a nonsense title, although “No Hay Calabaza” would be the marginally more sensible “there are no pumpkins”) has Harvey chanting in Spanish over a lively synth and percussion track.

Not an essential album by any means, and one that would be improved by deleting the first four tracks (thereby creating a good 40-minute album instead of an hour long dog’s dinner), but worth a listen. The front cover, with heads (or possibly pumpkins) on sticks amid a psychedelic swirl is quite striking too! The CD was released in 1993 as Taste 41.

Worth A Listen : Alan Davey – The Final Call

The third and, to date, last of Alan Davey’s solo albums, this appeared in 2001 (Centaur Discs, CENCD 029). The only guest appearance is that of Richard Chadwick on the opening track.

The album kicks off much as you’d expect: a hard-edged eastern flavoured rocker (“Shahadah”), which builds up gradually from a synth-based intro, with the drums and main riff kicking in around the three-minute mark, followed by two dreamy synth pieces (“Sawm” and “Cloud Watching”). These are pretty much definitive

dreamy synth pieces, in fact, I’d go so far as to say that Alan Davey has cornered the market! On “Bird Nebula”, the dreamy synths are backed with some distant riffing (i.e. the guitar is mixed so low that the guitarist is apparently in another room). “Salah” is a slow and repetitive track built around percussion and effects: it is basically filler and goes on far too long.

Next up is the familiar riffing of “Stan’s Orbital Salvage”, the only track on which Alan sings. While this moves along briskly enough it’s hard to avoid comparing it unfavourably with the full band version. There is however an interesting and effective change of pace after 4 minutes, with a long, slow, coda on which Alan picks out the melody on guitar.

“Zakah” is back to the dreamy synths, but this time with something of a sinister edge. “Black Light” maintains the sinister mood without ever moving out of first gear. With the album now desperately needing another rocker, we get another unsettling, effects laden, filler piece (“Many Voices”) and then another one (“Hajj”).

And that’s it. A core of excellent tracks (Shahadah, Sawm, Cloud Watching, Stan’s Orbital Salvage, Zakah) padded out with filler. The boost in quality produced by Richard Chadwick’s contribution of real drums to “Shahadah” emphasises that Alan’s best work has been done with a band.

Worth A Listen : Tim Blake - Magick

Whether you like this at all will probably depend on your tolerance of Tim Blake’s new age leanings, his singing and, in particular, his lyrics. Also, being “live in the studio”, with Tim on sequencers, synth and voice, the arrangements all tend to be sparse and simple. I really like it but I can well imagine others finding it wholly objectionable. It appeared on Voiceprint (VP105 CD) in 2000.

“A Magick Circle” sets the tone: a light, relaxed and melancholic instrumental. The first of three songs, “Tonight” showcases Tim’s fragile vocals, over a sparse synth and sequencer backing. The lyrics are simple and deeply personal, which you will either find sensitive and moving or, possibly, slightly nauseating (“this lonesome boy who needs your love ce soir”, etc).

“The Strange Secret Of Ohm – Gliding” is a slow and slight mainly instrumental piece, with synth colourings over sequenced bass and percussion. About half way through Tim starts intoning some mystical nonsense about the secret power of Ohm gliding. Before you dismiss this out of hand, remember that the Hawks have covered similar lyrical territory, albeit with rather more robust musical settings, on “D-rider” and “Levitation”. “A Return To The Clouds” picks up the pace slightly, but is fairly inconsequential.

The album’s centrepiece, “Waiting For Nati” is a very personal love song, on which Tim sings and plays his heart out. Eight and a half minutes of blissful soul-baring or toe-curlingly twee, depending on your mood. “A Dream” is a short and inconsequential instrumental and “More Magick” is more of the same, only longer. Saving the album from drifting into terminal torpor, “With You”, another very personal love song, closes proceedings.

Worth A Listen : Cyrille Verdeaux – Clearlight Symphony

The “Hawkwind” interest on this 1973 album (released on CD in 2001, Spalax Music, SPALAX CD 14592) is the appearance of Tim Blake on the second track (along with fellow Gong members Steve Hillage and Didier Malherbe).

The album is divided into two 20-minute long instrumental “movements”, both composed and arranged by Cyrille Verdeaux. The style is a hybrid of classical, jazz and symphonic/progressive rock, dominated by Verdeaux’s piano, organ, mellotron and synth playing. Although such genre-straddling records don’t always work (thus it was said of Renaissance back in the 1970s that their songs combined classical and rock music without the melodic sophistication of the former or the excitement of the latter) this was a pleasure to

listen to. The closest “rock” reference point I can think of in terms of the overall sound and mood is Caravan, although the sleeve notes namedrop Debussy and the tracks are sufficiently varied and inventive to maintain interest throughout. Admittedly the guitar work on the 1st movement (by Christian Boule) is lacklustre and there’s a rather horrible “prog” moment when the band appear to collectively drop their instruments on the studio floor before resuming the piece. Finally, it has to be said that while this is a fine record, well worth tracking down, Tim Blake plays no more than a bit part.