Hawkwind

A 4/5CD Clamshell box set of the most potent of the Hawkwind line-ups of the nineties.

By the time they were recording these albums they were a settled line up – Dave Brock, Alan Davey & Richard Chadwick - and the quality of the music flowed from that – I would have to say that at times they were simply an irresistible force, full of the Hawkwind traits – the driving riffs, pleading vocals electronic soundscaping and pure out-of-the-head imagery of the band.

The first album in the line was ‘The Business Trip Live’ in 1994, heavy on the synths and space-echo and featuring brilliant versions of ‘Quark Strangeness & Charm’ and ‘Wastelands.

‘Alien 4’ was massively successful for them with the addition of Ron Tree on lead vocals and Jerry Richards guesting on ‘Death Trap’, ‘Wastelands’ & ‘Are You Losing Your Minds’. ’Sputnik Stan’ is probably the standout track and closest to the original space-rock sound of the band.
‘Love In Space’ was the live version of ‘Alien 4’ – a double CD, taking all the themes of ‘Alien 4’ a step further and accompanying a video of the tour.

Davey and Brock had a falling over the direction of Hawkwind after than and Davey left handing bass duties to Tree and Brock brought Jerry Richards in as a permanent member of the band, The result was ‘Distant Horizons’ which featured ‘Phetamine Street’ and the monstrous ‘Reptoid Vision’.

The quality of the recordings is a little variable with ‘Distant Horizons’ especially sounding dense and murky, but the quality of the music is undeniable – Hawkwind at their best are primal, driven and totally in control.

This set doesn’t offer anything new but as a statement of some of the best that Hawkwind offered in the nineties it is well up there.