Hawkwind

Many of the tracks included here have popped up on different albums and compilations over the years but I think this is the first time they have actually been released as a set and as such it shows just how bloody fine Hawkwind were in the post-punk era.

As always with the mighty Hawkwind one has to sort out the lineup of this version (there have been over 50 members of Hawkwind over the years) and here we see Dave Brock on vocals and guitar, Harvey Bainbridge on vocals and bass, Huw Lloyd Langton on vocals and lead guitar, the return of Nik Turner on vocals and winds and finally Martin Griffin on drums and percussion. Michael Moorcock also offers vocals and recitations on two tracks ‘Warrior On The Edge of Time’ and ‘Coded Languages’.

The music has all the Hawkwind signatures: heavy, driving rhythms, swirling synth lines, spaced guitar riffs and poetic and dark science-fiction lyrics and themes. Bainbridge and Griffin were one of the best rhythm sections the band ever had and here they are in full power mode driving the band hard and accelerating from dead stop to all out attack in seconds. Brock and Lloyd Langton share guitar duties and with Brock’s thudding rhythm guitar against Lloyd Langton’s screaming solos there is just no chance to take a breath.

Hearing Nik Turner back with the band he formed adds something rather special to their sound – a kind of reedy and mesmeric, almost African, texture that takes the music further into the stratosphere.

There are so many highlights in the album: Moorcock’s incantation on ‘Warriors At The Edge Of Time’ or the massive attack of ‘Magnu/Dust Of Time’, ‘Angels Of Death’ which was a new track at the time and not heard before but which builds into a maelstrom of sonic assault. A live version of ‘Steppenwolf’ is a rare thing and the version here somehow captures Herman Hesse’s creature with Nik Turner blowing a sad refrain to set off the growling vocals.

The second disc is every bit as good as the first, opening with the classic ‘Psychedelic Warlords’ and delivering on ‘Social Alliance’ and a wonderful ‘Solitary Mindgames’ with the crowd totally in line with the band as they break into a sort of Early American shuffle. ‘Sonic Attack’ works well with this band, avoiding the excesses that sometimes go into the “DO NOT PANIC” verbal riffs.

‘Brainstorm’ closes the show – 13 minutes of excess and freakout that leaves the listener a sodden wreck.

This was one of the great periods for Hawkwind and it is finally properly covered in a brilliant release that works on almost every level.