Hawkwind's Most Recent Studio Efforts:
ALIEN 4
&
DISTANT HORIZONS
Alien 4 and Distant Horizons are the two most recent Hawkwind studio albums. These two albums, along with Electric Tepee (1992) prove to me that although Hawkwind has been around since 1969, they are nonetheless STILL on the cutting edge of mind-altering space music.
ALIEN 4 (1994)
Alien 4 is a truly great concept-album. I think this album is better than Distant Horizons even though at the time of building this webpage, I am fascinated with many of the songs on Distant Horizons. Yet Alien4 is time tested with me. The album centers around Hawkwind's fascination with extra-terrestrial stuff. The album starts off with the (at the time) new addition to the band : Ron Tree rendering a monologue under duress with the famous sounds of Hawkwind's synths sweeping in the background...Ron
strains (as if in pain and horror) as he describes an abduction into an alien spacecraft and the ensuing "examination" he is subjected to. It will bring chills to anyone who truly listens to what is being said during this opening number aptly entitled: The Abduction.
The album takes off all the way to the last track with nothing but space-rock!!! A truly fine effort by Hawkwind. Exceptional songs are: The Abduction, Blue Skin, Sputnik Stan, Xenomorph (my fav) and Beam Me Up. There is also a remake of the classic Calvert song "Death Trap" delivered with power and coolness by Tree. I was very surprised to see how well they did on it.
Brock takes the lead vocals on several tracks as well.
Here is a tracklist:
Abducted (Brock/Tree)
Alien (I Am) (Brock)
Reject Your Human Touch (Brock/Davey/Chadwick/Tree)
Blue Skin (Brock/Davey/Chadwick/Tree)
Beam Me Up (Tree)
Vega (Davey)
Xenomorph (Davey/Tree)
Journey (Brock)
Sputnik Stan (Davey)
Kapal (Brock/Davey/Chadwick)
Festivals (Brock/Tait)
Death Trap (Brock/Clavert)
Wastelands (Brock)
Are You Losing Your Mind? (Brock/Davey/Chadwick/Tree)
Hawkwind produced an outstanding live video during the tour for this album and I think it's the best Hawkwind video I've seen, as far as the space concept goes. The video is entitled, "Love In Space" and is available from Visionary in the U.K.
Of regret is the fact that shortly after this album, bassist Alan Davey left the band to pursue his solo career. Ron Tree moved from exclusively singing to the position of singing AND playing the bass. Being a bass player, Ron doesn't seem to have any problem with this, however I personally think that the bass is tying him down from truly expressing himself on stage. The move caused the addition of guitarist Steve Richards and the result is that Brock evidently is able to concentrate a bit more on the synths.
Distant Horizons (1997)
With Jerry Richards now on board, Hawkwind returned to the studio and in the late summer/fall of 1997 recorded the album Distant Horizons. It has not been released in the USA as to my knowledge. I was able to talk an acquaintance in the U.K. into mailing me a copy and I have thoroughly enjoyed this CD. The album continues on in the tradition of Electric Tepee and Alien 4. To this I say YES!!! Here is a tracklist and brief synopsis of each song:
DISTANT HORIZONS (Brock/Chadwick): Cool start-off! Native-like stuff filled with chanting and electronics. Kraftwerkish at times.
PHETAMINE STREET (Tree): Ron Tree and Chadwick get down. Bass and percussion thing with Tree singing like a punk-alien.
WAIMEA CANYON DRIVE (Brock): Now this is pure Hawkwind. The best track on the album, in my opinion. I love it. Click to download a short sample (151K) of this gem.
ALCHEMY (Richards/Chadwick): New guitarist Jerry Richards shows his stuff with this cool electronic-heavy metal instrumental that pounds away. A different type of Hawkwind here...but still very cool.
CLOUDED VISION (Brock): Kick back and relax to some Classic Brock.
Reptoid Vision (Tree): One of my favorites. Ron Tree stealing the show again. Same genre as Xenomorph and a great song.
POPULATION OVERLOAD (Brock/Chadwick): Dreamscape-like...lotsa synth pads. Cool song.
WHEELS (Richards/Chadwick): Another great song with Richards & guitar up front. Kinda like Alchemy.
KAUAI (Brock): Cool space-erotica. Maximum synth pads. Brock has a thing for Hawaii besides, I have read.
TAXI FOR MAX (Brock): Noises, whistles and pots clanging under heavy delay effect. Hmmm....ok already.
LOVE IN SPACE (Brock): Title track for Hawkwinds 1996 tour. During live performances, this song has lyrics sung by Brock, but on this CD, it is a keyboard space-erotica song for love-making...if you have the right kinda girl! (like I do !!!)....hehehe.
I realize there are a lot of fans who are bewailing the disappearance of the Hawkwind era of acoustics and Robert Calvert - but it is for the most part HISTORY...and a great history it is. However, as a true crew member of spaceship Hawkwind (and this is THEIR journey on which they invite us to follow)...I am content to ride along and enjoy it. Hawkwind has been delving in "space-erotica" which I enjoy immensely...Brock is behind a lot of this, I feel...yet, Distant Horizons has many tracks credited to Tree, Chadwick and Richards. This is a good thing, because Hawkwind has always been a "living" spaceship that even Brock cannot control alone. I highly recommend this CD. (support your local space-rock band!!!!).
Hawkwind 1998
Home- Go to my homepage.
Email me. If you wanna...