5 Stars
Formed in 2008 around Jerry Richards and Harvey Bainbridge, this band has released six wonderful albums of space rock, but this is their first live album.
In 1978-79 there was a band called Hawklords who released one album. This band was led by Dave Brock and Robert Calvert and was in motion due to legal wrangling over the name Hawkwind, so was really Hawkwind in disguise. Harvey Bainbridge is the only person to have made the leap of twenty-nine years from one band to the next.
Sadly, just before this tour took place, Harvey Bainbridge decided that another trip around British Space Stations in a Ford Transit was just a bit too much. So he bowed out. Whether this is permanent or not is in the hands of the Gods.
However, standing in the wings was the perfect understudy in the form of Fred Reeves (aka Dead Fred) who shines throughout these recordings. Whether it’s playing all the keyboard parts, freaky backing vocals, making all the necessary Hawkspace noises, or just hammering out some Jerry Lee Lewis style Rock’n’Roll piano on the up-tempo numbers.
He also brought the number of ex Hawkwind players up to three in this Hawklords lineup. The other being Jerry Richards, now the chief songwriter, vocalist, and zany guitarist within the band. Brought into the lineup for this tour was Hawkwind founding member Nik Turner (Thunder Rider) who nearing his eightieth year brought much power to the sound with his saxophone jazz inflections and demanding lead vocals.
The band also has a manic rhythm section in the dangerous drumming of Dave Pearce and the blistering bass playing of Tom Ashurst. Both are intergalactic parts of the Hawklords Spaceship.
So what do we get for our Mars dollars? Seventy-four minutes of the best space rock you will ever hear. Get yourself dazed.
The bulk of the set is made up of Hawklords originals with some space dust sprinkled over numbers old and new, favoring music from their latest masterpiece Heavens Gate (2018). Plus, a roar through a cover of Robert Calvert’s spikey Aerospace Inferno, and two Hawkwind classics in Brainstorm and Master of the Universe. Why not? Nik Turner wrote them after all!
If you like space rock or listening to music that takes you away on an asteroid, then this is the album for you.
If you are intrigued to find out about the sonic daze of what we speak, there is no better place to start (or finish.) A freaky journey indeed. Watch out for Sonic Attacks by Silver Machines.
Written by Mott the Dog from the Deck of the Enterprise on Pattaya’s Darkside.
