There is always going to be a certain amount of nostalgia involved in reviewing a Hawkwind album, well they have been around since forever (1969 to be precise). I have fond memories of walking into my local record shop on the day of release and getting their latest double album on vinyl and handing over a £10 note and often getting a smile and some change in return, but seriously who would have thought that Hawkwind would outlive the record shop? They have though! Luckily their current label still values the vinyl format and you can pick it up from them but Hawkwind are very much in the digital age now, something the futuristic space rockers probably didn’t envisage themselves when releasing classics such as ‘In Search Of Space’ and ‘Warrior On The Edge Of Time’ to name just a couple of their classic albums.
Dave Brock, captain at the controls has done his best to keep spaceship Hawkwind in flight over the years. It has not always been successful and no doubt they lost many when they experimented through the more rave orientated years. Personally the last couple of albums and some of the re-recorded old songs have left me a bit cold but I will always check the band out in anything they do and will happily go and see them live at least once every couple of years as having been a veteran of 25 or so shows over time, they always keep us entertained even if I for one am participating at these concerts in a much more sober state of mind.
So it is a pleasure to announce that ‘Onward’ not only sees the Wind never saying die but also does the job with conviction and is their most enjoyable album (indeed double album) in quite a few aeons. We start off in style with classic meandering guitar lines, spacey theremin and keyboards as ‘Seasons’ melodically oozes out the sound I grew up on. ‘The Hills Have Ears’ (yep you have to love that title) is upbeat and fast paced with all the sonic accoutrements one would expect as it pulses and whooshes off on its astral voyage. The album is kept on course and multi-faceted with no less than three vocalists participating, Brock, Chadwick and Mr Dibs and whereas the latter’s parts were annoying me last album he seems much more comfortable now, as I am with him.
There are ballads and there are instrumental songs, in fact as far as the latter are concerned perhaps a few too many and you certainly feel like there is a bit of a case of padding things out to make this a double but what the hell, you pay your money and you get your value. There are as well of course those re-inventions of old songs which frankly I was dreading BUT once you get past the fantastic intro of ‘System Check’ and literally fly in mass panic into ‘Death Trap’ you are well aware it is ironically the best version of a Hawkwind song ever attempted by anyone (and there have been many) and you have to bang your head along to this full tilt barrage completely back in the zone. Yes there are some dubstep wobs in there! Others covered on the album are also no letdown although nowhere near as in your face. ‘Green Finned Demon’ was never meant to be anyway and ‘Right To Decide’ is equally as catchy and as fun as the spirit of the original.
With the first disc concluding with an avant-lounge-jazz instrumental ‘The Drive By’ which goes into trippy psyche trance you can see how the band have kept abreast of music through the eras. It sets things up nicely for the second album and leaves you wondering what is coming next.
Phones ring, keyboards are tapped and ‘Computer Cowards’ goes into skewed and confusing rhythmic thrusts with a chugging bass line. This is one of those future shock sort of songs and it plays on the mind whilst completely disorientating you and finishes with a kettle whistling and a cow mooing. Err seriously guys are you not too old for these sort of drugs now? There is something really familiar about the chorus of ‘Aero Space Age’ It could be the melody or maybe the lyrics “what a good way to go,” there is even a mention of the words “silver machine” in there. Ah the penny drops as I review, it’s a Bob Calvert song and I mentioned it when Hawkwind played this in 2007 and the now demolished Astoria!
Things do meander along a bit and the band jam along nicely but on the whole by now you would realise that if you had taken away all the new versions and instrumentals you would only have one albums worth of songs. Still that is not to say that the rest of it is not enjoyable and anyway who wants to go and see the band live and only get new material? The old classics are important and interspersed with a few new ones from this album I am sure the band will be great over the summer period. Don’t forget to stick around to the end though as you don’t want to miss ‘The Mystery Track,’ it’s one of the best on the album.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply