HAWKWIND – Spacehawks

‘Spacehawks’ contains 16 tracks – a mixture of new songs, remixes and re-recordings of classics and a few oddities (live & Dave Brock solo) thrown in. I am a fan of the band, but as with many Hawkind releases, I find myself asking – is this any good and how much do I need it? Ok, we ask this of every release by every band, but somehow those questions are even more relevant in this case.

So the re-recordings:  ‘Seasons’ is great, even though the production is a little bit ‘underwater’ for my tastes. ‘Assault & Battery’ is good too and ‘Where are They Now?’ is excellent. All offer plenty of the driving spacerock we love Hawkwind for. There’s a new version of ‘Sonic Attack’ which I never need to hear again, but then there is a studio version of ‘Master of the Universe’ which features Huw, to set things straight. ‘It’s all Lies’ works too, but by this stage it has occurred to me that although there are some good moments on this release, there’s nothing truly indispensible here. The BOTE remixes do nothing for me- they are too ambient and electronic for my tastes. Add to that the fact that the new songs are a mixed bag of space jazz and electronica and I find I have the answers to my questions:

Yes ‘Spacehawks’ is good in places, but an equal amount of material on it does zero for me, dragging it down to the score above. And no, I don’t think you need this unless you are a hardcore fan of the band, and in which case you probably disagree with everything I have said anyway. It’s your money…

http://www.hawkwind.com/

http://www.eastworldrecordings.com/artists.html