Hawkwind-All Aboard The Skylark review: Somewhat of a Return?

It’s odd when your favorite band puts an album out and not only do you not run out and get it instantly, it takes a while to even be bothered to listen to it online. One of the reasons is their most recent effort, the gawdawful Road to Utopia orchestral affair. The other worrying piece is that this is the fourth Hawkwind album in as many years. Will time show that Hawkwind is running thin on ideas or will they deliver an unexpected classic?

How to Snatch Defeat From the Jaws of Victory-the backstory

Hawkwind has seemed to have been undeservedly snakebit throughout much of their five decade career.  Just when things seem to be on track, unlikely things always seem to pooch the proceedings. Starting way back in 1973, Hawkwind had outlasted the critics and created the blueprint for all of space rock, the magnificent and ramblingly shambolic Space Ritual. People took notice, and on a much larger scale than ever before. On the cusp of finally breaking really big world wide, they hustled a new single out, the pulsing Robert Calvert led Urban Guerilla. But a rash of IRA car bombings in London led the BBC to refuse to play the song, and it was withdrawn by the band and the label. Other things like Lemmy getting arrested and then idiotically fired in the middle of the 1975 tour dropped them a peg when their US tour was finally getting some bigger venues filled. One of the few UK bands to successfully transition into the punk era (mostly courtesy of Bob Calvert), they were forced to abandon a tour in France due to Calvert’s mental instability and eventual firing in the late 70’s. Even the festival scene, their home base, didn’t give solace, when the Battle of the Beanfield attack by the UK police on Hawkwind and their fanbase to disrupt the attempted 1985 Stonehenge Festival scattered the local faithful. A 90’s renaissance in the US brought a new generation of overseas fans, but the band getting stopped in Canadian customs prevented their headlining showcase appearance at the 1998 US Strange Daze Festival, a lynchpin of the US space rock scene. Follow that with two blown out tours in the States in fall and spring of  2013-2014 where they lost much of their hard won US following. More recently, the band had the unexpected brilliant album The Machine Stops revitalize their rep in 2016, and the followup Into the Woods in 2017 brought onboard the Lemmy-esque Rickenbacker thumping Haz Wheaton. Things looked good and the band never sounded so revitalized. Unfortunately, Haz bailed quickly for greener pastures in Electric Wizard, leaving the band back at square one. Then the ill conceived 2018 orchestral album Road to Utopia last year seemed destined to bang the funeral drum quietly.

Hawkwind 2019

So the band needs a win. But a band that is used to having 2-3 years to develop an album attempting four albums in four years? It seems the creative vault is getting worryingly sparse in contents under this four year tasking. Pressed by their 50th anniversary, the band have launched All Aboard the Skylark, a collection of wispy half completed sketches and song ideas. Niall Hone is back in the fold on bass and keys, and the dynamic Haz Wheaton is out. Guitarist and keyboardist Magnus Martin (who joined during the Into the Woods sessions on keys) along with long serving drummer Richard Chadwick form the newest version of the Hawks. Last original member and founder Dave Brock rounds out the quartet. The good news? There isn’t anything really bad in here.  The problem is that there just isn’t much Hawkwind music on this album. Songs are short (3-5 minute range) and are padded out with twiddly synth intros-leaving scant few minutes of actual Hawkwind on here.

Opening song Flesh Fondue is repurposed from the 1982 Church of Hawkwind’s Star Cannibal. Once again, they have redone one of their own songs, albeit in a fashion that brings some of the Hawkwind oomph not in the original. Slightly marred by generic synths, this might be the only one on the album that actually sounds like Hawkwind. Echoes of Huw Lloyd Langton weave in the background courtesy of Martin. An awkward one minute coda is grafted onto the end of the song, not sure why except perhaps the aggressive riff needed to be put into something, somewhere.
Nets of Space is trippy but too short, ironically reminiscent of Ozric Tentacles, one of the bands heavily influenced by Hawkwind in the early 80’s UK festival scene.  It seems like there is an idea for a song in there somewhere but it fades slowly rather than gathers. An unfinished bit.

The Last Man on Earth, a Martin led piece is similar to some of the work on the Dibbs led Onward-this is what Hawkwind would sound like with little to no input from Brock. Pleasant vocals but more 70’s pop rock sounding than Hawkwind sounding. Think: a poppy acoustic take on We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago. Could function as a single, but a single with no lead vocal from Dave is a hard sell.

We Are Not Dead….Only Sleeping is pleasant and dreamy, full of the whooshes and whispers that make Hawkwind what they are. The jazzy piano part is may not work for some long term fans, but adds nicely to the lazy spacey vibe. Not sure if jazz is where their strengths lie though. Another unfinished song idea in reality.

All Aboard the Skylark takes a bit to hit a groove, with some long missing saxophone work (sax being the instrument of choice of Nik Turner, public enemy number one in Hawkwind social media). but when you think it might be getting somewhere with a bit of intensity, the song loses steam and disintegrates slowly, as if Richard and Dave are only trying out ideas rather than a focused piece of mayhem. In the end the song trails off without ever getting somewhere. Not really a song but a glimpse into the song writing process. Not sure why this would be the title track, but it does make one wistful for more sax here and there like the glory days.

65 Million Years Ago starts off promisingly with a jarring synth figure repeating while Brock delivers some of his signature chanted lyrics. Somewhat derivative of 25 Years On filtered through epic melodic metal crescendoes. One of the few on this album that bear a repeat listening, but it sounds like a shorter section of a larger unfinished Hawkwind epic.

In the Beginning is generic Hawkwind synth intro to any number of songs. Except there is no song here. Unfinished instrumental time filler inserted again, not a song. That’s three now.

The Road To has some guitar work reminiscent of departed Huw Lloyd Langton. It also flows along lazily and pleasantly. This trails off after never getting too far from the introductions. One begins to wonder how much Dave Brock has to do with this album, as things never get pulled together into a coherent whole, but are allowed to wander more aimlessly than they should.
The final song, The Fantasy of Faldum: Hawkwind could have written their own eulogy here. “Everything passes away in time, everything grows old”.  (Hopefully this isn’t true folks)  This is another song that would have benefited from a Dave Brock vocal lead, as this is the ‘epic’ of the album. And a scant 42 minutes after we began, we are done.

New guitarist Magnus Martin seems like he has a larger than normal guiding hand in this album, with this song and Last Man on Earth featuring lead vocals from him, and lacking the strong stamp of Brock’s personality. Guitar work throughout is parsed between Dave and Magnus, but fans will likely say ‘there’s not enough guitar in there.

Conclusions?

‘Unfinished’ is the general vibe this album gives off. Outtakes masquerading as a new album isn’t the greatest thing for a 50th anniversary party. Barring the filler synth instrumentals, this album clocks in at about 30 minutes overall. The album cover is once again entry level sterile computer graphic art accompanied by the requisite sterile logo font that has wrapped too many of their recent albums (Blood, Onward, Spacehawks…) Sonically this thing is generally swathed in too much echo and reverb to ever really solidify, which is mirrored in much of the music-slower tempo proto-Hawkwind jams that are seeking a groove, but never quite get there. Richard Chadwick deserves some accolades as his drumming is as solid as ever, and he tries to energize some of the more unfinished pieces, urging things further, Onward as it were.
This album is closer in conception to Hawkwind Light Orchestra-breezy and off the cuff takes on something that we know to be much deeper.

Recommended for the faithful, and a definite light years improvement on Road to Utopia.

The album also comes with a bonus disc of acoustic material they performed on a recent tour as their own opening unplugged act. Stripped of swoops and wooshes, some of their songs are starkly powerful in their original conception. In retrospect, the bonus disc might be the one that ends up the keeper. Listen first if you are a long time Hawkfan. But overall, not a bad recovery.

Mirabile Dictu: Hawkwind Rises From The Ashes and Delivers The Goods

Hawkwind- The Machine Stops (2016) Cherry Red

I will admit it, I had Hawkwind written off. For most long term fans of Hawkwind, the band has been on life support for over 15 years. It’s not as if there wasn’t plenty of evidence. Folks started to wonder what was up as drum machines and sequencers took control of the band. Albums began to have a push button feel to them, and fans had started to abandon ship around the time Alan Davey left circa 1997’s Distant Horizons. This album had ushered in the ‘techno era’ for Hawkwind, and ripping guitars, washes of jet engine level white noise and howling vocals were being replaced by drum machines, polite sequenced synthesizers and a pattern of endless parade of pleasant remakes of their classic tunes, mostly inferior to the originals. Recent clunkers didn’t add to confidence that the ship would stop taking on water.

With that in mind,  any new Hawkwind album needs to be graded on a sliding scale. 2010’s Blood of the Earth suffered from an overt absence of Dave Brock, the sole surviving member, and the heart of the band. His vocals and guitar work were essential cogs that made the Hawkship fly so successfully. His handing over the reins of the band to a revolving door of some less inspired associates made for a frustrating and disappointing experience. The follow up, 2013’s Onward, fell even further down the rungs of the ladder-no memorable tunes at all, and padded out with remakes of their own former classics. Ennui and malaise were now the watchwords, and the outlook for the future looked grim.

All of which makes 2016’s The Machine Stops, their 26th studio album such a welcome surprise. When one enters with zero expectations, even a modest level of success is noteworthy. But make no mistake, this album exceeds any modest expectations. Echoes of their underrated 80’s work-Church of Hawkwind, Levitation and Choose Your Masques-flow through this concept album (loosely based on E. M. Forster’s prescient 1909 short story of the same name-a post apocalyptic underground world controlled by machines). Church of Hawkwind is the best reference point, a 1982 album revered by Hawk-heads and generally unknown in their catalog. It has long been considered one of the last of the ‘classic’ Hawk albums, heavy on the synths and thick with a creepy and trippy dystopian vibe. The Machine Stops follows a similar bent: spoken word pieces as intro and outro, synth instrumentals that segue songs seamlessly, genuine rockers interspersed with more dreamy takes. It would appear that this is the first Hawkwind album in decades without a remake of a former classic, but hard core Hawkfans may notice that the song Tube is lifted from the introduction of Choose Your Masques’ Dream Worker, while others may notice musical and lyrical themes from other past songs weaving their way through.

Keeping in mind that Hawkwind has been mostly a functioning band since 1969, it is beyond startling that 47 years later, they could still pull some magic out of their hats and dazzle us. Long term fans and newcomers will resonate with this record, as it plays into Hawkwind’s strengths. Concept album? Check. Large dystopian theme running through the whole thing? Check. Creepy atmospheric interludes? Check. And a big reason for this album’s success is Brock stepping up once more to grab control of his own band, and inject some of his magical energy that has been lacking in the last 20 years. When people say this is one of their best albums in a while, they are spot on. (One review states it is the best since 1975’s Warrior on the Edge of Time, a bit of misguided hyperbolic praise). But this is definitely the most satisfying and complete work since 1992’s Electric Teepee (or some others have pointed towards 1995’s Alien 4 as their last really satisfying and complete album). Either way, it has been over 20 years since a Hawkwind album that really gets you excited and makes you want to play it again immediately has been released. Hawkwind releases used to be cause for celebration, make you want to take the day off from work or school and just—you know-get into it, get out of it, get into it.  Blood of the Earth I played a few times and haven’t revisited in six years. Onward? I actually sold it after two plays knowing I’d never listen to it again. Hawkwind’s recent output was starting to tarnish the unique power and beauty of their 1969-1992 era of near perfection.

Their recent attempts at sticking their toes into the prog rock pool also didn’t sit right. Prog bands are known for their chops and tricky compositional skills, this was never Hawkwind’s vibe. Hawkwind was always about the SOUND. They always had taken a punk rock approach, long before punk existed. “Plug a bunch of things in, wail away, and let’s see what happens” has always been their approach, and nobody in the history of the band would claim virtuoso status in any era of their existence. This is what made Hawkwind stand out from the crowd, in a field crowded by anorak prog geeks wielding moogs, Hawkwind were the Neanderthals armed with technology who co-opted the fancy gear and created a glorious primal electronic caterwauling, a maelstrom of sound that could pluck your consciousness from your shaking body and take it to new dimensions, something ELP and their ilk could never do. Attempting to enter territory they weren’t well equipped for wasn’t playing to their strengths, and their recent work showed it.  Only 2012’s Hawkwind Light Orchestra’s Stellar Variations avoided this trap, stripped to a trio of Brock, Chadwick and Hone.

Perhaps the transition of Dibs from bass to more of a full time vocalist has something to do with this revitalization. Niall Hone and powerful newcomer Haz Wheaton (this kid brings the Lemmy hunger back into the mix) play bass on 70% of the album. Coincidence or not, there is magic once again bubbling up in the lower frequencies.

Is this album perfect? No. Although it does not fare as well in comparison to their groundbreaking 1970-1977 period, and can suffer from time to time from overly generic synthesizer work, it should quickly grab the attention of any Hawkwind fans who would consider themselves a bit disaffected in the millennium. Overall, this album has an elegiac feel to it. Under the guises of following the storyline, the third to last (and best) song on the album, the infectious Solitary Man sounds as if Dave Brock is finally letting the long term fan peek behind the curtain into his private life for both a quick glimpse and large statement, and has pinned an appropriate title to let you know.  For as the song says,  Dave has always been a Solitary Man, single-handedly guiding the starship Hawkwind through the Cosmos, surrounded by friends, but alone with his thoughts. If this is the last Hawkwind album ever, it is a solid final statement, and they have done us proud. Highly recommended for Hawkwind fans both old and new.