HAWKESTREL: THE FUTURE IS US

Hawkestral is a combinations of the words ""hawk" and "kestrel". with a name like that you're certain this is Hawkwind-related, and you're correct and this was an Alan Davey project involving many different Hawkwind members. I have a feeling this project took literally years to make given that Huw-Lloyd Langton and Lemmy are present and both passed away long before the album's release (Ginger Baker would leave us a couple months after The Future is Us was released). How is this? Well like a Hawkwind album, and surprisingly so given the total lack of Dave Brock's present (after all if Dave was present, it would have to be a Hawkwind album). It's certainly better than anything Hawkwind has done of recent, and I am really surprised. This album has some amazing stuff, for example, "Sea of Sand" with Bridget Wishart (she appeared on Space Bandits and Palace Springs) and Ginger Baker. I'm a bit surprised to find Ginger even agreeing to appear on some of the songs on this album given his cranky attitude and attitude towards music (look how he trashed Mick Jagger, Keith Moon and John Bonham and thinking that Cream should have been aborted since they've been called in the rock press "the forefathers of heavy metal"). Anyways an amazing Middle Eastern-influenced piece complete with oud (lute predecessor common in Arab, Turkish, and even Armenian and Greek music) and even some Berber chanting (which sounds like Native American chanting, which is not done by putting you hand over your mouth like on Saturday morning cartoons, but movement of the tongue while emitting a high-pitched sound). Berbers are native to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (even a bit of Egypt). Lyrically it's unsurprisingly Arabian Nights influenced, in this case Aladdin. It's nice to hear Bridget Wishart singing again, seeing she never stayed in the band for long (from 1989 to 1991). "Nyx of Chaos" features Nik Turner and Ginger Baker. Sounds like Nik was adopting a more jazz approach to his sax playing. I got a kick off the remake of "Sonic Attack" seeing none other than William Shatner narrate it. It's very difficult to keep a straight face hearing this version given his pompous approach seems downright comical. For one, I keep thinking of those Priceline ads where he butchered hit songs way back in 2000 (which was hardly a new thing he was doing, he did that as early as 1968 with his first album The Transformed Man with "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"). Also I was wondering if he was going to give us those trademark dramatic pauses here? He sure didn't disappoint. But what keeps this from a complete embarrassment is the trippy mood and electronic sound effects. "12-String Shuffle" with Huw-Lloyd Langton is a bit different seeing it's an instrumental bluesy piece. "Bad Boys for Life" features Lemmy and if most certainly sounds exactly like how Hawkwind would have sounded like if he never left the band. His bass playing and vocals are unmistakable. Apparently he recorded this song for a movie soundtrack to Sunset Society (from 2018, but obviously recorded before his death). I haven't heard that version, but the Hawkestral version is likely different, more Hawkwind-like. Highly recommended, even if you feel Hawkwind had lost it in recent years.