IN YOUR AREA

A recording that is far too experimental, this CD contains some very strange songs which most Hawkwind fans will certainly NOT LIKE. Brainstorm is OK. In Your Area is a rubbish reggae song and having Captain Rizz on a Hawkwind CD is a huge mistake because he is absolutely dreadful. The first 5 tracks are a complete mix up, bits of songs overlapping here and there, NOT GOOD. Alchemy is so-so. Love In Space and Rat Race are combined into one song, so the result is very poor. Then this muddle runs straight into Aerospace Age Inferno which is also so-so. First Landing, I am A Reptoid and Nazca are all spoken with the music playing in the background. Hippy? Prairies is a strange instumental but not unpleasant to listen to. Your Fantasy is so-so. Luxotica, Hawkwind meets some kind of steel band or something, another instumental. Diana Park, here Hawkwid play an instumental Santana tune, NOT GOOD. IF YOU LIKE GOOD HAWKWIND THEN LOOK ELSEWHERE.

The albums quite an experiment for Dave Brock to be honest and i found the whole album quite refreshing,some decent ambient songs like Luxotica are mixed with some cool songs like "Rat-Race" and "Reptoid Vision",in fact the latter has become one of my favourite songs. All round it's worth a listen. Rob

Experimentation is a funny thing. You can't predict what's going to happen. Which is precisely why it's called "an experiment". Few bands are as willing and eager to experiment as Hawkwind, and In Your Area presents them in that mode, tossing in reggae and Jamaican dancehall elements, lush ambiance and other things, alongside their usual mix of surging guitars and electronic whirr. Does it work? That depends on your tolerance for exploration. Most of the cuts contain a variety of styles, textures and time changes, which at times flow seamlessly together and at others feel patched together and haphazard. Couple that with the fact that it mixes live and studio cuts, and features a track listing that doesn't match up with the music, and you've got a real crazy quilt that's difficult to get a grip on. But if you can accept these foibles, you might find the experimenting often pays off. I like this disc a lot and return to it frequently. There's a lot of power here. So you can't follow track listing? So what. It's the music that matters. If you need your Hawkwind to stay close to the band's expected sound and vibe, then this album probably isn't for you. But if you enjoy following the band down their sonic detours, you'll find plenty to like here. In Your Area may not be an essential touchstone to be proudly displayed upon the mantle, and perhaps is more like an interesting curio that one might ogle for a moment before placing it back on the shelf and moving on. And that's just fine with me.

I think that it was opening song "Brainstorm" had turned into a reggae number that I first started to think to myself, "What the hell has happened to Hawkwind?" I remember seeing them in concert in the early Eighties and being blown away by their power. "Brainstorm" is a Nik Turner classic, and such deserves some respect, surely? Yes, I know that bands have to move and not stand still, but if they don't respect something why bother with it at all? My feelings about the whole album were somewhat clouded after that which is a shame as I like Hawkwind. This album contains six live and eight new studio songs, although it doesn't say when it was recorded. As well as the inevitable Dave Brock, the rest of the band now comprises Richard Chadwick, Ron Tree, Jerry Richards, Capt. Rizz and Crum. The introduction to "Love In Space" sounds as if it belongs on 'Dark Side Of The Moon' instead of an album of the band that gave us 'Quark, Strangeness & Charm'.

Thank heavens it turns into a definitive 'Wind rocker with swirling keyboards and driving guitars. This is one of the few songs which features Dave on vocals, and one of only three that he wrote with no co-writers, so perhaps it is no surprise that it comes across eventually as true Hawkwind.

The album fluctuates dramatically, with some songs coming across well, while others are just sad reflections of what Hawkwind once were. One for fans only I'm afraid.

Feedback #58, May 2000

It is not the first time that "Hawkwind" is mixing studio and live tracks. The very good "Palace Springs" was a good example of what could be achieved by this approach.

And even if the live tracks (the first six numbers) were recorded in my home country (at the "Ancienne Belgique" which is a legendary concert hall in Brussels which list of artists who have played there is absolutely impressive) I am a lot more skeptic about this one.

To have integrate a reggae part into the otherwise great "Brainstorm" is beyond my reach. I like reggae while played by "Culture" or "Steel Pulse", but I don't really need "Hawkwind" to do so. The other live tracks are fully on the heavy-hard-space-rock side of the band.

Comparisons with "Palace Springs" don't work in favour with this rather average "In Your Area". Very few great moments are available being live or studio tracks. "Diana Park" is probably the best one gets here, but it is .the closing song.

This is just an album for die-hard fans. Not deserving the one star rating but definitely no more than two.

Confusing. That's the way I'd sum up this album. Starting with a version of the seminal Brainstorm which segues into a dreadful white reggae jam is not a good start. Listening to Love In Space now which although starting like a distant cousin of Zarozinia, soon takes a rockier direction......all the ingredients seem to be there but something's most definitely missing. A quick glance at the CD sleeve reveals why. Ladies & gentleman this is not a Hawkwind album. Captain Rizz, Ron Tree and cohorts have hijacked this album and Dave Brock just seems to be along for the ride rather than leading from the front. I have heard previous Hawks albums (eg Church Of Hawkwind) described as essentially Dave Brock solo albums. Well, In Your Area is the opposite. The aforementioned Love In Space is OK'ish and the following Rat-Race has a good feel to it. A couple of Calvert tracks follow but they're just not the same without the man himself intoning the words. So, that's the live part of the disc over with.......let's see what the band came up with in the studio. Other reviews on this site have described this music as 'experimental'.......it's most definitely not !! What it is, is different to most other Hawkwind albums. Most of their albums stick to a basic formula, although some may be spacier, some rockier, some based on jams, some more song oriented etc.. In Your Area introduces other elements which is not experimental just tedious. Brocks vision and trademark Hawksound is watered down by the other musicians tugging his sleeve and going...'ooooh, let's try this Dave. It'll sound really good'. Well it doesn't. To conclude, this is a very average album and for Hawkwind that's awful. The best parts are where Brock is singing and chugging as he's done before and since. For fans only methinks. It's not 'bad'......it's worse, 'mediocre'.

In 1998, one has to wonder why Hawkwind was even still a band after putting out a string of mediocre (or less) albums for quite some time. It was during that year that the band decided to put out "In Your Area" which is an album where the first half of the album is live and the 2nd half is in studio. The core of the band at this time was down to 4 members with the consistent member Dave Brock running the show. But, when you hear this album, you have to wonder if he really was running things. It sounds like he is only there in order to use the Hawkwind moniker as for the most part, his guitar and other contributions seem a bit lackluster.

There were other members, so to speak, than these core 4, but they were not considered members as much as they were guests. Included among these guests is Captain Rizz who I think was there to try to make the band more "relevant" or something. You can hear his input almost from the start. After about 5 minutes of a live version of "Brainstorm", the song suddenly takes a huge turn for the worse as it takes on a plastic reggae beat and Rizz adds his vocals which are totally out of their element here. This doesn't just last for a minute or two either, but end up continuing for the rest of the 11 minute track. This happens again in "Love in Space/Rat Race" which ends up being even more annoying than the first track.

So, you might be hoping that the studio side of the album is better. It isn't. The songs have no heart. They sound like they are attempting to reinvent space rock, but instead of that, they make a mockery of it. Even though the track "Hippy" shows a little bit of promise, it isn't enough to save this album. There just isn't that much more to say about it. Fortunately, the album didn't sell well. If it had, it would have made Hawkwind into a joke. This is one to stay away from, even if you are a fan, however, there are those that must have the entire library, so leave this one for them.