DISTANT HORIZONS

Hawkfans beware! This will not be your usual trip. After the more song oriented Alien 4, Hawkwind returned to the instrumental stylings of It Is The Business Of The Future to Be Dangerous, mixed it with punk and even taking in some influences from dance and techno.

Now that 95% of the readers have left us, I can safely confide you that this is another excellent Hawkwind episode. The difference with the sterile cliché rock of their mid-80's albums couldn't be bigger. This is a band that experiments and explores new territories again.

The opener Distant Horizons is marvellous. A throbbing electronic bass pulse and subtle jungle beats fight for dominance with space-synth washes and guitar outbursts. Phetamine Street is entirely different. Ron Tree spits some vicious vocals over this punk-spirited cosmic soup. The drum computers and the fuzzy guitars that are recorded through the output channel of the amplifier don't really make for a natural and organic sound but the energy is undeniable. Waimea Canyon Drive is less exciting. The electronic pulse is effective but more attention should have gone to the vocals here. They sound rather doped and sloppy, probably intentional. Alchemy wakes us up again with some Arabian punk, or isn't that an officially registered genre? Anyway, it's an abundance of steamy bass, pulsating guitars, oriental leads and cosmic sound effects.

An reflective moment follows with Clouded Vision, soon juxtaposed against the next punk trip Reptoid Vision. Oh yes, the spirit of 1977 is back. I wouldn't call it a classic because of the programmed drums and dated guitar effect, but I hope this turns up on a live album some time. The remaining tracks are less exciting compared to the similar material that ended up on It Is The Business Of The Future to Be Dangerous. The closing suite Taxi for Max / Love In space would grow into a dazzling highlight on the Love In space live album. It gets a slightly more trip-hop'ish vibe here.

Overall, a very interesting album again, but approach with some caution.