HAWKLORDS: 25 YEARS ON

"The Hawklords - 25 Years On" is the 8th full-length studio album by UK psychadelic/Space rock act Hawkwind. The album was released in October 1978 by Charisma. The album was originally released under the Hawklords monicker because of a legal dispute over the ownership of the Hawkwind name. Hawkwind split-up while touring in the US earlier in 1978 and apparently various members of the band claimed ownership of the Hawkwind name. This resulted in only Robert Calvert, Dave Brock and Simon King being part of the lineup who recorded "The Hawklords - 25 Years On". The latter on and off as he left during the recording sessions to join David Bowie. He would eventually return though.

The tracks on the album is a bit less "loose" and more tightly structured than what we´ve been used to from Hawkwind, but other than that I actually think this is unmistakably the sound of Hawkwind. The hard rocking riffs, the driving beat, the distinct sounding vocals by Robert Calvert and the psychadelic sounds are all there. There´s a new wave element to the sound that hasn´t been there before though. It´s most apparent in the track "25 Years", which could have been a Roxy Music song, but the new wave elements appear here and there all the way through the album. The punk wave that Hawkwind themselves were proabably quite a large influence upon, hasn´t gone by unnoticed either. "Flying Doctor" is a very punk influenced track with an aggressive attitude. But again those are elements and to my ears Hawkwind´s "core" sound is intact.

While the unappealing cover artwork is sure to scare away fans of space/psychadelic rock, there´s really nothing to be afraid of inside the album. The music is very well composed, played, and produced and I think this album has a much worse reputation than what it deserves. I actually think it´s a very good album that appealed a lot to me and it deserves a 3.5 star (70%) rating. A positive surprise given the negative criticism this album often receives.