PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE ROCK

Over the extensive duration of their career, Hawkwind has undergone many changes in their lineup and in their direction. Every Hawkwind release is accompanied by a progression in sound. While 25 Years On certainly belongs among the discography of Robert Calvert's clean, punk infused incarnation of Hawkwind, it is certainly no exception to this trend. In fact the album was even released under a different band name, 'Hawklords', for legal reasons. With this release, Hawkwind combines rigid punk with the clean rock sound of their previous Calvert-lead albums, and obvious musical influences from their earlier sound appear on side two. This combination proves to be successful for the most part, particularly the final three tracks, but there are some sizable flaws in the album. The largest mistake that was made in the creation of this album is the addition of 'Flying Doctor', which opens side two with an abrupt bang. This track is incompatible with the fluid, psychedelic sound of the three subsequent songs, and it detracts from the effervescence of '25 Years'. Fortunately, each of the songs that appear on 25 Years On are strong in their composition, and Robert Calvert's charismatic vocal delivery gives the album a dynamic sound.

The album opens with 'Psi Power', perhaps the most accessible track on the album. Here Calvert explores the theme of telepathy, and the music here is highly comparable to Hawkwind's 1977 release Quark Strangeness and Charm. Toward the end of the track, the music shifts into a swirl of whispering vocals, ending the song in usual, psychedelic Hawkwind style. 'Free Fall' is a sinister sounding song about sky-diving, driven by a cloud of dark synth noises and a catchy guitar and bass riff. Unfortunately, this track is bookended by two lengthy interludes of overly modulated synthesiser, which immediately gives side one an unfortunately dated feel. This disrupts the flow of the otherwise coherent first side of the album. 'Automotion' is standard Hawkwind fare, acting as an experimental bridge between the dark, riff driven 'Free Fall', and the pounding march of '25 Years'. '25 Years' is a raucous, punk infused track with a stiff, pounding beat that combines with the psychedelic chant of 'twenty-five years' to create a deranged excitement. There is an excellent energy to this track, and Calvert's manic chanting makes an instantly catchy hook.

Side two opens with 'Flying Doctor', a strange, riff driven track that sees Calvert make a semi-successful attempt at an Australian accent. Here Calvert makes a first person exploration of the theme of Australian drug-abuse with repetitive lyrics and biting satire. The guitar work here is excellent, soaking the track in overdriven riffs and a bluesy solo that adds a nice touch. Unfortunately this track blemishes the coherence of the album, lessening the savage punch from the previous track and thoughtlessly removing much of the subtlety from the three subsequent tracks. 'The Only Ones' marks an immediate step into the right direction. This fast paced, acoustically driven piece is reminiscent of Pink Floyd's 'The Narrow Way Part III', and it really pushes the rest of the album into what would have been an excellent direction for the whole album to follow. The overall sound of this track sounds like a polished incarnation of Hawkwind's earlier records, with a layer of acoustic guitars caressed by a cloud of melotron. 'The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid' is another fantastic track, with a dark production that is somewhat reminiscent of Hall of the Mountain Grill. Here Calvert covers the theme of espionage with a descriptive lyrical portrait that weaves masterfully into the cold washes of sound and the nasal timbre of the guitar chords. 'The Age of the Micro Man' follows as an excellent album closer, concluding the album with the spacy sound of the previous two tracks. Calvert's charismatic lyrical touch combines with Hawkwind's signature space-rock sound to create a fitting culmination.

Overall, 25 Years On is a great album, and a worthy addition to Hawkwind's extensive discography. There are some substantial flaws affecting the coherence of this album, but there is an undeniable aptitude in the musicianship that is displayed throughout each of the compositions, and it remains an great listen to those who appreciate the charm of Hawkwind's punk-laced late seventies output.

If I had to be rather technical, I'd called TBNP "psychedelic post rock". Well, at least on this album. I love that about them, as they do experiment and try to progress their sound. I am very impressed with their seeming post rock style on this album, as their roaring, yet somehow delicate, guitar lines have a very long, overarching structure to them. The songs climax in glorious, epic moments that you will certainly remember after the album is finished.

As I said, TBNP uses a hauntingly rough guitar sound, but they also use great, mellow synth, gorgeous piano, some electronic elements, and a marching, well-paced drum style. I think that "They Live, We Sleep" is a great representative of the whole album, as it contains all of these and also some great high-tuned, wailing guitar work. That said, every single track on "Ghosts & Memories" is wonderfully written and performed. There is no filler, even in the tracks with longer structures, such as "The Wanderer of Lost Moments".

Emotion and ambiance rule the day here, as the seemingly sorrowful nostalgia that we experience is quite heavy at times. The vocals that appear here and there are very nice, and I really wish there would have been more, honestly. If there is one thing I can fault on this album, it would be the under-utility of the vocalist. The rest of the album, though, does make up for this for the most part, especially such amazing tracks as "The Owls (Are Not What They Seem) and "Shades of Tomorrow" (possibly my favorite). Climbing, ever climbing, guitar melodies and the persistence of spacey, haunting feelings keeps this album alluring and fascinating.

I am supremely impressed with the imprint that this album leaves on me after I hear it. It is dark, creative, and just plain interesting. Foreboding at times, warm and cozy at others; this album is quite a ride that will make you think about it for a while afterwards. The great guitar hooks, the ghostly atmospheres, and the roller-coaster ride of melody all add up to a wonderful experience that will definitely keep you coming back to this album time and again.

This album, Meddle, is often seen as the missing link to The Dark Side of the Moon, and it's easy to see why. Even though there was an album in between Meddle and Dark Side, named Obscured by Clouds, this is a more direct precursor to their big breakthrough. The song that alludes to that magnum opus the most is "Echoes". Brilliant from start to finish, it is the ultimate Pink Floyd song. Complete with Roger's best lyrics, great musicianship (like the jam sequence at 7 minutes), and moments of experimentation. This side-long epic is Pink Floyd at their most focused and most progressive.

Meddle offers a lot of variety in only 6 tracks. "One Of These Days" is a heavy song with double bass playing, "A Pillow Of Winds" is a calm folky tune, and "Fearless" is a guitar driven song with a great riff. "San Tropez" and "Seamus" are kind of weak but the other songs more than make up for it.

If you have heard Dark Side and Wish already, then by all means, check this one out as well. A fine album made even better by the aforementioned "Echoes". Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.

Particular differences are that vocals play a minor role and they do have the focus on extended improvisations on this occasion - and so at least two songs are easily reaching for the twenty minute border. Though drums and bass guitar are certainly played with excellence, busy and well put, this is obviously focussed on the soloing guitar moreover. Steffe offers great variety, his complete stylistical repertoire (safe to assume), including some really distinct moments. For example I mean the pleading weeping outfit which he - similar to Daevid Allen - obtains due to a stick, to notice right at the very start of the opener Awaken. And then the song gradually moves up into a tremendous groove where Steffe appears with some rare vocals towards the end.

Due to enough variation On The Other Side offers some surprising twists and turns. They are drifting into a dub section occasionally and in between the guitar sounds like coupled with the synthesizer, close to a guitar axe somehow - serving some trance moments. Everything makes a difference then comes as a fine blues tune - provided with a suitable title the shortest sample - okay, it still bears more than seven minutes though. Nearer is the strongest reference to the aforemetioned HERE & NOW live album - a new version equivalent to 'Near And How'.

'Live At The Real Music Club Brighton' has become an impressive band introduction. Stylisticaly SENTIENT appears focussed on straightforward space rocking jams with the guitar as the main solo instrument, where - just for a comparism - Gong for example acts more oriented at jazzy respectively canterbury themes. Provided with a negative image the cover art comes close to the Ici Maintenants album recorded in 2001 by the way. Tracks one and five are my highlights due to the virtuoso way of expression. The musicans are interacting with mutual advantage, sound quality is top-notch - hence this is a recommended snapshot to keep an eye on!

Perhaps part of it's strength comes from being released on experimental music label Important Records. First issues came on beautiful light blue swirled vinyl, with second pressings being on black. The LP packaging is stunning in addition, with an uncoated thick stock gatefold cover with wonderful, rather subdued and minimal, artwork than what they usually produce for their releases. Will hope for much more of this sort of thing from them in the future. Highly recommended.

Waters came to the band with two song cycles, one which turned out to be The Wall and the other that he took solo a few years later, The Pros and Cons of Hitchiking. The Wall song cycle is part autobiographical, part composite of the lives of others and is full of angst, relationship problems, paranoia, loneliness, and drugs and more. That only scratches the surface of Waters lyrics. A light read it is not.

Musically, Waters also takes more of the reigns here too. It generally takes a back seat to words, and the long spacey tunes are gone. Waters has plenty of stuff to get off his chest and a good idea on how it wants the music to sound to convey his message. While the some of the best tracks are cowritten with Gilmour and one suspects that more of the songs had a lot of input from others but they were not credited. There is stellar Gilmour's guitar work throughout and Wrights presence is felt on a few tracks, most notably on Hey You. The drum are solid but never spectacular as again Waters ideas for this album is more direct and functional than prior albums. There are several main songs that the album hangs on while many others help fill out the story, but that does not mean they are fluff or filler. Of the 'major' songs ( Another brick in the Wall part II, Hey You, Young Lust, Mother), Comfortably Numb is the standout track on the album. The orchestra, changing vocalists, and slow, powerful buildup of keys and drums, accompanied by one of rocks most impressive guitar solos mark CN as on of rocks greatest songs.

Sonically, this album is a standout. The production like Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here is excellent. There is plenty of musique concrete here and the attention to detail on every note is great. A musical pleasure for the ears but listening to the album again for this review, the story does not hold together quite as well as I remembered. It is still very intriguing and I spent a ton of time listening to It when it was originally released.

The Wall is a weak 5 star album and the last Pink Floyd album to have the talents of all four members.

Opener `Tromso' is a frantic hypnotic run, quickly reminding of the repetitive dirty grooves of Neu, Can and even Steven Wilson's Incredible Expanding Mindf*ck project. Starting with strangled cello and distorted, harsh metallic obtrusive random noise percussion, leaping thick bass punches down on the listener like a mallet to the head. Some swirling spacey swoops join in as the rhythm grows in intensity, the tempo picking up and kicking into overdrive behind some of the most scratchy serrated Hammond this side of Elephant9 before collapsing in on itself in the dying final seconds.

`Signals' has a creeping approaching bass line, stalking it's way through the filthiest of swamps to get to you, taking on the same eerie and unpleasant soundtrack vibe of Goblin and Morte Macabre. Droning ambient electronic pulses and haunting Hammond touch on early Porcupine Tree, even Wilson's Bass Communion project. We move through disorientating, hallucinatory psychedelia behind a machine-like hum before the piece explodes out of nowhere at the five minute mark and tears off into deep dark space! The bass gallops along to catch up, the drums turn manic and the keyboards glisten before the final minute disappears into a shimmering reprise of the stalking opening.

`Spitsbergen' is the crowning achievement of the LP, full of scuzzy tension and hard-edged distorted outbursts, book-ended with some deeply sinister and ghostly choral Mellotron and a `Careful With That Axe...'-style lurking bass line. The piece kicks back from the dead with some snarling electric guitar heavy riffs, Hammond full of mystery, and a weeping 'Tron finale worthy of Anekdoten. Much of this track places the percussion/drumming centre stage, so confident and filled with purpose. I don't think the track really needed the almost metal riff moments, as it's plenty heavy as it already is, but it's another piece that fans of Morte Macabre will really appreciate. The cold yet beautifully fragile closer `Static' ends the album in a darkly jazzy manner, with skittering drum-work and staccato deep bass notes over the loneliest of crying cello.

Walrus don't incorporate different sounds and genres so much as blur those lines instead, and the results, while no classic and often clearly showing it's influences, makes for a very promising and occasionally excellent dark instrumental debut. I have no doubt a follow-up will be even stronger as there's so much potential here, and I can't wait to see where the band goes to next. Fans who like the idea of a looser instrumental version of gloomy downbeat prog like Anekdoten, Morte Macabre and the darker corners of Kraut and space rock and will find much of interest here.

Three and a half stars.

An excellent display of straight forward music in mostly short timed songs (no long "overtures" or stuff like that), in a variety of musical expressions or "orientations", (not unlike their previous efforts), that are daring, yet unpretentious, in both song-writing and genre styling. It sounds fresh and refreshing, bold and original, perfectly manufactured, edited and concieved. Both records (I haven't heard the 3th.),sum up 5 stars together, this the second part of this "trilogy", for me, ****4.5 PA stars, and my 2013's probable best and my RIO/AG favorite record of the year, although it does not figure in that genre.