HAWKWIND

This is their self titled album. Hawkwind is not that very well known a prog band. Their not only prog I suspect they could also come under the classification of psychedelic as well I guess. Usually the lesser known prog is not as good as the well known stuff, like ELP, but it's usually not too bad either. Hawkwind is a very experimental band that is quite psychedelic and is determined to be original. This album is very ambitious; with some songs lasting only 56 seconds and others going over ten minutes, Hawkwind are out to prove something. But this is a band more obsessed with creating an uneasy feeling in their music and experimenting with studio sounds rather than writing memorable riffs.

The opener, Hurry On sundown is a pretty good folk-rock song with a message about war. The second song is a very mysterious 3 ½ minute instrumental that only gets good at the end It's full of crashing cymbals and lots of echo, and there is an eerie voice at the end that really helps add to the aura of the song, but there is little or no melody, rhythm or any real themes whatsoever. The 8-minute 'be yourself' begins with a repetitious guitar lick and with the singer endlessly repeating 'be yourself' or various rhyming, then it breaks into an instrumental where the guitars are used as a rhythm instrument and there is a bit of soloing from a saxaphone, some echoed wailing, my favourite bit of the song. This instrumental part offers up very little interesting musical ideas in my opinion, and then at the end they repeat the opening bit where there's a repetitious guitar lick followed by endlessly repeating 'be yourself'. Neither 'The reason' or 'Be yourself' are enjoyable pieces for me. Paranoia, however, is a slightly King Crimson-ish piece that only suffers from being a bit repetitious but it really is quite a spooky piece. The following 'Seeing it as you really are' is one of the most vivid sounding pieces of psychedelia you are likely to hear, with all sorts of creepy sounds and lots of crazy voices and echoes. The guitar, bass and drums also provide a good rhythm/groove to the song, which didn't really happen on the other songs There's even something that sounds like a crazy synthesised saxophone at about nine minutes, good stuff!. You know I'm starting to like all that echo. The closer is a more normal song to close the album, but they still kept the UFO sounds on that one too. They get a good groove going, and the vocals are great. So here's a quick summary of the album 1. Hurry on sundown ? a good opener ? 3.5 2. The reason ? a real dud ? 1.5 3. Be Yourself ? Along with 'The reason', a real weak point of the album ? 1.5 4. Paranoia part 1 5. Paranoise Part 2 ? at least it unsettles your nerves, not your taste buds ? 2.5 6. Seeing it as you really are ? a psychedelic epic; the highlight of the album ? 3.5 7. Mirror of illusion ? a decent way to end the album ? 3.0

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