WARRIOR ON THE EDGE OF TIME

Hawkwind should be categorized in an exclusive sub-genre: PROG-HAWK, where they will be the beginning, the middle and the end, only them. But wait a minute, this history has no end, it will last forever just like space voyages, good hallucinations (are they?) and the image of a hawk flying against the wind.

I heard this album for the first time 30 years ago and even hearing only some songs sparsely in the 80s and the 90s it was a great pleasure for me to redo contact with it. The title and the corresponding cover sounds like a RPG stuff, like a medieval knight transported for a distant world in the future. How many remembrances of lives not lived or yet to be lived? How many strange dreams carved in the brain? How many mesmerizing songs to shape our taste?

All songs are average or better. Opening ensemble 'Assault & battery' and 'The golden void' is truly a progressive mini-epic owing few to the more famed and recognized pieces of the genre, synth sounds and tunes create a spatial atmosphere, a classic one.

'Opa-Loka' is a kind of crazy song followed by 'The demented man' which is softer and agreeable.

'Magnu' is another emblematic band song, 'Spiral Galaxy 28948' is futuristic and exquisite and the palatable 'Dying seas' complete the high points of the album core.

The original ending, the shaking 'Kings of speed' is one of the best rocks ever, the start brings some Led Zeppelin smells but the song itself has a fascinating The Who appeal.

CD bonus track is really a gift, 'Motorhead' is a great rock song almost comparable to 'Kings of speed'.

The production is fair and the musicianship always considered the band's weakest point works accordingly. All these positive factors combined with the power of the songs make 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' a magnum opus, Hawkwind's finest hour, A MASTERPIECE. Total: 5.