If you are a longtime reader of this blog, follow me on Twitter or happen to be married to me (or a neighbor within earshot of my open window), then you know that I am a big Hawkwind fan. I listen to them—LOUD—all the damn time. Morning, noon or night, anytime is the right time for some ear-splitting Hawkwind as far as I am concerned. But to be honest, it’s only really the Lemmy-era Hawkwind that I’m interested in. Don’t get me wrong, I like Robert Calvert just fine, but I’m a bigger fan of his mid-70s solo album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (with Lemmy on bass) than of Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music or Quark, Strangeness and Charm. They just aren’t the albums that I pull out when I want to listen to Hawkwind. I want a pulverising spacerock mantra from the band; a sonic bludgeoning, not some angular smartypants New Wave pop.
Last week—after nearly 50 years as a band—Hawkwind signaled yet another change in their signature sound by releasing a double digital single of two of their classics in acoustic “unplugged” versions augmented by the slick pop orchestration of Mike Batt (yes, Mike Batt, he of The Wombles fame, and this). Normally I’d scoff at something like this, but I found it to be a toe-tapping delight. It shouldn’t work but it does. In September the band and Batt will release the 31st Hawkwind studio album, Road to Utopia.
Fan favorites and deep cuts such as “We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago,” “Psychic Power,” “Down Through the Night” and many others (including three songs from the Hawklords album 25 Years On) are re-tooled acoustically on Road to Utopia by the current Hawkwind line-up of Dave Brock, Richard Chadwick, Mr Dibs, Haz Wheaton and Magnus Martin and then embellished by Batt’s symphonic arrangements. Eric Clapton, who has known Dave Brock since the early 60s contributed some guitar to a new version of “The Watcher.” It’s exactly what you’d expect of Eric Clapton, frankly, and the least of what Road To Utopia has to offer and its weakest track.
Hawkwind will be touring with Mike Batt and his orchestra during October and November, including already sold-out dates at the Palladium in London. Not sure if Road to Utopia will join the Lemmy-era albums in my top-tier Hawkwind albums, but I would most definitely like to see this particular show live.
Batt and Hawkwind should really do a live version of “The Wombling Song,” don’t you think?