review by thomas

Hawkwind’s first studio album to be produced with normal standards according to many a people and in reality the production is better than before but not so that it makes a major difference. Anyway, Hawkwind aimed at more heavy metal songs here, such as “The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)”, “Paradox” and “You’d Better Believe It”. The two latter with slightly inferior sound since they were recorded live in concert; still the sound is above good and these three songs are also the album’s spine. The space and psychedelic sound is not gone though, only incorporated with heavy metal/hard rock to a degree were these sounds are harder to make out than before.

Here are also some instrumental experimental songs present: we have Del Dettmar’s “Goat Willow”, Simon House’s “Hall of the Mountain Grill” and “Wind of Change” by David Brock. Those familiar with Hawkwind’s work prior to this one will be surprised only in the beginning, it will sound awkward at first but in reality “Hall of the Mountain Grill” are neither better nor worse than anything else they did between 1971-1975. And even though this record doesn’t have that anarchistic feeling or those eruptions of lunacy (musically speaking of course) that we are used to, this sound soon becomes normal to the listener.

One striking thing is the almost total absent of Nik Turner’s flute and saxophone work. It shows up a few times only (that I can hear anyhow). Maybe this downfall in time for Nik (here and on follow-upper “Warrior on the Edge of Time”) was one of the reasons he left after the Warrior album; well, who knows? Another thing is the newcomer Simon House on keyboards and violin, the latter giving the sound an extra dimension. Back to the album now: anybody who likes Hawkwind should get pleasure also from this one, and maybe those of you who fancy classic hard rock ŕ la Purple, Sabbath or Rainbow (with Dio of course).