"Luckily for their fans, the best band in the universe didn’t let them wait too long for a new release after the excellent Take Me to Your Leader album. The band has now released a new mini album in Dual Disc format. There is some audio on the other side of the disc, but in the flip side there is some DVD material. Hurray! This original space rock act has been my favourite for years and years, so my attitude towards their releases might not be totally objective, but I’ll try…

Let’s start with the audio side. First of all we get to hear a very successful new version of the band’s late seventies US satire called “Uncle Sam’s on Mars”. This energetic, pulsating and heavy version lasts over eight minutes and updates the hypnotic and repetition-based track in a great way but still reserves the original mood to some extent. Some people wonder why the band keeps on recycling the old songs over and over again, but I for one don’t have anything against it since captain Brock and his crew can almost every time get their old masterpieces to sound fresh and interesting. This works! For some time now, Dave Brock has been working on an album that will include his new musical backing for the poems read by Robert Calvert who died in 1988. Bob was certainly one of the most important members of the band because of his very creative literal talent and colourful personality, and I must say that I’m really looking forward to this CD to appear. So it’s really interesting to get a taster of things to come, since they have chosen two track from this forth-coming The Brock/Calvert Project for this album. The first of the two is called ”Small Boy (The Swing)” and is a beautiful, laid-back and atmospheric track without drums with Bob’s effected narration on top. A very nice piece. The lyrics of “Ode to a Time Flower” might be a bit more familiar for the die-hard Hawkwind fans since they have been used live at Hawkwind gigs sometimes in the early 70’s. Brock’s backing on this track is a lot more rhythmical sounding quite a lot like Hawkwind in their 90’s techno phase. The narration is impressive and deep, and the text perhaps one of Bob’s best sci-fi writings. Excellent!

In between these tracks they have placed the, in fact only, new, unique track “The Reality of Poverty” that also has the legendary Arthur Brown and the ex-High Tide violinist Simon House who has during the decades sweetened the sound of Hawkwind also with his keyboards on board. In the beginning the track is slow while Brown recites the socially aware text in a very compelling manner. After a minute the faster rhythm with Brock’s eloquent vocals begins. Then they slow down again and stay there for a while and then follows some more narration by Brown. At around the six-minute-marker we get the faster chorus again, after which the track slows down and then turns almost into techno for the end part. This is a very effective number, although perhaps not one of Hawkwind’s best. The audio side is finished with a (yet another) new version of their so far only, early 70’s chart hit “Silver Machine” where they have used Lemmy’s vocals. All the other tracks seem to be pretty much re-recorded, but the original spirit has been preserved better than on the couple of other studio versions that has been recorded. Accordingly, this is the best version since the original! The track has gained some new parts, and at times it’s rather peaceful too. When they rock, they really rock, and the track pours some new energy and hypnotic suction. Also the programmed sections work great on this one, so I really must congratulate the guys for a job well done.

For the video side the band has chosen some various bits and pieces from along the years. First comes “Images” that is taken from the limited edition VHS Promo Collection and is one of the best moments of the late 80’s/early 90’s Hawkwind that used to have a female singer at the time. This is a really good song and also the video is really psychedelic, so I will most certainly get the DVD called Space Bandits that will at some point have this one again. While the band was on tour in Australia in 2000 they shot and recorded their appearance at a place called Studio 22 and from this performance they have included “Utopia”. I already had an unofficial version of this gig and I must say that reinforced with Harvey Bainbridge and Simon House the band works very well. Especially Harvey’s narration in the middle of the song is a total psychedelic feast… Also this gig is going to be released on DVD, which is great. Then follow two tracks that will be on a couple of DVD’s only available to the Hawkwind passport holders. ”Assassins of Allah” is a good-quality head-explorer, if only shot with one camera. It’s very enjoyable to watch due to the mind-blowing lightshow and dancers. The sound quality is top-notch. “Golden Void” was originally released on a limited VHS called Treworgey Tree Fayre 1989 and is in all its flamboyance, glory and beauty one of Hawkwind’s best tracks ever. On this one the picture and sound quality isn’t exactly perfect, but the mood is just right. Also this gig should be available on DVD for the passport holders at some point. The follows some totally unique stuff for this release: we get to see how the dancer girls practice while the band plays “Steppenwolf” at the farm. Personally I would have rather watched the band, but this still is a funny “peek behind the curtains”. In addition, there are a couple of picture galleries included with the new version of “Paradox” and an unreleased Brock instrumental ”Don’t Be Donkish” as background music.

In summary, Take Me to Your Future is a package full of far-out action by these lords of space and most certainly worth its price. The disc still is a bit mixed-bag, but with these fellows it doesn’t really matter. Brock & company have always wanted to be a people’s band, and that’s the reason why they don’t have to deliver a dull, perfectly polished result. The fans of the band can respect the fact that Hawkwind is honest, genuine and loves what they are doing and their fans. That’s why we love them too. Long live Hawkwind!"

Santtu Laakso, http://www.unimeri.com/PsychotropicZone/reviews.en.php