Album Rating: 4.5
This is a fantastic space rock album. It contains two of my favorite songs from the genre: Lords of Light and Space is Deep. Lemmy’s contribution is really evident and powerful on Space is Deep. Listen to how his bass kicks in about half way through the song driving it into the stratosphere – this is an all-time favorite Lemmy moment for me. Lord of Light is just overwhelming in power and totally kick-ass Blanga. Brainstorm would see many changes live and has been played live by virtually every Hawkwind line-up. I find this version a bit to rambling and long. The Watcher has an almost Black Sabbath vibe going on.
The bonus tracks are all worth having. Urban Guerrilla is a punky Calvert classic that I suspect Johnny Rotten really liked (he was a Hawkwind fan after all). I like Brianbox Pollution and Ejection too. Ejection was re-recorded for Calvert’s first solo album in 1973. The song is often found in Hawkwind sets through the years.
Anyway, for me this is really when things get interesting with Hawkwind. The tour of this album would yield the wonderful Space Ritual Alive album that many consider the band’s greatest achiement.
I love the art deco meets space artwork by Barney Bubbles…iconic.
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