Not essential but enjoyable. Calvert is gone, but the band carried on and secured a record contract. The positive: Tim Blake -a phenominal keyboard player and sound texture guy; the negative, the signture sound gets watered down a bit towards generic hard rock. Motorway City is a great track that will be tightened and, imo, improved on Levitation, but it is great to have this early version. Lighthouse is nice and harkens back to, well, space music. Spirit of the Age is OK, but Calvert's departure is really felt here. Shot Down in The Night is often anthologized and for good reason, the song has drive and energy to spare. The Silver Machine Requiem was a funny idea, but they would prove unable to reture this gem permanently (or for even very long). I like the Urban Guerilla bonus track too -nice energy on that one. The sound quality of this material is pretty good, far from bootleg quality, but beware of the 'Complete Live 79" that is also available -the sound quality is audience recording quality on that one.
Hugh Lloyd Langton (RIP) is back in the Hawkwind fold and would prove a strong creative force well into the 80s. I like his playing here, but I think his presence helped to drive Hawkwind into generic rock territory that I am not wild about. Regardless, the guy is a talented soloist who, when properly restrained, enhanced many a Hawkwind song and wrote a few classics along the way.
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