Hawkestrel – Chaos Rocks (Cleopatra) – Cleopatra press releases are always at best rather vague and the label does have a tendency to throw together all kinds of half-baked compilations and tribute albums, s owhat d owe have here? A new Hawkestrel album and a press release shouting about the involvement of Robert Calvert, Nik Turner, Ginger Baker, Huw Lloyd Langton and a whole host more.  Never quite got to grips with Hawkestrel, as a project it always seems just a little unfocussed, a touch thrown together and this new album, due out in April, seems, at first glance to be even more so, that isn’t to say there aren’t rewards to be found here… 

“When former Hawkwind bass player Alan Davey first launched his Hawkestrel project, an intrepid, free-wheeling collaborative space rock supergroup, the world was on the verge of being plunged into the COVID pandemic. Like a starship bound for better worlds, the band, which counted Hawkwind co-founder Nik Turner along with several other Hawkwind alumni among its crew, ventured beyond the darkness that engulfed the planet and reached meteoric heights, being embraced by both longtime Hawkwind fans and newcomers alike.

Now the mighty Hawkestrel is ready to soar once again with a new album coming April 12. Hosting another collection of stellar musicians and heroic “musicnauts,” including one actual space traveler, William Shatner, alongside Simon House, Mick Slattery, Huw Lloyd-Langton, Helios Creed, and lots more, Chaos Rocks seeks to pay tribute to the past, revamping classic songs like “Silver Machine” as well as honouring those who now live among the stars. Just check out the album’s first single, a transformation of Robert Calvert’s “Evil Rock” from his 1981 album with the brilliant Mick Taylor lending his prodigious six-string talents. The results are simply out of this world!”

And yes, it is a great version of the the Calvert classic, it is surely impossible to mess up Evil Rock? Always loved the sparseness of the original, Hype is a massively underrated album and the book that came with the album that featured the original version of Evil Rock proved to be a mare than useful instruction manual in the days when we rode around in the back of vans with long haired musicians. On this version the “Okay Nik, let’s rock” bit is replaced with an “okay Mick let’s rock” as the one time Rolling Stone lets rip with a solo where Nik Turner once did. More that good version, not a patch on the original even though it is essentially the original version with extra layers added and it is strange to hear Calvert’s voice with those added layers of guitar and bass, do wonder what he might have thought of the treatment? It is a fine take though, yes it does work, I suspect Tom Mahler would have liked it more than his Tommy-Nutter-suit-wearing A&R man, we could have asked Tom if said A&R man hadn’t had Tom shot on stage at the Hammy O (sorry, that was a bit of a spoiler), this version of Evil Rock is a highlight of what is ultimately an interesting and sometimes very rewarding album. 

Really not sure about this version of Silver Machine, do we really need yet another version of  one of Hawkwind’s least interesting tracks?  This version features the ultra cheesy William Shatner on vocals along with Carmine Appice, we really don’t need it here (an no Cleopatra Captain Kirk wasn’t an actual Space traveller, Nik Turner almost certainly was though!) . I mean yes, Captain Kirk singing about Bob’s sliver bicycle does raise a slight smile but it really isn’t a great version and there are far far too many versions already.

2019 OK, a track featuring Nik Turner and Mick Slattery is a classic slice of mellow instrumental Hawkness with some beautiful jazzy sax from the cat with the silver face (as Jimi Hendrix once called Nik Turner), possibly one of Nik’s last recordings and maybe one of the last from one tame Hawkwind guitarist Mick Slattery?  A beautiful piece, classic mellow side of Hawkwind  as is the slightly more driving Opa Loka (once again with Nik Turner)  another strong piece. Really not sure about Now I’m Feeling Zombified with Nik Turner, Geoff Downes and Adam Hamilton (of LA Guns so it appears) and that really is the problem with this album, for every hit there really is a bit of a miss

Chaos Rocks, the rather unimaginative name of the instrumental title track is Alan Davey reallt going for it bass wise, another classic Hawkwind style instrumental, this time featuring Nik Turner, Simon House, Mick Slattery and respected session drummer Nico Leophonte, while Walking The Wheel with Huw Lloyd-Langton and Simon House takes us down a slighty different yet still rather Hawk-related road.

Never was sure why the master drummer Ginger Baker joined Hawkwind, he was a last minute stand in for the Levitation sessions and then stuck around for the tour, would have loved to have heard him really go for it as part of the band like he did with his own very very underrated Airforce. he said he enjoyed recording with the band so he stuck around for the tour where he really didn’t appear to be that into it from where I was standing (I did ask him for his Autograph one night during that tour, he told a teenage me to “fuck off!” in no uncertain terms, always been a Ginger Baker admirer). There’s nothing in terms of the press release to tell us where these tracks are from, Dangerous Visions (as it is titled on the press release features a rather restrained Ginger, a track that was, as Dangerous Vision, originally on the aforementioned Levitation album, the only Hawkwind album Ginger Baker played on – actually no, it wasn’t on the original album, it was from those sessions and the bonus album that later came along. Who knows where this recording is from, maybe the album itself has decent notes? All we have here are a set of MP3s and a minimal press release and the feeling of things gathered together from all over the place to make an album. Dangerous Visions is one of the tracks that only appears on the CD version by the way..

 Kinnikinnick Special is another decent enough instrumental, a slightly run of the mill Hawk-flavoured space rock track this time featuring Helios Creed, and on we go, some things work more than others, it kind of feels a little thrown together,  there’s more than enough on here to make it worth your time, there’s one or two really rewarding slices, probably one for the Hawkwind diehards, I could do without that version of Silver Machine, it is mostly a positive thumbs up from over here.  (sw)  

Bandcamp / Cleopatra mailorder

Track List:
1. Near Earth Asteroid with Alan Davey
2. Evil Rock (2023 AD) with Bob Calvert & Mick Taylor
3. Kinnikinnick Special with Helios Creed
4. Silver Machine with William Shatner & Carmine Appice
5. Chaos Rocks with Nik Turner, Simon House, Mick Slattery & Nico Leophonte
6. Walking The Wheel with Huw Lloyd-Langton & Simon House
7. 2019 OK with Nik Turner & Mick Slattery
8. Class One Kid with Mick Taylor, Nik Turner & Simon House
BONUS TRACKS [CD ONLY]
9. Opa Loka with Nik Turner
10. Now I’m Feeling Zombified with Nik Turner, Geoff Downes & Adam Hamilton
11. Dangerous Visions with Ginger Baker & Danny Faulkner