THE BUSINESS TRIP

Hawkwind has always been a band that I mainly enjoy on their live albums. Whatever period you look at, the studio albums generally have just a few good tracks while the live albums not only have all good tracks but they also present them in a much better versions. So it's a bit of a surprise to me that the live albums get so few ratings here. However, it's not a surprise that those ratings are consistently high.

This album is no exception and even though Electric Tepee was quite good, this is miles ahead of the studio releases from the period. The tracks and improvisations are tight, fun, not overindulgent and not too long, the sound is better then their often cosmetic studio sound and the selection of songs they bring spans more then 20 years of their career.

Hawkwind is one of the very few bands that release live albums that make sense. Even though you might say releasing one every other year is a bit much... This album comes just two years after the excellent Palace Springs and 3 years before the equally outstanding Love In Space. If you want to explore Hawkwind after 1980, start with their live output.

Hawkwind - The Business Trip live (1994)

I recently got into the Love in Space live album by Hakwind and I was suprised when I found out that 'The Business Trip' is yet another great live album with almost a completely different setlist. In fact, only an instrumental version of Are You Losing Your Mind? is presented on both albums.

Hawkwind plays space-rock/metal/punk with lot's of electronics. Their live performances are strong and besides some worthwhile studio album of the seventies I would recommend to buy the live albums of the eigthies, nineties and 21th century.

On this live-album Hakwind plays as a powertrio, but still manages to have a great spacey sound. The album sounds like a never-ending psychedelic dream and has few pauzes. The cohesion is very good on live albums of Hakwind. I like the beginning with Quark, Strangeness and Charm, which is a good song with nice lyrics. The only track I dislike is The Camera That Could Lie with it's stupiusly simple piano-theme and almost reggae-like feel. The instrumental section in the end is however good. All other tracks are between good and excellent. Green Finned Demon stands out as a great melodic and piecefull theme with an underwhatertheme. The Golden Void is also played, but I must admit I don't think this version of the song is too tastefull. Still a great song though. The ending lyrics on This Future are great. Humanity is being portraid as an alien experiment!

Conclusion. I love to listen to this kind of live album because of the overall atmoshpere. The band remains a magical experience and there are no crowd-talks for most of the time. The recording is good, but not excellent. The band performs very good. An excellent addition to your prog collection, even if you already own 'Love in Space'.

Hawkwind had been reduced to a three-piece in the mid-1990s, but on The Business Trip Dave Brock and company re- engineer themselves as a Space Rock-New Age power trio, wavering between blissful electronic explorations and thumping anthems at the drop of a hat. Everything flows together very smoothly and naturally, just as on the It Is the Business of the Future To Be Dangerous studio album, and the sound quality is the best enjoyed by a Hawkwind live album for quite some time.

The end result is another remarkable live release which is worth setting alongside the Live '78 Hawklords material or the mighty, majestic, Lemmy-powered Space Ritual. What's astonishing is how different each of those live releases sounds - perhaps the best testimony to how Hawkwind's sound has grown and changed and adapted over the years in the live context as well as the studio. There's a lot of dross out there when it comes to Hawkwind live releases but if you want something reflecting their early 1990s sound, don't mess about with bootlegs - go strictly Business and you can't go wrong.