NIK TURNER

Way back when no-one in the right mind was trying to promote prog in the UK, I was beavering away running 'Feedback', and one of the labels who sent me everything they released was Cyclops Records. They were behind a great deal of British bands in particular, later spreading their wings into Europe and America, and one of the artists they sent me was Steve Hillman (guitars, keyboards, synths). I reviewed three of his releases, 'Matrix', 'Riding The Storm' and 'Convergence', but had not come across him for more than 20 years until now. Back in 2016 he met Nik Turner (vocals, saxophone, flute), and they discussed working on an album together. Given that Steve had already written enough material he decided to pull together a band to record this with Nik being the frontman, so he asked two of his bandmates from Ra Rising, drummer Dai Rees and bassist Rob Andrews, to complete the line-up. They also brought in some well-known guests including Angel Flame (dancer in Nik's Space Ritual and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown), bassist Dave Anderson, (Amon Duul II, Groundhogs, Hawkwind) and Mr. Dibs (Hawkwind). If that were not enough for Hawkwind afficionados, the album closes with an extended version of "Children of the Sun" which originally appeared on 'In Search of Space', when Dave and Nik were both involved.

The result is an album which is firmly sat within space rock, as if it could be anything else. Turner has been an incredibly important influence on the scene, not only with Hawkwind but multiple other bands and solo releases while also guesting with many others, and his saxophone and flute playing has graced many albums. I am not sure how old he was when this was actually recorded, but at the very least he would have been in his late Seventies and his playing shows all the fluidity and dynamics we have come to expect, although his voice was certainly quite quavery as one might expect. There will be a great many Hawkwind fans who will seek this out due to who is involved, but will they then play it more than once? Actually, the answer to that is "yes" as this is a nice album ? not essential, but certainly really enjoyable. With the core of the band already playing together for some time there is a tightness among them, and while they have put Nik front and centre for much of it, there are also plenty of opportunities for them to also show off their strengths. One can only wonder if this will remain a one-off album or if Steve, Dai and Rob bring someone else in as although they will have very large boots to fill indeed, the death of Nik should not bring this project to an end. This may well be the last album Nik recorded, and if that is the case then he left on a high, as this is space rock which shows that after more than 50 years of pushing the boundaries he was still not satisfied and need to keep moving on.

The former HAWKWIND member continues to release solid albums late in his career including one from this year. That would be 8 studio albums in 10 years and he seems to be able to get just about whoever he wants to play on them. He's very much revered in the Psychedelic and Krautrock worlds but also among some of the Jazz community as seen on his "Space Fusion Odyssey" album where Cobham, Goodman and Etheridge hopped on board along Jazz guitarist Chris Poland and some Krautrock legends. Nik also likes to bring in these talented young musicians for a few albums then change it up, keeping it fresh.

Of the four I own of his eight since 2013 this is my least favourite but it's still a solid record. He brought in a musician named YOUTH who plays bass, drones and synths plus he produced this album then we get this young band called THE SPACE FALCONS. YOUTH was also featured on an earlier record. I do like the overall sound of this album as it's very much a sax driven album and quite spacey. I'm surprised at the lack of guitar as it takes a back set to even the violin which I'm just not big on here preferring Simon House's sound and style from the earlier days. Still despite sounding samey I just like Nik's style of playing and I love spacey music so it's all good.

Six songs over 38 and half minutes is just about right feeling he was starting to lose me on the second last song called "Syrnus" but then the closer surprised me sounding like old school Psychedelia early on. Catchy too. Yes an all instrumental affair and the one track I'd sample is "Tesla" which I just can't get enough of despite being the shortest one on here. A lot of atmosphere and synths on this recording as well and the other track that I really like is the opener "Space" at 10 1/2 minutes opening with spacey winds before the atmosphere rolls in followed by sax and this catchy beat and the ride begins.

This seems like a long way from Nik's debut solo album "Exitintoday" from 1978 but even on that one he had Howlett, Hillage and Blake from GONG helping out and of course the unique circumstance of playing in the Great pyramid in Egypt and recording it for that album. "Interstellar Energy" is a must for sax fans out there.

This record by Hawkwind veteran Nik Turner (wind instruments, vocals) has the typical Hawkwind family attributes; both strong and weak. The opening song 'The End of the World' has a memorable progressive melancholy that works lovely with the spacey instrumentation. The second track 'Why Are You' sounds under produced compared to the rest of the album and should therefor not have been included in my opinion. From there on the album is a quite relaxing mixture of atmospheric space (hard)rock moments with often spoken words by Nik Turner. The ending track 'Masters of the Universe' is however a particularly lackluster version of the classic Hawkwind song. Replacing the weaker tracks with a few more completed songs with melodies like the strong opener would really have bumped up this record to the level of the much stronger 'Space Gypsy'. For the stronger fusion-influenced musicianship I would warmly recommend Turner's 'Space Fusion Odyssey', of which the shortened 1LP version is one of my favorite space albums. This album - of which the beautiful cover deserves to be mentioned - can't get my full recommendation.

If ever a musician needs no introduction, then it has to be Nik Turner. For more than 50 years he has been a stalwart of the scene, and while he will always be best remembered for the classic years with Hawkwind he has been involved in other bands and has also helped multiple new artists over the years. Here he is back with his latest solo album, with assistance from Nicky Garratt of UK Subs and Hedersleben, Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps, and Jason Willer of UK Subs and Jello Biafra's band as well as special guest appearances by Hawkwind alumni Simon House and Paul Rudolph. Given it is a Nik Turner (Hawkwind 1969-1976, 1982-1984) release, also taking into consideration the album title and artwork, plus the involvement of Simon House (1973-1978, 1989-1991; guest - 2000-2002) and Paul Rudolph (1975- 1977) it perhaps isn't too surprising what this album sounds like.

There is no doubt that Nik's sax and flute, along with vocals and songwriting (remember he was responsible for the mighty "Brainstorm") were integral to Hawkwind's glory years, and they rarely reached those heights again without him. So, it is no surprise that what we have here is an album which in many ways could have been released in the early Seventies, and if it had then it would have made a major splash. Given that guitarist Nicky Garrett was involved in a hard hitting punk/metal outfit for more than 20 years, one may expect him to have a much heavier influence on the final sound, but this is very much a Turner release and although the music is arranged so that it is very much a band, he is often the focal point. There may well be some important distorted guitar solos to be heard, but they are often in the background. "The Final Frontier: Part One", with its spoken words, flute, swirling sounds and even acoustic guitar, could have been lifted straight from 'Doremi Fasol Latido', and the whole album is one which is a delight for anyone who has ever lost their hearing at a Hawkwind concert.

Nik Turner shows no sign at all of slowing down, and for fans of psychedelic space rock we should all be very grateful indeed.

Nik Turner has been involved in various Psychedelic/Space Rock bands since the early 70s and was one of the founders of Hawkwind, which he has been involved with for certain periods afterwards, but also involved with many other lesser known projects. Since 2013, he has released several solo albums. "The Final Frontier" is his latest to this point, released in March 2019. For this album, Nik has put together a team of musicians to accompany his vocals, sax and flute.

"Out of Control" starts with a processional style, but then goes into psychedelic mode with an upbeat rhythm and echoing guitar and synth effects and a wild violin. Nik also sings in a fairly low register, not really the best vocals here, but the guitar work that follows is pretty good and definitely follows the space rock sound. He is definitely reaching for that early Hawkwind sound, but his vocals are not very good. If you can get around that, then at least the music is good space rock. A slower tempo is used on "Interstellar Aliens" and the melody is okay, but again the vocals bring it down and the effects used on his vocals don't help. The violin solo at the last part of the track is nice and the spacey effects contribute to the psychedelic sound.

"Back to the Ship" is quite psychedelic and experimental with spoken word vocals. Rhythm doesn't even kick in on this until halfway through the track at after 3 minutes, and that is where the space rock portion of the track comes in. The guitar riff is catchy and again the violin is nice, but the vocals leave a lot to be desired. Afterwards, Nik joins in with the flute, but the vocals continue while he tells of his space adventures. "Strange Loop" begins with a minimal percussion and a Mid-Eastern vibe along with synthesized choral sounds. Just before 2 minutes, the moderate rhythm starts as the violin and chorus effect continue. Later on, a sax with effects comes in. At least this one is instrumental and has the space rock sound that you are here for.

"Calling the Egyptians" begins with hand drums and mellotron with a guitar playing the main theme. There is some spoken word in there and of course a lot of reverb. "Thunder Rider" has a heavier beat, though it stays moderate. Vocals with effects, synth and dark guitars provide the loosely droning space rock backdrop. There are harmonics in the vocals making them a bit more interesting this time. The processed sax comes in later and the effects used on the sax are cool. I would have like to have this one go on longer with more improvisation.

"The Final Frontier Part I" begins dark and mysterious with effects surrounding a bass and the flute coming in later. Things build quite slowly as a soft guitar joins in and effects get thicker. Deep in the mix are some monotonic spoken vocals. An excellent psychedelic vibe is established. After 4 minutes, the intensity level drops to a more minimal sound and at 5 minutes, a slow rhythm begins. The track pretty much remains psychedelic all the way through. Things build again after the 6 minute mark, but drop off again with spacey effects and things get very minimal flowing into "The Final Frontier Part 2" which is pretty much just improvised instruments and the monotone vocals swirling around in a miasmic way which goes on for over 2 minutes led mostly by violin. "PAD4" ends the album with a variant drone and improvised flute continuing the psychedelic vibe.

Overall, this is the space rock and psychedelic music that you expect, and it is quite pleasant and everything, the biggest drawback are the vocals, but after a while, they just become part of the layers of sound that go on here. The highlights of the album are "Out of Control" and "Thunder Rider" but there are other bits and pieces that make this a pleasurable ride, even though it is mostly down beat or without rhythm completely. It is some strange way relaxing, but a bit unsettling also. There are no really long jam sessions here either, but there are a few times when you wish there were. Some may think the psychedelia should have been changed for more jamming, but I think adding a few more minutes to a couple of the tracks would have had a better effect. Anyway, I think I can round this up to 4 stars.

4.5 stars. Nik Turner's debut was my first experience with his music other than of course his work with HAWKWIND. The debut was called "Xitintoday" from 1978 and it was a unique recording in that Nik recorded much of it in a pyramid over in Egypt. It's a really good album too and there's such a cool story to that one. Since then I can't say he's done much in the way of quality music until he met Nicky Garratt from HEDERSLEBEN. Soon Nik is playing on their debut released in 2013 and Nicky and most of HEDERSLEBEN are playing with Nik on his 2013 comeback album called "Space Gypsy". What a great partnership this has been as Nik has released three album with Nicky and they are all incredible easily surpassing what HAWKWIND has been doing of late.

This 2017 release called "Life In Space" features pretty much the same lineup as that 2013 album and like I said pick any of the three they are all so good. The middle album "Space Fusion Odyssey" is the best in my opinion with a ton of guests helping out plus that Jazz/ Fusion style really makes that album for me. So besides the HEDERSLEBEN members on here we get Paul Rudolph playing guitar on one track. He played guitar on HAWKWIND's "Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music" record from 1976. Simon House another HAWKWIND alumni is here on violin while Jurgen Engler is back formerly of AMON GURU, COSMIC COURIERS and DIE KRUPPS. Chris Lietz on keys also played with Jurgen in DIE KRUPPS.

"End Of The World" opens with the guitar echoing away over and over before the drums stampede the soundscape and the guitar starts ripping it up. A calm takes over before a minute with various sounds coming and going in that psychedelic haze. Soon piano comes out of that mist along with a beat, guitar and processed vocals. Spacey synths too as it settles in with vocals. Man this reminds me of Dream Pop with those vocals. Check them out before 2 1/2 minutes. Flute before 4 minutes. Love the sound here, such a feel good song. It starts to fade out late with flute and spacey sounds ending it.

"Why Are You?" opens with spacey synths before some aggressive guitar kicks in followed by mellotron, drums and bass as the vocals join in. This becomes a great driving track in the HAWKWIND mode. Vocals stop before 2 minutes then the guitar rips off a grinding solo over top. Nice. More mellotron before 3 1/2 minutes. What a great rocking track. Sax follows then more mellotron before 4 1/2 minutes then the vocals return.

"Back To Earth" opens with spacey sounds as strummed guitar, flute and percussion arrive. This is exotic and beautiful. The tempo picks up just before a minute and laid back vocals join in sounding distant. Violin before 3 minutes during an instrumental section. Vocals are back 3 1/2 minutes in then the violin returns late.

"Secrets Of The Galaxy" opens with spacey sounds that build and recede over and over until this great sounding bass kicks in followed by guitar, drums and synths. Vocals join in around a minute pretty much speaking the lyrics. Catchy stuff. The groove stops after 3 minutes as it turns experimental with sax, spoken words, atmosphere and more.

"Universal Mind" opens with flute and keyboards before the guitar and drums kick in creating this heavy and smokey groove in a spacey atmosphere. Vocals join in too almost speaking the lyrics. After 2 1/2 minutes the music calms down as the focus becomes on what Nik is saying. It kicks back in almost a minute later then flute ends it.

"Approaching The Unknown" opens with the birds singing in a spacey atmosphere with droning organ I believe. Flute then takes over before 2 minutes but there's still lots of atmosphere here. The guitar starts to rise out of this after 3 minutes. Flute is back after 4 minutes. This is an intense track but then we are approaching the unknown right? So good! The drums start to help out then it seems to wind down before 6 minutes to the end.

"As You Were" features atmosphere but there's so much going on including whispers and various sounds. So cool. Some powerful breaks come and go in the BLACK SABBATH tradition surprisingly. This is haunting to say the least, like life is about to end. I guess we have met the unknown at this point. The tempo picks up some before 2 minutes. Sax just before 3 minutes as the tempo still seems to be slowly building. Kicking ass after 4 minutes with death metal-like vocals to end it. I know right?

"Master Of The Universe" is of course a HAWKWIND cover co-written originally by Nik Turner and Dave Brock. A faithful cover with manipulated sax over top at times. This was originally on "In Search Of Space" released in 1971.

An absolutely stunning album that falls just short of 5 stars for me but it will certainly be high on my 2017 end of the year list.

Nik Turner - Space Fusion Odyssey (2015)

I really liked the Space Gypsy (2013) album because of it's Hawkwind style and catchy tunes. On the Space Fusion Odyssey album another brand of spacerock is played, more in the tradion of Fusion styled Gong. Nik Turner, the ex windinstrumentalist from Hawkwind, has invited an interesting list of musicans; Robby Krieger (The Doors), Steve Hilliage (Gong, solo), Gilly Smith (Gong) and Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra, solo).. that's impressive.

The two opening tracks are my favorites of the spacerock genre. With a sublime recording bass and drums just fire through you're living room! Though the music is jam-based and therefor a bit repetitive, there's a sheer excitement in the performance. The main themes are strong and the different top layers of solo's and spacey sounds add to an atmosphere of real bombastic bliss. On side two we get to hear a more 'traditional' fusion pieces, alle executed well - but less exciting. Some musical passages digress to spaced-up elevator music, whereas on other moments the band really rocks out in sophisticated way. The vinyl has less tracks then the cd version, which is perhaps for the best. The vinyl does have a six piece foldout cover that is simply amazing, among my favorite artworks in my collection (among the likes of Alphataurus, Comus, Tommy, Tudor Lodge, Wolf City).

Nik Turner - Space Gypsy (2013)

The brilliance and clumsiness of Hawkwind is fascinating; giving us the blueprint for the spacerock genre in perhaps the most likable way whilst making a few good records and a collection of mediocre/poor studio and live recordings that is almost limitless. Former Hawkwind windplayer Nik Turner released his first album in '78 and has released two album the last five years.

'Space Gypsy' (now under review) and the more recent 'Space Fusion Odyssey' (2015). The sound and feel of this album is 100% Hawkwind. However, it's a collecton of relatively good songs that work great as a unity, something Hawkwind itself has almost never done. The thick guitar/bass/drums layer is completed by great spacey sounds, a diversity in wind-instruments and drowsy vocals. The appearance of Steve Hillage is a nice bonus, though honestly, I wouldn't know which guitarlines are his. The songs have what everything a classy spacerock should have. One or two catchy themes, spacey keyboard sounds, a distant feel, some folky parts and of course long spacey guitar freakouts.

Conclusion. If you'd like to listen to that great Hawkwind record they themselves didn't make the last fourty years, this is a great recommendation! This needs to be picked up by the space rock listeners. Four stars.

This could be a long review as I feel like I need to talk about the multitude of special guests who are on here, a who's who of Jazz/ Fusion, Krautrock and Psychedelic music. First a big thankyou to Guldbamsen who mentioned this album in one of the threads on here. Nik Tuner of HAWKWIND fame is no stranger to jazzy music, and the fact he calls the band here the INTERGALACTIC ARKESTRA shows his affection and respect for SUN RA but he also mentions being a fan of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker among others.

The music is just as the album title suggests, a spacey Jazz/ Fusion style with plenty of twittering and blips from the moog provided by Jurgen Engler who was in the German band DIE KRUPPS but I also have him on a AMON GURU record I own. Chris Lietz is also from DIE KRUPPS and he is important here adding some gorgeous mellotron to the soundscapes again making this sound somewhat unique. Man Nik has a ton of friends though and is obviously highly regarded and respected by some of the best musicians on the planet. Back to the music, I have to say that this fits my tastes perfectly being very much into Jazz/ Fusion but also being a big fan of that Psychedelic style. Plus we get so many solos which I love to hear, especially the guitar solos but also Nik and his sax and flute solos. No there's no drum solos(haha) but when you have Billy Cobham playing on two tracks I wouldn't have complained. I'm not going to talk about the four bonus tracks other than to say that the last one "Random Acts" has Rick Wakeman and Jerry Goodman playing on it.

Another thing I learned through checking out all the musicians guesting on this album was that the young Krautrock band from Germany called HEDERSLEBEN are all here including Joel Vandroogenbroeck from BRAINTICKET. Why mention HEDERLEBEN and Joel? Because the latest BRAINTICKET album consists of Joel plus the band HEDERSLEBEN. Man so many connections here with the 2015 releases by Nik Turner, BRAINTICKET and HEDERSLEBEN. As for the guitarists we get Chris Poland from MEGADEATH, and while I'm not familiar with his playing with them I am familiar with his Jazz/ Fusion albums under the name OHM. Robertino Pagliari also from OHM plays bass along with Kai Eckhardt who has played with many Jazz great like John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell. Yes we have some gun slingers on here. Bobby Krieger from THE DOORS, John Weinzierl from AMON DUUL II, Steve Hillage from GONG etc. and John Etheridge from SOFT MACHINE. And speaking of GONG, Gilli Smyth is here doing her space whispers. An amazing mixture of talent on here from sub-genres such as Krautrock, Psychedelic/ Space Rock and Jazz/ Fusion.

It's about a 41 minute album which is perfect and we get six tracks. I can't get enough of the music and the only song that doesn't completely blow me away is the funky closer which is still really good. "Adjust The Future" opens with moog and it will continue throughout as drums, bass and guitar join in. Hillage and Poland share the guitar duties on this one. This sounds so good. The bass is really upfront and so well done, but man these guys are all amazing. Nik comes in with sax after 2 minutes as he will share lead with the guitars. Space whispers end it. "Hypernova" opens with space whispers as drums, sax, bass and atmosphere take over. The guitar replaces the sax 1 1/2 minutes in and I should mention that Poland and Krieger share the guitar here. Sax to the fore a minute later. I like the atmosphere on this one which I think is provided by the synths. Check out the dissonant sax 6 1/2 minutes in. So good! The guitar is back 7 minutes in followed by more sax to end it.

"Spiritual Machines" features Joel from BRAINTICKET offering up some sitar as well as Weinzierl on guitar. Two Krautrock legends right there. This is experimental to start, very psychedelic as the drums join in followed by a full sound. The flute is soloing over top, then the guitar starts to rip it up as they trade off. Check out the mellotron too, it's relentless. I really like the tone of the guitar here, especially before 4 minutes. "Pulsar" opens with space whispers and experimental sounds that sound like Joel's sitar before it kicks into gear with moog and the usual instruments. Cobham is on drums here while Etheridge offers up some tasty guitar. I like the flute too and hey we have some electric piano from Kephera Moon(BRAINTICKET, HEDERSLEBEN). Sax too as Nik switches back and forth from flute to sax. The guitar is very jazzy. This might be my favourite tune on here.

"An Elliptical Galaxy" has Poland and Hillage on guitar and while I said the last one might be my favourite, well I think it's this one. The mellotron just lifts this track a little above the rest in my opinion. And it's about 30 seconds in when the mellotron arrives, oh my! This actually sounds Swedish with the drums and flute helping out. A change though a minute in when the mellotron stops and it turns Jazzy. These two themes are repeated. Sax and guitar take turns leading. The guitar is lighting it up 6 minutes in. "A Beautiful Vision In Science" is the one that I like but not on the same par as the other five. This is funky which is kind of cool with Cobham on drums and Hillage on guitar. Lots of twittering moog to start as a funky groove kicks in. Catchy stuff with the flute playing over top. The guitar is here as well then it's the flute and bass standing out 2 minutes in as it settles some, lots of twittering as well. The guitar is back after 3 minutes.

Man this is a long way from Nik's "Xintology" album which I rate highly. I'm just a sucker for that Jazz/ Fusion style though, especially when it played so well. I hope Nik has more of this for us in the future.

By 1978 Hawkwind was flying high along a turbulent commercial jet-stream behind Robert Calvert and Charisma Records, but with the band's roster and even its name in uneasy flux (Hawkwind, Hawklords, take your pick). All of which made this offshoot project from erstwhile sax man and flautist Nik Turner entirely unexpected, and still mysterious a full generation later.

Turner's passion was Egyptology, a not-uncommon obsession in the 1970's (the young PETER HAMMILL also flirted with Nile River mythology, in the early VDGG song "Boat of Millions of Years"). But nobody captured its arcane essence better than this, and Turner's first album survives today as a near-masterpiece of Space Rock, albeit drawn from the abyss of Time, not Space, and hardly Rock 'n' Roll at all.

You can almost hear the dust of eons in the lonely echoes of his moody flute playing, and with good reason. While on holiday in Egypt, Turner was allowed access to the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza, where he recorded three hours of contemplative arabesques to an audience of Fourth Dynasty ghosts. Only later was an album assembled around his taped solos, but the final product is remarkably seamless, with an organic authenticity only a four thousand-year old recording studio can provide.

Even with a long guest roster the sound is almost minimalist, at times resembling an unmixed Hawkwind session stripped of all its other backing tracks. Something like rock music finally appears in the latter half of the album, with actual singing instead of the ritual, rhythmic chanting from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. At its best you might discern a likeness to classic GONG, thanks to contributions from Mike Howlett, Tim Blake, and guitarist Steve Hillage, who also produced the effort, no doubt with a kindred interest in Turner's antique mysticism.

If the Michael Moorcock declamations were your favorite part of Hawkwind's "Space Ritual", here's an ideal album for you. Don't expect to spin it often, but in the right mood and at the right time (perhaps when the star of Sothis appears in the east, and the fertile Nile begins to rise again) the effect can be magical.