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.