LOVE IN SPACE

Hailing from what probably goes for Hawkwind's least popular period, Love In Space is an amazingly solid Hawkwind live album.

The bulk of the material stems from the Alien4 album, an album with strong songwriting but poor production standards. It had that typical early 90's plastic midi keyboard sound that made it too clean and sterile. Not this live album though, true rocking drums are solidly in place and the bass and the guitars sound much more forceful.

The singer in command of the spaceship is still Ron Tree, a kind of Calvert clone that misses both the diction and vocal talents of Calvert. It makes him the weak link in this recording but it's not so bad that it distracts from the enjoyment. But still, if anything could be improved here it's his vocals.

The songs and instrumentals are all great and make for a nicely flowing concert, varying ambient passages with groovy space drones. The songs of note are Sputnik Stan, one of the Hawks best songs from the 90's. It's sung by Dave Brock which gives it automatically that vintage Hawkwind feel. Also Robot is a nice to have if you skipped the inconsistent PXR5 album from 1979. Alien is another great Brock-fronted track from Alien4. An essential Hawkwind track if you wouldn't have it yet.

The song that this live album is named after is Love In Space, another highlight of 90's Hawkwind and much better here then the awkward semi-techno version appearing as an extra track on some issues of Distant Horizons from 1997. The concert ends with a medley of the Arabian-tinged Space is Their from The Business Of The Future and the unavoidable Assasins of Allah (Hassan I Sahba)). A powerful ending as usual.

It might be a bit hard to find now but I was lucky to be in deep Hawkwind trances when this was released. If you haven't explored 90's Hawkwind yet, I would greatly recommend this one or The Business Trip as a start.