CHURCH OF HAWKWIND

1982's Church of Hawkwind is a seriously underrated album if there ever is one. I realize how difficult the 1980s were for so many bands that made it this far. A band like Genesis had no problem making it through the '80s, but they altered their style and substance to do so, at the expense of many of their older fans. Hawkwind never needed to do that, certainly they might adapt to some of the technology of the day, but even in the early '80s, they NEVER went all Duran Duran on us, which we can all be thankful.

Hawkwind takes a more electronic move here, thanks to Harvey Bainbridge doubling up on keyboards (which he first did on their previous outing, Sonic Attack). I really like the electronic approach they do, and several songs do nothing but amaze me. I really love "Star Cannibal", with the semi-spoken dialog. "The Phenomenon of Luminosity" is an all-electronic piece with lots of EMS Synthi effects and synth leads. "The Joker at the Gate" is an electronic piece with spoken dialog, "The Last Messiah" another strange electronic piece, while "Some People Never Die" features audio excerpts of the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. "Looking into the Future" is more typical Hawkwind that fans are more used to. I really say there's nothing I dislike about this album. I felt the next album Choose Your Masques was more mediocre (it sounded like the band going through the motions to get finished with their contract with RCA), even there it has some fine moments, so I even can't totally slag that album.

For years I shied away from Church of Hawkwind because of the cover. Sonic Attack and Choose Your Masques certainly feature MUCH better covers. I'm happy to say the music is much better than the cover. I have the original LP that came with a fantastic lyric booklet, which has MUCH better artwork than the cover.