HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL

Up to this point in their careers this is their best album by far, although I do have a soft spot for the charming "Space Ritual". Check out the lineup: Dave Brock, Lemmy, Nik Turner, Del Dettmar, Simon King and the newly added Simon House formerly from the hard rocking 60's band HIGH TIDE. Simon House brings a new flavour to their sound with violin and mellotron. This just sounds much more mature and professional to me. And the cover art is so well done, I especially like the picture on the back, it's stunningly beautiful. I wouldn't describe the pictures of the band in the liner notes that way though. Hmmm...

"The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)" is an awesome title. You can hear mellotron all the way through this one if you listen carefully. The intro is excellent the way it builds. Vocals a minute in. Check out the dissonant sax melodies followed by some prominant bass lines from Lemmy. The drumming is very active after 4 minutes. It drifts off into a psychedelic jam after that, building to a climax. Just a classic HAWKWIND song. "Wind Of Change" opens with an explosion as high winds come in. The organ and synths make for a fantastic intro. Drums beat lightly 2 1/2 minutes in soon joined by violin from House. This is so relaxing and beautiful at the same time. It ends with spacey synths.

"D-Rider" is a Nik Turner composition. I really the vocals and lyrics. It reminds me of early PINK FLOYD except for the prominant spacey synths with mellotron. Great track. "Web Weaver" features strummed guitar and piano followed by spacey synths and vocals. We get a beat after 2 minutes and the guitar makes some noise. "You'd Better Believe It" is a fairly straight forward tune,but it's really good. It opens with spacey synths as drums come in. It's building to a full sound after a minute. This is catchy folks. "Hall Of The Mountain Grill" is the only Simon House composition, and it's an instrumental. This is all House. Piano to open as synths, violin and mellotron join in. Nice. "Lost Johnny" features Lemmy on vocals. This one is raw but catchy. "Goat Willow" is a short instrumental composed by Dettmar. Harpsichord, synths and flute lead the way. "Paradox" is an excellent closing track. The guitar to open is a highlight, but the vocals are even better. Check out the drumming late along with the waves of mellotron. This might be the best of the bunch.

4.5 stars. I'm so impressed with this album. I didn't know HAWKWIND used mellotron ? I knew they used a lot of other things (haha). This record is a blast !