IN YOUR AREA

In 1998, one has to wonder why Hawkwind was even still a band after putting out a string of mediocre (or less) albums for quite some time. It was during that year that the band decided to put out "In Your Area" which is an album where the first half of the album is live and the 2nd half is in studio. The core of the band at this time was down to 4 members with the consistent member Dave Brock running the show. But, when you hear this album, you have to wonder if he really was running things. It sounds like he is only there in order to use the Hawkwind moniker as for the most part, his guitar and other contributions seem a bit lackluster.

There were other members, so to speak, than these core 4, but they were not considered members as much as they were guests. Included among these guests is Captain Rizz who I think was there to try to make the band more "relevant" or something. You can hear his input almost from the start. After about 5 minutes of a live version of "Brainstorm", the song suddenly takes a huge turn for the worse as it takes on a plastic reggae beat and Rizz adds his vocals which are totally out of their element here. This doesn't just last for a minute or two either, but end up continuing for the rest of the 11 minute track. This happens again in "Love in Space/Rat Race" which ends up being even more annoying than the first track.

So, you might be hoping that the studio side of the album is better. It isn't. The songs have no heart. They sound like they are attempting to reinvent space rock, but instead of that, they make a mockery of it. Even though the track "Hippy" shows a little bit of promise, it isn't enough to save this album. There just isn't that much more to say about it. Fortunately, the album didn't sell well. If it had, it would have made Hawkwind into a joke. This is one to stay away from, even if you are a fan, however, there are those that must have the entire library, so leave this one for them.