LUCKY LEIF & THE LONGSHIPS

Hawkfans on Progarchives should be ashamed of themselves! Bob Calvert is criminally underreviewed here. IMO, most of Hawkwind's best work was done under Calvert's influence, particularly the magnificent "Quark Strangeness and Charm". Unfortunately, his solo work, while undeniably the work of the unstable genius that he was, is a bit spotty. "Captain Lockheed' was a great work, almost the lost Hawks album, full of energy, humour and classic tunes. He tried a similar formula on this second album, but with less success. A strange theme about Vikings discovering America is fairly confusing as it veers from the proggy to pastiche. The Beach Boys parody "The Lay of the Surfers" is amusing, but not something you'd listen to everyday, as is the bluegrassy "Moonshine in the Mountains". The more serious tunes like "Ship of Fools" and "Ragna Rock" work better, sounding like a mixture of space rock and Roxy Music-ish glam, no doubt due to Eno's presence as producer on the recording. Paul Rudolph makes notable guitar contributions, and Michael Moorcock, Simon House and Nik Turner are also present. I do find that the marriage of topic and music does not work as well on this album as it did on Calvert's first, but no serious Hawkfan or lover of the weirder sort of seventies concept album should avoid giving it a listen.