somebody said he jumped…

Sometimes you are idly minding your own business and all of a sudden the gremlins start speaking to you. As usual this results in some on-line browsing and inevitably a purchase.

This time the thought was wouldn’t it be grand if there was a live Hawklords album? Well there  is one, it’s Live 78 and it was a record store day release in 2017, limited on clear vinyl. Hmm I thought, I wonder if I can still get one? Let’s take a look, damn there it is and it’s beautiful.

Two clicks later and the next move is to watch the tracking.

Two days later the joy and beauty of the Hawkords Live ’78 arrives just in time to fry my brain before the flight to the UK on Friday. There is something refreshing about the Hawklords sound. It is decidedly more punk than what happened the next year with the glorious Hawkwind Live ’79. Brock churns out the riffs and makes a decent stab at lead guitar over the usual squeaks and squalls of the keyboards. Not surprisingly Calvert is bonkers throughout managing to just about hold himself and the band together.

This would be the last tour Calvert managed with Brock. There were plans that never came to fruition before Calvert’s death. More than any other member I think Calvert’s loss with his vision and lyrical input has been missing in later bands. Despite his mental health issues his musical and lyrical input leant a cohesion to the music. Ideas of alienation and loss of control permeate the music, Calvert’s world is dark and foreboding, dystopian in a time when that didn’t describe cookie cutter young adult novels. His lyrics have a relevance to this day especially Pantranscendental Industries slogan of “Reality you can rely on…”

Go here if you want to read more of all that guff…: Pantranscendental Indistries

There is another thought that goes like this, it’s just bonkers good fun to play loud and bounce around the living room to.

So let’s not talk of love and flowers
And things that don’t explode
We’ve used up all of our magic powers
Trying to do it in the road