Hawkwind – Stories from Time and Space Review

A sudden surge of prolific material has hit Hawkwind and their fans. Two albums in just as many years after a decade-long drought. But longevity for the band and their eclectic collection of releases as of late is not much to be inspired by. Stories from Time and Space is one of those. Opener Our Lives Can’t Last Forever paints an apt picture of the band at present. Whatever is left of the original Hawkwind lineup, like Yes or the various prog rock underlings who are still at play, they have lost the magic. There is no touch of spontaneity or wildness to their offerings now. Dedicated fans may froth at the mouth when hearing their longstanding favourites put out new music, but for the many who do not find themselves needing to lap up every release, these lacklustre, latter-day releases from Hawkwind are poor. 

The band trudges on with the notoriety of a well-known name and nothing more. Whatever it was which made the magic of their heyday happen is absent now. It may take some time to grow into, but Dave Brock has a wizened, fearful vocal performance which benefits these latter-day releases from Hawkwind. Lengthy endeavours which, for the most part, have the same message to them. Songs to warn off wasting your life, are written for those who are already towards the end. But for those youthful few who will hear the latest Hawkwind effort, the generosity of these genuine moments, the call to arms for maintaining a strong joy in your life, will fall flat. They ring through with a dense similarity, hence The Starship (One Love One Life) relying on aged space age sounds and the repetition of its title. 

Song after song questioning what to do with your life and how we are fools for wasting time. There is no right answer yet Hawkwind claims to have the keys to unlocking this grand meaning of life. Stories from Time and Space is the one tale, foolishly told over and over with few changes bar muffled instrumentals. Lazy discussions from beyond the stars have lost their charm. There is an aged tone to this which Hawkwind, for some strange reason, tries to depend on. But it puts them back a step or two. Something like The Tracker hopes to pull at the heartstrings of those who have been there from the start. It is without charm. Space rock will define them and it is their loss having never evolved beyond it. They become a parody of themselves here. Brock and the band reflect on the shifting times of human emotion but do so with such a one-note perspective it is hard to hear much insightful work from the once-influential band.  

A bloated collection of forgettable tracks and plenty of messy, uninventive instrumentals is par for the modern-day Hawkwind course. Attempts to set the mood can be heard on Re-generate but the album is a lost cause by then. Stories from Time and Space has plenty of time to tell their stories but not the space for artistic ingenuity. Even some more ham-fisted and everyday experiences would have been welcome, but there is nothing notorious here. There is little luck when it comes to these expressions of activity. Hawkwind fails to make a mark with their latest effort but this will come as no surprise to those who maintain the band is better suited to its legends slot, playing the classics and avoiding these miserable potholes.