Psychedelic Selection is the latest studio offering from Hawkwind. Well, it is not exactly a brand-new studio album. Instead, it plays more like the band offering newer material alongside some reimagined songs and several previously unheard pieces rescued from past projects. Crucially, it includes their final recording with the late Huw Lloyd-Langton, who was in and out of the line-up before ill health forced him to stop. It is a beautifully psychedelicized version of ‘Hurry On Sundown‘, a track from their 1970 self-titled debut album which he originally played on.
Hawkwind has always been an evolving entity. With a title like Psychedelic Selection, listeners get everything from driving space rock to cosmic psychedelia and experimental electronica. Come on, this is Hawkwind. You were not really expecting anything different, were you? They were already out there in search of space when the parents of many in Gen Z were just starting primary school, and they have never stopped moving forward. Their open-ended space jams might not be quite as long now, but they still know their way around the cosmos.
The album includes tracks pulling from at least five previous studio albums. It also boasts a couple of tracks from Dave Brock‘s electronic Dance and Trance catalog alongside a few newer pieces. Two such tracks open the proceedings. ‘Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad‘ playfully asks questions about whether birds are bad simply because they only have two legs. Meanwhile, ‘Fairies In The Garden‘ plays like a psychedelic fairy tale about gardening while under the influence.
The newer piece ‘Goonhilly Downs‘ and ‘Land Of Min‘ both feature descending synth runs and throbbing beats. Conversely, ‘Out Of Luck‘ leans much closer to hard rock than psychedelia. The long, meandering ‘Human Zoo‘ showcases some fine guitar work from Dave Brock. These are all exactly the kind of songs upon which the band built their reputation back in the seventies, whereas ‘Judge And The Fisherman‘ is something probably only this band might consider releasing.
Elsewhere, ‘Those Days Of The Underground‘ sees Dave Brock reminiscing about the late seventies Ladbroke Grove scene. Songs like ‘The Demented Man‘ and ‘Tortured Mind‘ are reimagined with a fresh perspective, though neither differs too drastically from their original album versions. The record concludes with a more recent song, ‘Traveller Of Space‘, lifted from the 2023 album Stories From Time And Space.
If you already know Hawkwind, there will be little here to surprise you. This is just them doing what it is they do best, and quite likely better than anyone else. They have certainly been doing it longer than anyone else. You could argue some tracks reek of self-indulgence. However, after fifty-six years, and with founder member and space captain Dave Brock still leading the charge, they have more than earned the right to do whatever they want. Remarkably, Brock turns eighty-five just two days before the band headlines the New Day Festival this summer.
