[.ca] Take Me to Your Leader

Hawkwind for the new millenium:
Having just turned 50 years old, one of the must haves for my bithday was the deluxe limited edition "Take Me to Your Leader". First, the CD. If you liked Electric Teepee,this is all that disk and more. There is an excellent updated version of "Spirit of the Age" and "Paradox 2005". Both cuts are notably different from the original versions, yet sound fresh. Brock, Davey and Chadwick share the writing duties on the other cuts with "Greenback Massacre", "To Love a Machine", and "Digital Nation" being outstanding new classic Hawkwind numbers. "Angela Android' is like the continuing story of "Spirit of the Age" with a great story line an added vocals from Lene Lovich. You've got to hear this cut to believe it. A new Hawkwind classic. Even the instrumentals are strong and never become ponderous. Crazy man Arthur "Fire" Brown adds writing credit and volcals to "Sunray", probably one of the strongest tracks on the CD. Imagine...Brown meets Brock/Hawkwind. Brown also adds an unexpected twist with his vocal only "Letter to Robert (Calvert)". Once you hear it, if you understood Robert Calvert at all, you'll get it. A number of the tracks contain excellent tastey bits of saxophone...a trade mark of the Hawkers. The bonus DVD has it's high points like a classic live version of "Silver Machine" with Lemmy on vocals. There's an awesome live version of "The Right to Decide". On the downside the sound quality of the two live cuts "Spirit of the Age" and "Psychedilic Warlords" taken from their recent tour in suppport of "Take me to Your Leader", is poor. However, if you're a true 'Hawkfan'it really won't matter. The two cuts just verify the strength of Hawkwind, which in my opinion, has always been their live performances. These two cuts don't disappoint. To close out the DVD, there are individual interviews with Brock, Davey and Chadwick...very insightful and worth it. In general, if you're expecting 'Hall of the Mountain Grill' or 'In Search of Space', this isn't your CD. If you want a great 'the evolving story of Hawkwind 2005' and the gelling of Brock/Davey/Chadwick as a musical unit...this is frickin' great !! Here's to the undying spirit of spaceship Hawkwind.

• Spirit of the Age
• Out Here We Are
• Greenback Massacre
• To Love a Machine
• Take Me to Your Leader
• Digital Nation
• Sunray
• Sighs
• Angela Android
• Letter to Robert