Search - Hawkwind :: Alien 4

Hawkwind - 'Alein 4' (EBS/Distributed by Griffin)

Mike Reed | USA | 10/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was pleasantly surprized when I heard this CD at the time it first came out.A total of fourteen tracks,with the first ten being like a concept album.The four other cuts are extras,I guess,including two remixes of the 1978 Bob Calvert tune "Death Trap" and 1988's "Wastelands".The line-up here is:Brock,Alan Davey,drummer Richard Chadwick and(at the time)new vocalist/frontman Ron Tree.The opener "Abducted" and "Alein,I Am" get things started on this modern day space rock classic.Dave Brock's synth work really seem to shine through on this CD,as so does Tree's vocal performance.The tunes that I liked the best are "Reject Your Human Touch","Beam Me Up",the trippin' "Xemomorph" and "Sputnik Stan".You also get a twelve page booklet,that is sort of 'like' the Hawkwind-Alein handbook.Very cool.A fun disc to pull off the shelf every now and again to play."

Greater than many of their recent albums

thirteen-13 | 02/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album has all that any Hawkwind fan could want. At times this makes it seem slightly formulaic but you soon forget that when you're listening to great tunes like "Sputnik Stan" and "Festivals".Many Hawkwind fans disklike this album on the basis that they didn't like Ron Tree's singing. I would disagree with this. Ron does a great job on songs like "Blue Skin" and "Xenomorph", this is the vocalist that they had been looking for for almost a decade.Unlike many Hawkwind albums which feature reworkings of earlier material, the reworked numbers on here sound coherent. They're not pointless solo twiddly keyboard fiddling by Dave Brock either - they're real songs.This album is representative of Hawkwind's work. Sit back and turn this CD on and it will take you on a trip around the galaxy."