The George Lite Zone

Hawkfans impatient for the release of the bands next studio album should grab a copy of the latest Mojo magazine. Featuring covers of the classic Syd Barrett 70s album The Madcap Laughs it includes a version of Long Gone by captain Brock's psychedelic warlords. Throw in further renditions by the likes of REM and it makes this months Mojo pretty indispensable. The full track listing is: - Field Music - Terrapin J Mascis - No Good Trying The Besnard Lakes - Love You Race Horses - No Man's Land R.E.M. - Dark Globe Hush Arbors - Here I Go Captain Sensible - Octopus Hope Sandoval & the Warm Intentions - Golden Hair Hawkwind - Long Gone Skygreen Leopards - She Took a Long Cold Look Cate Le Bon - Feel Jennifer Gentle - If It's In You Marc Almond - Late Night Robyn Hitchcock - Dark Globe (live bonus track) In the magazine, Brock compares Syd to Hawkwind's resident poet Bob Calvert. Syd and Bob shared a couple of traits they were both barking mad and both damned fined musici...

Canceled flights and detours via London do have some advantages. In this case the chance to listen to Hawklords Live 1978 released on the excellent Atom Henge label. First off a trip back to 1978 and Bob Calvert in all his pomp. The 1978 Hawklords tour is special to me as it was the first time I saw the Hawks live. As the first bars of Automoton segued into 25 Years On, I found myself transported back to that night. Calvert on stage with bullet belt and flying helmet. The definitive urban guerilla delivering the ultimate sonic attack. High Rise and Deathtrap followed, the latter delivered with blistering intensity. Age of the Micro Man mellowed things out a bit then, Steve Swindells swirling synth playing and regae rifs counterpointing Calvert's vocals perfectly. No disrespect to messrs Brock and Wright, but no one delivers Spirit Of The Age quite like Bob and the version recorded here doesn't doesn't disapoint. The classic Urban Guerilla then showcases what Calvert brought...

I just heard the bad news from Hawkwind's MySpace account, that Huw Lloyd Langton has just been admitted to Dorset County hospital with kidney failure and is on dialysis after a bout of food poisoning. Anyone out there who wants to send him a get well card can send it to: - Huw Lloyd Langton Prince of Wales Ward Dorset County Hospital Williams Avenue Dorchester Dorset DT1 2JY My best wishes go out to him and Marion.

In search of Mudhoney Berlin gig tickets, I stumbled across this cover of one of my all time favourite Hawkwind tracks, Urban Guerilla. http://www.last.fm/music/Mudhoney/_/Urban+Guerilla Mudhoney's version was recorded for a John Peel session in 2002, and released on a 2003 Mojo Magazine freebie, it was also included on the compilation album Up Yours! Punk's Not Dead . Cargo Records also did a limited edition 7 inch run in a series of Hawkwind covers. Hawkwind's original dates back to '73 and was banned by the BBC due to its release coinciding with a series of IRA bombings at the time. Mudhoney have captured the punk sensibilities of the original, while incorporating guitar riffs reminiscent of early Hawkwind. All in all a bloody good cover. I think they did Bob Calvert proud here. Speaking of which...

Whatever next, Dave Brock singing Pretty Vacant?

Like the salmon swimming upstream to spawn, I always seem to gravitate towards local watering holes with a good choice of music. My favorite spot in Brussels at the moment is Cafe Bizon . There under the watchful eye of the stuffed head of a, believe it or not, Bison, you can listen to live Blues Jamming every Monday night while quaffing some of Belgium's finest. The wooden beams inside are adorned with old concert tickets including this one from an old 'Wind concert. Good beer, good music, great atmosphere and friendly staff. A damn fine bar.

I was playing about with Last FM last night. Last FM is an application that keeps track of the last tracks you played on your PC, then allows you to display them on social networking sites such as Facebook or on blogs, such as this one. This is done via plugins to popular music players such as Windows media or Win Amp. Sampling some of these goodies I've added, two music quilts on the right hand side of this blog. Far better than the sort that Grandma used to make, these cycle through the pictures of album covers. I created two. One for Hawkwind and one that cycles through the bands listed in my MySpace profile. I also added a radio widget which allows you to play bands in my favorites or that are similar in nature. Hit the play button on this to get some quality music to listen to while you surf the net. Finally I've added an RSS feed from the site to display the last five tracks I've played. Check it out, I've got a feeling that Radio Motörhead will be appearing o...

Watching tonights Horizon program, " What on Earth is Wrong with Gravity? ", I thought I'd google "Space Time" to get a bit of background gen on one of the topics being discussed. In so doing I found a nifty 3D browsing and searching utility called, strangely enough, Space Time . Taking this out for a spin I typed in Hawkwind and selected Google Image Search as my option. Among the myriad images resplendent on my desktop was this fine picture of the Hawks from 1973. Looking at Stacia the forces of gravity don't appear to have affected her much in those days. Onward flies the bird.

Levitation, levitation, levitation.... © Calvin Ternent 2007

I just stumbled on this on You Tube. Hawkwind 's Assult & Battery/Golden Void as the backing to a Full Metal Alchemist video. Bizarre. Then again it should keep both me and Calvin happy for a while. With two main characters in Full Metal Alchemist having a surname of Elric, a track from The Chronicle of the Black Sword might have been more appropriate. Any excuse to listen to Needle Gun again. Well Jerry Cornelius was an aspect of the eternal champion, as was Elric. A good enough connection for me.

I recently got an e-mail from Dave Hardy . The official Hawkwind site contacted him recently to ask about his connections with the band in the 70's. The following item was then posted on their website. http://www.hawkwindmuseum.co.uk/gallery20.htm

Am I mad, in a coma, or have I just been listening to the Life On Mars Original Soundtrack CD. Most excellent. Not surprising really as the picking ground for material, the 70's, has been identified as the best decade for popular music. My only criticism of it is the lack of any Hawkwind , not that I'm biased, especially as the show has featured Brainstorm , Silver Machine , Urban Guerrilla , Ejection and You Shouldn't Do That over its two seasons. Still there's always the potential for a second soundtrack album at some stage in the future and plenty of material still to chose from. Track Listing King Of The Jungle (dialogue) David Bowie - Life On Mars Roxy Music - Street Life Wings - Live And Let Die ELO - 10538 Overture John Kongos - Tokoloshe Man Atomic Rooster - Devil's Answer T Rex - Rock On Free - Little Bit Of Love Lee 'Scratch' Perry and the Upsetters - Jungle Lion Armed Bastards (dialogue) The Sweet - Blockbuster The Faces - Cindy Incidentally A...

There's nothing like a top music list to stir up a bit of controversy. In this case I stumbled on this list of the Top 25 Live Albums o n IGN.COM Gaping omissions for me are Hawkwind 's - Space Ritual, Motörhead 's - No Sleep Till Hammersmith and Thin Lizzie's - Live and Dangerous. If anyones got any other great live album suggestions that you think should have made the grade, feel free to post them. TOP 25 Live Albums 1. 801 - Live (EG, 1976) 2. U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky (Island, 1983) 3. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (Columbia, 1968) 4. Neil Young - Live Rust (Reprise, 1979) 5. Boogie Down Productions - Live Hardcore Worldwide (Jive, 1991) 6. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York (DGC, 1994) 7. The Talking Heads - The Name Of This Band Is The Talking Heads (Sire, 1982) 8. The Who - Live At Leeds (MCA, 1970) 9. James Brown - Live At The Apollo (Polydor, 1963) 10. Jane's Addiction - Jane's Addiction (Triple X, 1987) 11. [TIE] Peter Gabriel - Plays Liv...

Along with " Greasy Truckers Party " the original Triple Album " Glastonbury Fayre " album has always had legendary status amongst Hawkwind fans. Back in the days before commercialism came to town you could enjoy bands like The Grateful Dead, Gong and Hawkwind for free, whilst indulging in exotic mind altering substances, like tea. The track listing of the Glastonbury Fayre album reads: - CD One 1. THE GRATEFUL DEAD: Dark Star 2. BRINSLEY SCHWARZ: Love Song 3. MIGHTY BABY: A Blanket In My Muesli 4. MARC BOLAN: Sunken Rags 5. PETE TOWNSHEND: Classified 6. DAVID BOWIE: Supermen 7. HAWKWIND: Silver Machine; Welcome to the Future 8. SKIN ALLEY: Sun Music CD Two 1. DAEVID ALLEN AND GONG: Glad Stoned; Buried Fielding; Flash And Fresh; Fest Footprint In My Memory 2. THE PINK FAIRIES: Do It 3. THE PINK FAIRIES: Uncle Harry's Last Freak-Out 4. THE EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND: Out Demons Out Silver Machine on this album is the original version with Bob Calvert on vocals, these...

Hawkwind: Do Not Panic Told for the first time, the inside story of Hawkwind , one of Britain's wildest acid rock bands. Includes interviews with Lemmy, Terry Ollis, Nik Turner and writer Michael Moorcock. Strong language. BBC Four, Fri 30 Mar, 21:00-22:00 60mins Stereo Widescreen "You Shouldn't Do That" opening Life on Mars last week and now this. Someone at the BBC has excellent taste in music. It's quite ironic that an episode with Sam speeding should feature a Hawkwind track without Lemmy on bass. They should have gone with Motörhead instead. Nice to have an excuse to blog the Hall of the Mountain Grill album cover. It goes well with the print of Dave Hardy 's artwork I picked up at Novacon last year that's hanging on my wall.