Captain Lockheed & The Starfighters

Product Information

Ejection" (coupled with "Catch a Falling Starfighter") was released as a single, although both songs are slightly different versions to those on the album. To put the quality of this album in context, I genuinely believe it is better than any Hawkwind album, a bold claim for sure, but one I will stand by. I have this original version with insert containing lyrics and dialogue stapled to inside center of gatefold. Side two continues with vocal skits, and it is interesting to note the inclusion of “The Widow’s Song,” which appears in the printed libretto. These songs do bear some stylistic similarities to the parent band (big, crunchy, guitar bombast; fluid sax lines; dense, rhythmic underpinnings) to the mothership.

United Artists label as per this version but it also includes the printed inner sleeve with German eagle in light blue on silver background not shown in the pictures here. they sound like on the surface - as with all Hawkwind, you may need to dig deep for the massive payback. If you like everything about Hawkwind, and need to have as much as you can relating to the band, then this may be as essential to you, as it is to me.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Yet another example of great Space Rock from ex Hawks which surpasses recent output from the mothership. Rhythm section Lemmy and Simon King are present throughout, Lemmy's contribution can not be understated, hiss trademark rhythm bass ties the whole sound together magnificently. The concept was based on the German Air Ministry's purchase of the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, which was eventually nicknamed Widowmaker by Luftwaffe pilots.

Robert Calvert, a longtime member and lyricist of space pioneers Hawkwind, crafted this record, inspired by the Lockheed bribery scandals. It was these severe structural modifications which rendered the jet unstable and difficult to control. This concept album deals with the tragedy that occurred when American made Lockheed Starfighter jets were purchased in the sixties by the West German Air Force in a supreme act of folly. If anyone had told me that a long time favourite of mine would be a concept album that takes the WW2 era Lockheed Starfighter Jet as its theme, I'd have thought them crackers. The spoken word parts do move the story along and are somewhat humorous in parts, but they also sadly reveal Calvert's crumbling mental state Oddly enough, Arthur Brown appears as the Gremlin who ultimately takes down the Starfighter's plane.The song writing is superb, the music rocks hard, if you need a reference point, well known Hawkwind track 'Urban Guerilla' is very representative of the sound and would not sound out of place on this album. Recorded at about the same time as Calvert’s first and only studio release with Hawkwind during their tenure on United Artists, the “Urban Guerilla” / “Brainbox Pollution” single, Hawkwind all appear here (minus the recently-departed Dikmik. Well, this excellent concept album not only has an expanded track listing, it also has a great insert / booklet which includes an essay and reminiscences by Nik Turner, who also played on the orginal 1973 recordings. the aerospaceage inferno I immediately compaired this to motorhead when recorded with hawkwind before the synthesiser was replaced when rerecorded by motorhead. It was once recorded that Nico was named as a possible contributing vocalist on “Lockheed”, and in all certainty “Widow’s Song” was slated for her.

overalls onstage at times during his Hawkwind days) saw the headlines generated by Lockheed’s abysmal legacy surrounding the Starfighter F-104 as creative stimulus.It wasn't recorded at the time but it was eventually recorded in 1984 with Calvert's wife Jill Riches on lead vocals and included on the Hawkwind, Friends and Relations Vol. Alan Davey is a magician and to think if he hadn't left H/W we may never have got this beautiful work. The Widow's Song" was included in the libretto and Calvert had hoped to record it with Nico singing. Robert Calvert was best known for his stint as frontman for Hawkwind in the later part of the 70s but he did also make some highly accomplished solo albums.

My own favorite tracks are the "Aerospace inferno" with nice pulsing rhythm and creation of moods, a really well rocking "Ejection" which was later also played by Hawkwind on stage, and definitely the end hymn "Catch a Falling Starfighter", which I found very touching conclusion.What can you say about an album that crosses space rock charge out with Monty Pythonistic skits -- except that it’s hazardous Rock with ever-darkening humour direct from the bi-polar brainpan of Hawkwind’s erratic vocalist/lyricist, Robert Calvert. It doesn't matter what track I choose they are all fabulous, from the outright Spacerock of Biometrics to the simplicity of Journey, where else can you hear past members of Hawkwind mixed in with various, sometimes unexpected guests (even if a few of them are dead), doing what they do best, making great albums. And co-joined by Paul Rudolph (on 6 string and bass guitar), Twink, Arthur Brown, Adrian Wagner, Brian Eno, Vivian Stanshall and Jim Capaldi the result was a virtual Hawkwind EP peppered by spoken word skits and a two part Arthur Brown-tormenter, “The Song of The Gremlin. Recorded live at the Underworld in Camden, this concert finds the band performing Hawkwind’s classic 1974 behemoth Hall Of The Mountain Grill in its entirety plus additional fan favorites!