With no liner notes to speak of I had to poke around on the internet to learn about this band and this album. "Out Of Space" is a mixture of live and studio recordings made back in 1992 when the band was opening for Hawkwind. In fact this is very much in the vein of spacey electronic Hawkwind where the line between live performance and studio craft is blurred. It's not hard to see why they got the nod from The Hawks to be an opening act.
Three types of space music are on display here: dreamy narcotic synth dreamscapes, 2am spaceblues (a la Floyd) and hard-driving muscular spacerock. The band morphs effortlessly between styles, using the dreamy segments either as intros or segues from one rocket-propelled cruncher to another. How much of this has been doctored in the intervening years is open to speculation, but the end result is a seamless integration of sources that works very well. In fact only the live feel of the vocals gives any indication that some of the music is taken from very-well recorded live originals. Well done!
Who would like this? Fans of vintage Hawkwind that want to revisit the depths of space waiting for part three of "The Space Ritual". Who would not like it? Anyone that gets turned off by bleeping whooshy synths and the classic driving druggy spacerock sound with Captain Calvert at the helm. So there's no excuses for getting into this CD and going "I don't like it...". Either you want to hear more of this or you don't.
While I wouldn't reach for "Out Of Space" every time I want a quick spacerock fix, it is a strong and enjoyable addition to the son-of-Hawkwind catalog, with some nice almost-old Pink Floyd touches that elevate it above being just another I-wannabe-Dave-Brock outing.
Reviewed by Steven Davies-Morris on September 28th, 2006
