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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
...kings of space sadly earthbound..., 14 Sep 2008
Hawkwind releases, whether live or studio, over the last few years have been rather depressing, lacking in the fire, passion and inspiration that made them the greatest band in the world for so many years. So it took me a couple of weeks to sit down and listen to this, the latest of many (many) live albums. However, it was still spinning away, with a few notes scribbled down when the horrific news came through that Hawkwind keyboard player Jason Stuart had died at the tragically early age of 39 from an aneurysm. He had joined the band in 2004, playing live with the band ever since, and on their most recent "Take Me to Your Leader". Which makes "Knights of Space", a double live album recorded at their annual London Christmas gig at the London Astoria on 19 December 2007, an epitaph to Jason.
Shame then, that it comes over as somewhat lacklustre and (shamefully) poorly recorded. It's not that long since the band were getting brickbats from their stoically loyal fanbase for a stream of shoddy 'archive' live releases like "Atomhenge 76" and the trully appalling "Live 1990", an album that stands proud atop a mountain of "Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin" reissues as the worst thing ever to have the name Hawkwind attached to it. You'd have thought, then, that the band might have pondered the wisdom of releasing this. Although, to be fair, it is considerably better than the albums I've just named.
The first CD barely lifts off as the band gently meander through a set of lightweight material from their latter days with songs like 'Space Love' and 'The Awakening' not fit to the lick the boots of true gems like 'Aero Spaceage Inferno' and 'Orgone Accumulator'. Unfortunately, even good songs like those can't quite recover from a poor mix, with the vocals flat and uninspired, and the musical performance struggling to attain the level of competent. Safe to say that this first CD won't be getting many repeat plays.
Which makes the second CD seem an awful lot better than it probably is. 'Masters Of The Universe' and 'Time We Left' are still fighting for life, but once the obligatory Tim Blake vocal croak of 'Lighthouse' is over, the band somehow manage to regain some interest in their own performance. From 'Utopia' onwards there is a spark that is missing from the first three quarters of the album. So we get passable takes on 'Damnation Alley' and 'Flying Doctor' to keep us warm on the cold winter nights.
Mr Dibs is no Alan Davey, and his driving bass and vocals that carried Hawkwind for so many years, is really missed. Even scarier, the swooshes, bleeps and blips that created the entire genre of spacerock are largely absent without leave. It's not a disaster, but if you want to hear 21st century live Hawkwind, you'd be better trying to track down the limited edition issue of "Spaced Out in London", from a few years back.
Apparently, the band were all ill on the night, which, if true, makes this release borderline stupid. "Knights Of Space" is also available on DVD.
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![Hawkwind - Knights Of Space [DVD] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31IyWXfiviL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
See all 12 tracks on this disc
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