HW: In Your Area

[Nick Medford]

Yes I know you all bought this the day it came out, but having just picked
up a copy this weekend thought I'd share my (belated) thoughts.

In brief: it's bloomin' great. Far better than I dared hope having read all
the lukewarm comments in the list archives. OK, I could live without
another version of Brainstorm- although this one's perfectly creditable.
And yes, Rizz is lame- although he doesn't piss me off like he does some
folks round here. In any case the MUSIC on the Rizz tracks is generally
excellent. HIYA may be the THIRD time they've wheeled out their cod-reggae
track, but at least Ron's (surprisingly inventive) bass playing lends a bit
of weight to the sound this time. And if you imagine 'Your Fantasy' as a
free-festival shoutalong it suddenly makes perfect sense- it's not deep but
it's FUN fer Gawd's sake.

For me the album really gets going with Aerospaceage Inferno- superb
version, great vocals from Ron who is impressive throughout. Never been
convinced about him but his performances here are the best I've heard (or
seen, come to that). I'd actually rate this higher than the Lockheed
version (and as a major Calvert fan I don't say such things lightly). Then
the studio tracks- well these are great: OK not many 'proper songs', but
far more creative than many of their recent forays into instrumental
electronica. One point worth making- this is definitely a 'Headphone
Album', particularly the studio stuff. There's a lot going on that I didn't
pick up before the trial by 'phones. 'I Am The Reptoid' is infinitely
better than the original Distant Horizons track IMO: one of the weirdest,
darkest things they've done for a very long time. The driving garage feel
and raw-but-powerful vocals on 'Hippy' make it sound like a souped-up 90s
version of the 13th Floor Elevators (a good thing, most definitely).

A few weak points but overall this is a tremendous album, far superior to
Distant Horizons, and the spaceship Hawkwind is in better condition than I
feared (famous last words).

I know lots of people will disagree with the above but I'm actually quite
relieved to find that I like it so much, so wanted to share my joy.

Nick