Hawkbinge

Reaction Pod Crew - assemble!   We get back into the DeLorean and return to the present day, stopping only to pick up Mr Joe Banks on the way, so that we give our hottest of hot-takes on “Psychedelic Selection”: the new release from the mighty Hawks! You will join us after we’ve played the album only a couple of times and done some rapid note-taking on Friday morning, and I’m sure thoughts around...

A new season, a new decade, a new millenium - yes, Y2K is here, and Hawkbinge returns to deep-dive into Spacebrock - one of those odd ones that might be a canon Hawkwind studio album, and might not. However, Wikipedia says it is, and so here we are. Not an familiar album to Andy, let alone Matt, so join us on a journey to remember... 2000 turned out to be a year of massive album releases, so we ta...

GOODBYE SEASON THREE! Our time in the 1990’s comes to an end, and we wrap up the decade in the company for the one-and-only Mr Ian Abrahams, esteemed author of “Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins”, which has been such a huge resource for us on our Hawkbinge journey. We have a fun, sprawling chat about all things Hawkwind in the 90’s and each select our favourite ‘orphan tracks’ from the decade: those songs...

Hawkbinge returns (!) with “In Your Area”, the final entry of the 90’s and a curious release which is one side live and one side studio. The live side recorded at the end of the ’97 tour, and the studio side being comprised of efforts laid down the following year. Is it a canon studio album? Andy would say no, but Wikipedia says yes, and so here we go… So that’s one side of studio recordings which...

Reaction Pod Crew - to the DeLorean! Andy & Matt race back to the present from 1997 and pick up Joe along the way so that they can give their combined initial reactions to this latest Hawkwind release.  NOTE: Andy, Matt and Joe have managed to give the album several listens before jumping on a Zoom call very early the day after the album dropped and then handed over to Matt to madly edit this...

The Hawkbinge journey through Hawkwind releases from the 90's continues with 1997'a Distant Horizons, an album about which almost nothing good is ever said. Fans don't like it, the buying public of 1997 didn't like it, reviewers don't like it, even the band themselves beat this one up with pretty much every reference.  Will Matt & Andy find any rays of light in the dar...

HAWKBINGE RETURNS with a monster of an episode: so much Hawkwind news to catch up, the big release from 1995 to dissect and the big bonus of a chat with our good friend Joe Banks about his most excellent new Hawkwind book “Sideways Through Time”. Prepare to abducted by the Hawkbinge podcast and not returned to reality for several hours… So, we’re still in 1995 for Hawkwind’s second release of that...

The White Zone is for loading and unloading only... Welcome to 1995 and the first, and only, episode of Binge Warriors as we deep dive into singular album by Hawkwind under that particular moniker. And what an intriguing deep dive it is too, this being something of a forgotten item, glossed over by most of the media in the history of the band. As ever, we check out the music and artwork from this...

Fresh from our sojourn to the present to react to the release of the latest album "Stories From Time And Space", Hawkbinge returns to the 1990's to get back to the canon album deep-dives with "It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous" from 1993. As ever, we look at the music scene of 1993, (warning:  some of the biggest tunes of the year are absolute shockers), loo...

The Hawkbinge Release Day Reaction Pod crew assembles to give the hottest of red-hot hot-takes on the latest from the Hawks, "Stories From Time And Space", which dropped today! A journey in time for us for sure, from 1992 where Hawkbinge was last seen - it's good to give the DeLorean another run out. Please note: Andy, Matt and Joe have managed to give the album a couple of listens,...

The Hawkbinge voyage through the 90's continues with the epic "Electric Tepee". An album almost as long as the podcast that covers it, this one features Hawkwind's biggest step into techno and electronics yet. It's a marathon, not a sprint... As ever, we delve into the big releases of 1992 featuring the big chart hits of the year so we can see what musical environment Elec...

New year, new season, new episode! Hawkbinge is back for season 3 covering the 1990's, kicking off with Space Bandits! Yet another fresh start for Hawkwind with interesting arrivals and departures from the band, so no change there.  As ever, we get into the music of the day to set the scene for Space Bandits, going through some of the biggest albums and hit singles of the year, look at the st...

A Hawkbinge bonus...  Setting the seal on season 2, Matt & Andy look back on Matt's selections from the 80's albums that made the Hawkbinge Master Playlist on Spotify. What leapt out at him, what was he thinking? Did he pick the same tracks you would have done?  Next stop, the 90's... Click here for the Hawkbinge Sessions Vol.1 playlist on Spotify Click here for the Hawkbinge Se...

HAWKWIND: THE THATCHER YEARS Hawkbinge is back from the dark recesses of our completely unplanned hiatus! And we're casting an eye over 80's Hawkwind to round off season 2 and get our PDA's, pogs and pagers at the ready  for season 3 and the 1990's... However, We couldn't face this daunting task on our own, and so we enlisted the help of an amazingly special guest to talk...

The Hawkbinge New-Release Reaction Crew is reunited as friend-of-the-pod Joe Banks joins Matt and Andy as they jump in the DeLorean once more and slide sideways through time from 1988 to 2023 in order to check out the brand new Hawkwind album and give their hot-takes on  "The Future Never Waits"... Click here for the Hawkbinge Sessions Vol.1 playlist on Spotify Click here for the Hawkbin...

Hawkbinge makes another incursion into the podcast timeline for a very quick reaction special to Matt's first time seeing Hawkwind live since starting the podcast. WARNING: Playlist spoilers for people who are going to see the tour!

And so, with the `Chronicle of the Black Sword finally concluded, Hawkwind end the 1980's with The Xenon Codex, and so Hawkbinge brings the curtain crashing down on season 2 with a deep dive into this enigmatic little gem. As ever, we look at the music landscape of 1988 (Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up" best single at the '88 Brit Awards... yes, that's where we are)....

A "Live Chronicles" bonus special episode, with a very special guest... You can't really talk about "Chronicle of the Black Sword" without talking about "Live Chronicles", the live record of the tour that brought all of Hawkwind's Moorcock-inspired furore to the stage, with dancers, sword fights, readings (occasionally from the man himself), and more sword f...

ELRIC : Arioch! Aide me in my hour of need! ARIOCH : I am here, what dost thou wishest? ELRIC : I wishest for HAWKBINGE!!! And here it is! Finally! Episode 15, “Chronicle of the Black Sword”, a full 2.5+ hours of swords, sorcery and rock n’ roll, in which Matt gets introduced to Elric of Melniboné, the Eternal Champion and the multiverse according to Michael Moorcock.  We also talk Earth Ritual, H...

It's a monster 2 hours of Hawkbinge this time around - Matt has chosen his masque, which side will he be on? Find out here, as Hawkbinge deep dives into 1982’s Choose Your Masques… As ever, we look at what was going in the music world in 1982 and take stock of where the band is at. Matt gives his considered response to the album and he and Andy go through it in depth. They also check out the...

The Church of Hawkbinge opens it's doors once again, and everyone is welcome! Yes, the oddity that is Church of Hawkwind in the focus this time. Regardless of whether one considers it "Hawkwind canon" or not, (Wikipedia says it is, and that's good enough for Hawkbinge), it's a key moment in Hawk history and a really fascinating album to deep dive into. In this episode Andy...

Do not panic! Hawkbinge returns with the long-awaited Sonic Attack episode. The record label has changed, so has the line-up and so has the music. Ginger has gone. So has Tim. And Keith, whoever he was. But Mike is in! And so is Martin! And the band are talking and sounding tough. What will Matt make of this much harder-edged variant of the Hawks? Do not waste time blocking your ears! In this epis...

Boom! Hawkbinge kicks off season 2 big time with "Levitation", the album by Ginger Baker's Air-Hawks. The first album of season 2, the first album of the 1980's and the first, and only studio album on the Bronze label. In this episode Andy & Matt look back on the new releases from 1980, check out the renewed Galactico-filled state of the band, choose tracks for the Master a...

The Hawkbinge Master Playlist on Spotify is made up of one track from each album as selected by Matt, our first-time listener. While we wait patiently for season 2 to begin (it's very close now...) we take a little look back at the tracks Matt chose from the 1970's albums and revisit the discussion we had around each one... We hope you enjoy, whether you agreed with Matt's picks or...

The Hawkbinge NEW YEAR SPECIAL episode! We're at the end of 2021 and we find Hawkwind at the end of Calvert's tenure, the end o f their Charisma contract, at the end of the 1970's and possibly at the end of the band. What better time to take stock of the state of play both with Hawkwind, but also with Matt, who has been taking this first-time journey through the weird world of Hawkw...