THE FUTURE NEVER WAITS

Product Information

As ‘I’m Learning To Live Today’ kicks off you could be forgiven for thinking you have just time travelled back to the early 1970s and those classic Hawkwind albums.

Hawkwind – The Future Never Waits (2023, CD) - Discogs

I fully accept they’re an acquired taste and are marmite to many, but you either ‘get it’ or you don’t. All of the releases listed here are the original ones; retitles, re-releases and derivatives have purposefully been omitted. Compilation albums listed are those that have been compiled by record labels that had Hawkwind under contract to produce a series of albums. The catalogue from this 1976-97 period has passed through various record companies and seen numerous releases, in North America through Griffin, and some counterfeit copies on the German label Rock Fever.A band for whom the groove is key to their popularity, in 2023, they’ve shown that they’re not averse to slipping out now and again to see what’s over the parapet. But hold on to your hats because the second track 'The End' has that familiar chugging and driving bass sound with persistent drumming speckled with weird noises and mind bending atmosphere. As I mentioned at outset, whilst much of the music is laid back compared to the frantic space rock that you might find on ‘Space Ritual’, it is not necessarily something comfortable or simple to listen to. Tracks featured are: ‘The Future Never Waits’, ‘The End’, ‘Aldous Huxley’, ‘They Are So Easily Distracted’, ‘Rama (The Prophecy)’, ‘USB1’, ‘Outside Of Time’, ‘I’m Learning To Live Today’, ‘The Beginning’ and ‘Trapped In This Modern Age’. In the early 1980s, they produced a studio album and live album under contract to Bronze in 1980, then three studio albums for Rockfield Studios owner Kingsley Ward's Active/RCA.

Hawkwind - The Future Never Waits Album Review: Hawkwind - The Future Never Waits

Sounding in places more like Jean Michel Jarre than ‘Brainstorm’, its a dreamy theme setting piece, mystical and mesmerising in equal parts.

Hawkwind have been imaginative and brave, they should be congratulated and hopefully the fanbase will enjoy the journey of ‘The Future Never Waits’ as much as I have.

The Future Never Waits Hawkwind! - RAMzine The Future Never Waits Hawkwind! - RAMzine

Could the title refer to the fact that the quintet suddenly decided to head off into a Space Jazz jam? It would have been easy to just knock out an hour or so of the space rock that made their name, but instead they sometimes lurch off into freeform jazz or bang in an unexpected sample.Maybe not quite placed beside their classics but definitely worth a spin and of course these songs are going to sound amazing live.