Captain Lockheed & The Starfighters

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Calvert calmly intones echoed lines over Rudolph’s swooping guitar lines AND his overdubbed, pumping bass riffs and Simon King’s ever-stamina drumming. Recorded at about the same time as Calvert’s first and only studio release with Hawkwind during their tenure on United Artists, the “Urban Guerilla” / “Brainbox Pollution” single, Hawkwind all appear here (minus the recently-departed Dikmik. And I am hugely impressed, previously, I had the Hawkwind album around Moorcock's works, and that was fun also as a space opera. Well, this excellent concept album not only has an expanded track listing, it also has a great insert / booklet which includes an essay and reminiscences by Nik Turner, who also played on the orginal 1973 recordings.

I'm very allured by psychedelia and many other releases of these spaceheads, but this is just different kind of music than majority of their releases. the aerospaceage inferno I immediately compaired this to motorhead when recorded with hawkwind before the synthesiser was replaced when rerecorded by motorhead. My own favorite tracks are the "Aerospace inferno" with nice pulsing rhythm and creation of moods, a really well rocking "Ejection" which was later also played by Hawkwind on stage, and definitely the end hymn "Catch a Falling Starfighter", which I found very touching conclusion. It's a satirical concept album with both songs and spoken interludes based on the story of the poor quality of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter planes. Calvert must have felt a strong affinity with them as he too was unreliable, difficult to control and unstable as hell.The concept was based on the German Air Ministry's purchase of the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, which was eventually nicknamed Widowmaker by Luftwaffe pilots. The spoken word interludes reinforce the absurdity of the whole situation (featuring the loony Viv Stanshall) and inject a satirical wit missing from the more standard-based songs that are written from the perspective of the pilot, who, in the end must begrudgingly concede that “the radar screen’s projection/tells me I’m too late. Former Hawkwind bassist Alan Davey revives the Psychedelic Warlords, including frontman Craig High, keyboardist Zoie Green and guitarist Simon Wilkins, for an acid trip down memory lane on this spectacular live recording! The album has been re-released in the late 1990s by BGO Records and is currently available on Eclectic Records (ECLCD1056) with bonus tracks.

I have this original version with insert containing lyrics and dialogue stapled to inside center of gatefold. The music's ok in a generic Hawkish way and its a potentially interesting subject - did the US knowingly offload the potentially lethal (to the pilot) Starfighter jet on Germany - but the sub Monty Python "Ve haff vays of making you talk!Between Calvert’s vocal renditions, the funereal nature of the song and the overall Teutonic effect makes it seem more than a possibility. The dirge-like “Catch A Falling Starfighter” is surrounded by ghostly electronics as Twink beats a funeral march over the assembled moaning of blackened Starfighter pilots. What can you say about an album that crosses space rock charge out with Monty Pythonistic skits -- except that it’s hazardous Rock with ever-darkening humour direct from the bi-polar brainpan of Hawkwind’s erratic vocalist/lyricist, Robert Calvert. This concept album deals with the tragedy that occurred when American made Lockheed Starfighter jets were purchased in the sixties by the West German Air Force in a supreme act of folly.

Hardly the stuff of fluff, it’s no surprise that Calvert, who, according to the liner notes, always wanted to join Britain’s Royal Air Force (he even wore R. I first bought this album as an LP in the 1970's and played it to death, so naturally I cannot recommend it enough.

It was once recorded that Nico was named as a possible contributing vocalist on “Lockheed”, and in all certainty “Widow’s Song” was slated for her. Similarities exist elsewhere to other groups outside of the Hawkwind orbit: “The Right Stuff” is first cousin to Blue Oyster Cult’s aviation-themed “ME262,” while the riffs of “Widowmaker” reimagine Black Sabbath with brass.