HAWKWIND The Machine Stops CD (2016)

In 1909 E.M. Forster wrote a short story about humanity sealed inside a global machine, all communication mediated, all direct experience forgotten. Hawkwind turned it into an album in 2016 and somehow it felt more urgent than it had any right to.

The Machine Stops is a concept record, which in Hawkwind's hands means extended instrumental passages, Brock's weathered vocals dropping in like a signal breaking through static, and a general atmosphere of civilisational dread dressed up in synthesizer and fuzz. It's the kind of album that rewards headphones and a dark room. The band's long history with science fiction, from Michael Moorcock collaborations to their whole Astounding Sounds era, makes this a natural fit rather than a late-period reach for relevance. They earned the right to adapt Forster. The dystopia suits them.

CD, full-length album, UK pressing, 2016. Space rock, progressive, psychedelic.

Fans of: Atomic Rooster, Caravan, The Pink Fairies, Hawklords, Robert Calvert, Gong.