PXR5 (1979)

Just as Hawklords were getting to their feet, Calvert departed (again), King returned to his full-time place on the drum riser, Lloyd-Langton returned from his overly lengthy sabbatical, Tim Blake (Gong) replaced Swindells (after Swindells had provided Hawkwind with "Shot Down in the Night" -- a mild chart success), and Brock deep sixed the alternative names and made 'em Hawkwind again.

PXR5, the first release of this "new era," was a mix of live material, demos, and the like recorded during the OLD era by the Brock/Calvert/King/House/Shaw line-up. This collection of dregs and left-overs is, of course, one of Hawkwind's strongest BLANGA'ing albums, which brings us to the:"Hawkwind Quality Theorem -- The Quality of a Hawkwind album is always inversely proportional to the band stability and care taken in recording the album."

PXR5's strongest track, "Uncle Sam's on Mars" holds its own with SPACE RITUAL/DOREMI era BLANGA; a single crushing riff with Calvert's brilliant and hilarious lyrics posited in his strongest voice.

"Robot" and "Death Trap" are SUCCESSFUL mixes of a punkish ouvre with BLANGA, where so much of 25 YEARS ON failed in this regard. This is a fine and fitting cap-stone to Calvert's time with Hawkwind.

BLANGA SCORE: 9.