Short Reviews [Hawkestrel - 2020 - "Hawkestrel Presents Pre-Med"]

This triple CD set is a compilation of the three Pre-Med albums, namely ‘’Medication Time’ (2005), ‘The Truth About Us’ (2008) and ‘Einstein’s Day Off’ (2013). The first two were released by Hawkwind Records while the last was a self-release. I presume they have now been reissued as being introduced by Hawkestrel as that band have been gaining some popularity and as Pre-Med were basically Alan Davey and Danny Faulkner, and Davey is the driving force behind Hawkestrel it allows the albums to get a new lease of life. Musically they totally fit in within the Hawkwind family space rock canon, and I for one am pleased to come across them now as I missed them first time around, albeit it does mean going through 2:42:46 minutes of music in one go! Even though the three CDs were originally released at different times, with a gap of eight years between the first and last, this does work together as a set possibly because they have taken one band as their influence and stuck pretty close to that throughout. This is Hawkwind throughout, and when I think of some of the albums I was listening to of theirs back in the Nineties this is just as consistent and really quite enjoyable. Interestingly Davey was still with Hawkwind at the time of the first Pre-Med album, which would be released the same year as ‘Take Me To Your Leader’. While space rock for the most part, and Hawkwind for much of that, there are also times when it brings in some of the influences which Davey also used in Bedouin, and there are also plenty of the dance trance numbers which Hawkwind was producing around the same time. It is going to be of interest to fans of Hawkwind, not only for historical reasons but also because there is some interesting music on here, and while none of it is absolute classic ‘wind there is more than enough material to satiate even the hardened fan. It comes packaged in a deluxe 8-panel digipak with retro sci-fi artwork plus a full booklet with liner notes and photos and is also the starting point for the next Pre-Med release. Davey says “The new Pre-Med album has begun with original members Danny, Steve, Eamon and myself back in the circle. It’ll be an emotional album and will touch your soul cause it’s gonna be real. In the meantime, here’s a great new anthology to get to know the amazing Pre-Med music!”