Review of "You Are Here" by Andy Garibaldi

From CD Services newsletter, July 2004

LITMUS: You Are Here

I'm not afraid. I don't care. I'm brave - or foolhardy - enough to be the first to say it - and it's got to be said...No matter how good the new Hawkwind album is going to be, I'd be very surprised...IF IT'S BETTER THAN THIS!!!

Jeezussssss...... Take the opening track alone: 'Infinity Drive' - It's just what every space-rock fan wants from any album, let alone a Hawkwind one! Better than anything else in the field, this recreates, in absolutely perfectly produced sound, the sound of vintage early 70's Hawkwind! To give you some idea of exactly HOW close we're talking, this comes complete with audio generators - and the effect will leave you utterly amazed as you turn up the volume and let it take you on the space trip of a lifetime. They even introduce an extra ingredient in the form of a Hammond organ solo on top of the driving space-rock maelstrom that's all around, and that works a treat, sounding like it always should have been that way right from the start. The depth of sound is unbelievable as the six-piece band really fire up and deliver the goods exactly as you want them. Bass, drums, guitars, fuzz guitars, lead guitars, keyboards (synths Moogs, Mellotrons, organ, audio generators) and suitable Hawkwind-esque vocals, all combine to give every space-rock fan the orgasmic experience they've wanted to hear from a new Hawkwind album for years gone by - and this is only the first track!!! The 2nd one, a near nine-minutes of 'Dreams Of Space' is, if anything, even more powerful than the first as driving space-rock force takes no prisoners and produces something that's every bit as good, every bit as anthemic and every bit as classic as something like 'Brainstorm' only here sounding so incredibly powerful as to be the even better than any version of that track you've heard to date. Then there's a three-minute slice of acoustic guitars, Mellotrons, strummed bass and more up-front lead vocals with harmonies, and that's just superb. A title track that is just so emotive in a space-rock context as to be untrue - Utter space-rock genius!

The four-minute 'Sonic Light' is the album's 'hit', as a piece of purely anthemic space-rock motors into outer space with all guns blazing, a huge sound and an electric guitar solo that will leave your head in smoking ruins. After a one minute space synth piece that serves as a neat link, it's all sequencers blazing and into the ten-minute '(Theta Wave) Inductor' as the sequencers give way to drums, the bass and guitars power up, the synths and audio generators take over and this massive musical force that is Litmus takes off like a Saturn V rocket with searing guitars soloing and space synths swooping all over the place. This expanse of sound is so huge, and comes with such cohesive force, you could stick two battleships together with it - It's just unbelievable and totally immense and becomes the best thing Hawkwind never recorded, rising from peak to peak with spine-tingling ferocity, dynamics and passion. The next three tracks are a short spacey instrumental, then a short song that's a meeting of Devin Townsend & Hawkwind, where they pack so much power and guitar force into three glorious space-rock minutes, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd done the aural equivalent of a three minute mile, as you sit there breathless and adrenalised.

More outer space synths link this with the final track - a twenty-one (yes, 21!!!) minute epic called 'Stone Oscillator', and if you've ever thought that there was no way in hell that a space-rock band could perform, sustain and make work, a twenty-one minute single track, then think again - because Litmus have pulled it off to perfection. It starts quite sedately for the first couple of minutes, flying through a lovely outer space void of keyboard and generator textures. Then the guitars and rhythm section kick in until it all dies away to leave this ringing guitar figure, synth swoops and vocals to set the scene for the song, and at nearly four-minutes, the drums enter, the bass throbs slowly and the song begins to rise. A massive blast of electrifying slow fuzz & lead guitars together with space synth swoops come in as the vocals and backing continue at a slow pace, but the intensity begins to build as more and more guitar and bass layers are piled on. Then the Mellotron swells up and returns and the whole thing becomes this huge melting pot of fuzzed-up, superbly produced sound, as the six-piece band let things simmer and then turn up the heat, slowly working their way up to boiling point, but never letting things get to the stage where they explode out of proportion, preferring the smouldering intensity of slowly driving, electric guitar driven, space-rock to tell the story for itself, and it's just stunning stuff too! Towards the end, this huge organic space-rock craft decelerates to leave a calm and serene finale of guitars, generators, synths and bass that is simply the perfect way to end and album like this.

This CD is simply THE business when it comes to pure, unadulterated, concentrated, full-on, turbo-powered Space-Rock, and if you're into Hawkwind, well, there's no doubt in my mind - You simply HAVE to own it - Simple as that!