HAWKWIND - Yule Ritual (Hawkwind Records)

Where to begin. I mean it is Hawkwind, one of the five finest musical groupings ever to grace this planet.

‘Yule Ritual’ was recorded ‘live’ at the London Astoria last Christmas and featured a line up of Dave Brock, Richard Chadwick, Gerry Richards, Simon House, Keith Kniveton, Ron Tree and Tim Blake.

So what we have is a 16 track souvenir of the show. But is it worth buying? Well, yes. In comparison to some of the piss poor HW product that’s been floating about, it is so good to hear a properly recorded live show. Not as good as the privately released Hawkind 1997, but there you go. This is traditional Hawkwind aimed firmly at the middle of the road HW fan with few diversions into blanga, reggae or trance. Which is a shame, because experimentation was th name of the game. But here its play it properly or don't play it at all.

There are some corking versions here. "Levitation" is powerful and direct, "Space Is Deep" is somnambulant, it's great to hear "High Rise" again, you can never have enough versions of "Spirit Of The Age" - fact, and the outright winner is "Assassins of Allah", a storming version, due in no small measure to the sax of Jez Huggett.

So go and buy it, if you can find it. Amazon.co.uk have it for £12.99.

However, I would love to hear some new material from HW as they are in danger of turning into their own tribute band. It's great to see Ali, Harvey and Huw back, but here's hoping the follow up to Distant Horizons (also £12.99 at Amazon) isn't too far away.

THE ANUBIAN LIGHTS - Outflight (Crippled Dick Hot Wax)

Anubian Lights is the brain child Len del Rio and Tommy Grenas ( both from Pressurehed ). Who in mixing multiple influences in their music ( from jazz to space rock), have developed their own special kind of space age electro.

According to Tommy this is "radio edits[condensed versions] of starvox and outflight.There will be a re-mix by our good buddies dj me dj you[ex sukia]...an extended trip out version of smoothing out,and a bonus sitar desert siren song, babu's kitchen."

If you're looking for easy comparisons think Eat Static, Mondo-A-Go-Go. They've stepped away from their Nik Turner days into steady, pulsating bass lines and dance tempos, with nods to trip-hop beats and synths of days gone by. Chuck in the obligatory middle Eastern influence, and you're left with a top quality introduction to the Anubian Lights masterplan. Amazon have it for £4.99