Hawkwind announce new album Road To Utopia

Hawkwind
Hawkwind - Road To Utopia

1. Quark, Strangeness And Charm
2. The Watcher
3. We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago
4. Flying Doctor
5. Psychic Power
6. Hymn To The Sun
7. The Age Of The Micro Man
8. Down Through The Night

Hawkwind have announced that their new studio album will be released later this year.

Titled Road To Utopia, it will launch on September 14 on CD and LP and sees the band hook up with songwriter and conductor Mike Batt to reimagine a selection of Hawkwind classics with an orchestral flourish.

The tracklist includes Quark, Strangeness And Charm, We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago, Psychic Power and The Watcher – the latter featuring a guest appearance from Eric Clapton.

Batt says: “Dave Brock was delightfully free-spirited and generous to me, using a small ensemble of additional musicians and giving me a pretty free hand with the arrangements.”

Brock adds: “Reinventing these familiar songs has been an interesting experience. We hope you like them.”

Joining the pair on the record are a string quintet, sax quintet and brass section, along with drummer Richard Chadwick, vocalist Mr Dibs, bassist Haz Wheaton and acoustic guitarist Magnus Martin.

Hawkwind will head out on the road in the coming weeks and have shows planned through November – including two nights at the London Palladium.

Road To Utopia is available to pre-order on vinyl and CD now. 

Hawkwind 2018 UK tour dates

Jul 15: London Citadel Festival
Jul 20: Margate Hall By The Sea
Jul 21: Dorset Weymouth Pavilion
Aug 04: Faversham A New Day Festival,
Oct 18: Manchester The Lowry
Oct 19: Leeds Town Hall
Oct 20: Gateshead The Sage
Nov 04: London Palladium
Nov 05: London Palladium
Nov 24: Bath Forum
Nov 25: Birmingham Symphony Hall

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.