HAWKWIND are to release 'RoadTo Utopia', an orchestral album with Mike Batt and featuring Eric Clapton, via Cherry Red Records on 14th September 2018.

 

'Road To Utopia' will be HAWKWIND's 31st studio album and the band have collaborated with songwriter and conductor Mike Batt to recreate a selection of HAWKWIND songs with an extra, orchestral, ingredient. 

  
Mike, who met Dave Brock coincidentally at the US embassy in London while both were applying for Visas, was originally invited to conduct the orchestra for HAWKWIND's sold-out shows at the London Palladium this November, but with demand so high they started to look further afield and a tour for the autumn was planned. 

  

At this time HAWKWIND's writing of a new acoustic album started to take on a life of its own and the band invited Mike to participate on the tracks and create arrangements for some of their most celebrated songs. 

 

Alongside the string quintet, sax quintet and brass section you'll hear Dave Brock on vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, harmonica and keyboards, Richard Chadwick on drums, percussion and vocals, Mr Dibs on lead vocals, Haz Wheaton on bass and Magnus Martin on acoustic guitar. 

  

Most will find the tracklisting on 'Road To Utopia' familiar, but you've never heard those famous songs like this before. Tracks like 'Quark, Strangeness And Charm', 'We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago' and 'Psychic Power' are re-rooted acoustically and then embellished with a strength and majesty that only HAWKWIND can produce.

 

Other songs like 'Down Through The Night' and 'Hymn To The Sun' are made even more powerful by their orchestral components. Joining HAWKWIND and Mike on 'The Watcher' is a very special guest in Eric Clapton, whose trademark guitar licks compliment Dave's harmonica and Mike's piano seamlessly.  

Tracklisting '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. Intro The Night

9. Down Through The Night