Time is Made of Gold is the second album from former long-time Hawkwind bassist Alan Davey. The debut album goes back to the turn of the start of the century.
This follow-up was issued in 2019. I bought it on a whim a few days ago after it popped up as a recommended one on Amazon (good at that is Amazon eh…..) with it being described as “mind-blowing, Middle Eastern inspired prog-space music.”
That, plus me being and admirer of Alan’s work with Hawkwind, was enough for me to hit the buy button.
This Bedouin album is Alan playing all instrumentation with the vocals provided by Michelle Jimenez-Alder.
Musically, that description of Middle Eastern inspired prog-space is exactly what it is. A mixture of Hawkwindish spacey chuggers with the Eastern influences and some which are what you might deem as more sort of hypnotic Eastern style tracks. Those not too far removed from, if you remember it, the superb Xitintoday album from Nick Turner back in the 1970s.
The vocal style of Jimenez-Alder fits very well with her range being impressive and her “floaty” ethereal style adding to the overall atmospheric feel throughout the album.
The eighteen tracks go together to give a quite immersive listen with the variation between the spacey rockers and the more traditional Eastern style cuts flowing.
Check out Karma is Coming as an example of a Hawkwind style song but with that Eastern twist:
Quickly on Hawkwind – the massive Space Ritual 50th Anniversary box set is due to arrive in a few days. Eagerly awaiting that arriving. A review of that will follow shortly afterwards.
Do check out the Bedouin album. Not an instantly accessible listen though an album which opens up and grows with each spin. Very well written and performed, that bit different and no regrets for an impulse purchase being an old Hawkwind fan.