Tag Archives: cleopatra records

HAWKESTREL – Chaos Rocks

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Another branch of the complex and ever evolving Hawkwind family tree, Hawkestrel is a space rock project masterminded by ex-Hawks man Alan Davey. His vision to create an ever shifting line up to bring his music to life has previously involved other Hawkwind alum Nik Turner, Bridget Wishart, Simon House, Huw Lloyd-Langton, Ginger Baker and the mighty Lemmy. The fact that the ex-Hawkwind and Motorhead bassist managed to appear on the debut album three years after his passing flags up the potential problem with the band’s recordings, in that – much like Cleopatra Records’ other “all star projects” – they’re very much cut ‘n’ paste affairs, and don’t always hang together as well as you might hope. However, when they’re good, they’re very good.

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GEORGE LYNCH & JEFF PILSON – Heavy Hitters II

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At the end of 2020, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson released ‘Heavy Hitters’, a well meaning but not especially good covers album, on which the 80s legends took all manner of material and made it heavier. Not everything will withstand being made into a massive rock tune, and hearing the two ex-Dokken men cranking their way through Martha & The Vandellas’ ‘Nowhere To Run’ with distorted vocals was especially grim. Likewise, the world didn’t need Duran Duran’s perfect pop tune ‘Ordinary World’ reworked in a sub grunge mould, or the Joan Osborne hit ‘One of Us’ presented as an unimaginative hard rock trudge. However, the musicians clearly had fun mauling other peoples’ material, and three years later, decided to foist a second volume of covers upon everyone. Thankfully, ‘Heavy Hitters II’ is a massive improvement on its predecessor.

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KING KOBRA – We Are Warriors

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When it comes to consistency and quality, a new record from King Kobra doesn’t come with any guarantees. Their 1984 debut is a fun melodic metal affair, and its timely delivered follow up ‘Thrill of A Lifetime’ is a decent melodic rock LP, but beyond that, their catalogue is largely pretty bad. 1988’s ‘King Kobra III’ is loaded with tuneless metal fare that’s blighted further by terrible vocals from Johnny Edwards (a poor substitute for the absent Mark Free), and the band’s first two reunion albums (2011’s ‘King Kobra’ and 2013’s ‘King Kobra II’) are heavily weighted towards party metal workouts full of really embarrassing and clichéd lyrics.

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PHIL LYNOTT’S GRAND SLAM – Slam Anthems

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Thin Lizzy were an exceptional rock band. The classic mid 70s line up managed to capture lightning in a bottle with Phil Lynott’s charisma and the trademark twin guitar sounds of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. Even when the band shifted line-ups to include Snowy White and, latterly, John Sykes for a heavier sound, they were still a top tier rock band. True legends.

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LARRY WALLIS & THE BRAINS – Leather Forever 2023

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Larry Wallis was one of rock’s nearly men. He was a member of UFO for about three weeks in 1972. He adopted the guitarist’s role in the Pink Fairies later in the decade, by which time, the band were arguably past their best. He recorded a riff-based single, ‘Police Car’ for Stiff Records in 1977 that failed to chart. Even in terms of other Stiff product from the time, it’s not always the most celebrated.

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