New Music Review : Nik Turner - Space Gypsy : CD Album Music Review - Dangerdog Music Reviews

December 2024

After Lapse: Pathways
Illusion Force: Halfana
Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

Sunstorm: Restless Fight
Storace: Crossfire
Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
Lionville: Supernatural
Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
Lonerider: Down In The Dust
Seventh Crystal: Entity
Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
Impellitteri: War Machine
Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
DGM: Endless
Daytona: Garder la Flamme
Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
Frost*: Life In The Wires
Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
Fans Of The Dark: Video
Radioactive: Reset
House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
Eclipse: Megalomanium II
SteelCity: Reverence
Hydra: ReHydrated
Heartwind: III
Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
Find Me: Nightbound
The Nail: The Nail
Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
Stryper: When We Were Kings
Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

August 2024

Siege Perilous: Creation's Call EP
Paralydium: Universe Calls
Mike Tramp: Songs Of White Lion Vol. II
Bite The Bullet: Looking For Paradise
All For Metal: Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon)
Hammerfall: Avenge The Fallen
Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 2

[ More Music Reviews ]

Nik Turner: Space Gypsy

Psychedelic/Space Rock

4.0/5.0

Website Facebook
Purple Pyramid Records
by Craig Hartranft
09.07.2013

Space Gypsy is not merely the name of Nik Turner's latest solo album, but likely a good pseudonym for this pioneer of psychedelic space rock. Turner, now in his Seventies, was a founder and lynchpin of English space rock legends Hawkwind for many years, composing many songs and playing saxophone and flute.

Nik Turner: space cowboy.

Space Gypsy strays little from Turner's roots. Most of the music is marked by moog, synth, and mellotron layers sounding wispy and eerie like the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet part two. The rhythm section exists to create an insistent and pulsing forward motion. Then there's Turner's subdued vocals, singing about space, aliens, ancient Mayans, and more otherworldly visions with bizarre, often nonsensical, lyrics.

Of course, every song has one of Turner's famous saxophone solos which will range from twisted and scurrying pyschedelia to improvisational jazz fusion. Other times he'll add the lightness of flute as within Galaxy Rise. When all these elements are gathered together a song like Coming of the Maya or The Visitor gives you a feeling of weightlessness, like your drifting in space with Turner. Others, like Fallen Angel STS-51-L, about the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, and Joker's Song, rush headlong at a brisk pace as if you were trying to fly from the Earth to Andromeda at warp speed.

For genuine psychedelic space rock, in a modern context, Space Gypsy is the real thing, and pure bliss for fans of Turner and the genre.

Nik Turner - Fallen Angel STS-51-L

CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.