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The Trance Dimensionals — Space Angels
(Black Widow BWR 273, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2025-04-15

Space Angels Cover art

In 2016 Steve Hillman met Hawkwind’s legendary Nik Turner and began work on the album Synchonicity, released the year after Nik’s passing on November 10, 2022. Nik kept working right up until the end on their second album, Space Angels, released on January 17, 2025. The lineup for Space Angels is Angel Flame (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown) on vocals, Dave Anderson (Hawkwind, Amon Düül II) on bass, Mike Bew on vocals and bass, Steve Hillman on guitar, keyboards, and synths, Dai Rees on drums and percussion, and of course Nik Turner on vocals, sax, and flute. Guest musicians include the obscurely named Cog on fretless bass and Mr. Dibs (Spacehead, Krel) on vocals, as well as Jez Creek (multiple Quadelectronic releases with the Freemans of Audion) on cosmic oscillations. Nik Turner’s legacy lives on in a gentler mode. Space Angels contains tons of heavy guitar riffing, Mellotron, swirling electronics, and space whispers, but a slightly mellower sound. For those of us long in the tooth, you may recall a 60s TV cartoon called Space Angel, which may have some influence on this album, especially on the mysterious “Amulet” that approaches a soundtrack. The Hawkwind influence is quite obvious on tracks like “Space Groovin’,” “Space Angel,” “Moon Dancer,” “Field of Reeds,” and the cover of Turner’s “D-Rider.” In addition, Angel Flame invokes Gilli Smyth's otherworldly vocals on tracks like “N.D.E.,” the cosmic prayer to the Space Angel on “The Journey Beyond,” and "Transdimensional Beings.”  What I find to be the most interesting and possibly the best song on the album is the closing track, “Slinky,” that sounds like James Bond spy music with Turner’s laid-back saxophone riffing accompanied by strings. I am not sure how much Turner participated on Space Angels and perhaps the band was going easy on him in his final days. The music is what we’ve come to expect from Nik Turner, but with its edges smoothed.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Nik Turner, Steve Hillman / The Trance Dimensionals

More info
http://stevehillman.bandcamp.com/album/space-angels

 

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