Hawkwind - Canterbury Fayre 2001 [2CD Set] (2002)

Although Hawkwind have made many great studio albums, for me, the true spirit of the band is when they play live. Unfortunately the quality of live albums varies greatly, but trust me, this one sounds great and has a cracking set list. I found a video of a live gig from 2001 on You Tube which is excellent and was hoping I would find an audio copy, I haven't but this is pretty close to what I was looking for, from the same year with the same line up although the set list is different. To put this album in context, I own around 30 live Hawkwind albums and many of the tracks here are the best live versions I've heard. The band has often changed soni ally with varying members and advancements in audio technology which makes it very difficult to pin point the best live album but if pushed, I would choose this.
The set list is pure gold, compiled from tracks earlier in their career, I don't think there is anything from after the early 80s which is fine by me as I believe, but for a couple of exceptions like Alien 4 and Electric Tepee, the last interesting album was Xenon Codex. On their 2001 tour they also played a brilliant version of Lighthouse which is unfortunately missing. The line up is a good one, Huw Lloyd Langton and Simon House are both in the band so there are two lead instruments which allows Dave Brock the freedom to do his rhythm guitar thing and more keyboard stuff, his vocals are also on point. Alan Davey's bass playing is really excellent and when the band start their freeform jamming the musicianship is excellent. This might actually be my favourite line up, I think they lost so much when Alan left, he seemed to have such a great rapport with Huw and Dave Brock. Simon House always brought a little something extra, great keyboards and those violin leads give me chills, his presence also reigns in Huw who could at times get a little too twiddly for my liking, his playing is definitely more restrained on this recording . The only down side is the contribution of Arthur Brown, although thankfully it is minimal, he ruined the 'Out Of The Shadows' release by there being too much of him on it, here, despite cocking up the lyrics, he actually does a decent job on blanga classic 'Silver Machine'. His operatic vocal has never been in question but does it fit Hawkwind?
It's a cracking live album even by Hawkwind standards, if you're a fan you are bound to love it, copies tend to be rare and pricey but it's worth it (within reason), check it out, grab a copy if you can, you won't be disappointed.