Article Contributed by Cleopatra Records
Published on 2026-09-05
Spirits Burning, Don Falcone’s long-running psychedelic and space-rock outfit, once again joins forces with sci-fi and fantasy legend Michael Moorcock and Blue Öyster Cult’s Al Bouchard for the album An Alien Heat.
Arriving October 16 on blue vinyl, CD and digital platforms, An Alien Heat is a musical reimagining of the first book in Moorcock’s Dancers at the End of Time trilogy, which has served as the inspiration behind four Spirits Burning albums.
Today brings the album’s first single, “Hothouse Flowers,” a fascinating taste of what is certain to rank among the very best of the Spirits Burning catalog.
Listen to “Hothouse Flowers”.
Falcone describes the track as “a special collaboration between Mike, Al and me.” It was originally based on poet Theodor Wratislaw’s poem of the same name.
Moorcock describes Wratislaw as “a British poet associated with the Oscar Wilde circle” who was largely unpublished during his lifetime.
“The poem is probably his best,” Moorcock says. “His life was basically dull, and he died in 1933.
“I felt some sympathy for him and wanted to give him his moment of fame, since he was so unsuccessful during his lifetime and because ‘Hothouse Flowers’ related so closely to the theme of the book. The people at the end of time are indeed hothouse flowers, although they are immortal! I intended to write a story about our world’s end that was not gloomy, and Dancers at the End of Time was that.”
Having already brought the remainder of the trilogy, The Hollow Lands and The End of All Songs, to shimmering life on Purple Pyramid, Moorcock and Spirits Burning go all out on this first chapter. Guests include Hawkwind family members Harvey Bainbridge, Adrian Shaw, Mick Slattery and Bridget Wishart.
Falcone also credits Bouchard with “bringing onboard some musicians previously unavailable to Spirits Burning, such as Blue Öyster Cult’s Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser, who provides the lead vocals to this piece.”
Bouchard explains, “I had already asked some other people to sing some of the songs and join the SB collective. I thought Don would be perfect for the song, and when I sent him the track, he thought so too. It was the first time we had collaborated on a concept album since Imaginos in 1988. I felt the same way doing this as I did while I was doing that. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts, which is as good as it gets in the creative world.”
He continues, “I had previously contributed two songs to Spirits Burning. Then Don Falcone asked me to write some new songs for a few chapters of the book, and I found I really enjoyed it.
“I asked him if I could do more. He liked what I did and agreed. He said the album would have a couple of instrumentals like the other songs I had done for him. But reading Mike’s words, I felt they were too good not to be put into the songs. So I started adapting the instrumental pieces that Don had created to Moorcock’s words.”
The album itself is still more than a month away, but “Hothouse Flowers” offers the perfect introduction. As Falcone concludes, “We chose well in making it the album’s launch point, and it’s great to have it renew life as a single.”
Preorder An Alien Heat on CD or vinyl or pre-save the digital release.
AN ALIEN HEAT TRACK LISTING
1. Hothouse Flowers
2. Geronimo
3. Soirée of Fire
4. In the Future
5. Doomed
6. Fall in Love
7. Any Particular Interest
8. Dark Dominion
9. Seven Finger Solution
10. To Steal a Space Traveller
11. Virtue & Mrs. Amelia Underwood
12. Learning the Art
13. Back to 1896
14. Quest for Bromley
15. Thank You for the Fog
16. Old Friends With New Faces
