TAD brought up an interesting point on Hawkwind that I thought I'd share a bit with y'all.
Long time ago, Hawkwind was one of many bands on United Artists that you would see in the cutout bins back in the mid 70s and I basically knew nothing of them till I found a copy of Hall Of The Mountain Grill at Goodwill in the old Marion Shopping Center and thought I check it out. Very interesting cover. Side 1 had Psychedelic Warriors which was a UK hit but in edited form. Likewise You'd Better Believe It but nevertheless I never heard any of their music on the radio here. Perhaps Beaker Street played some of the music (and they still do today).
Moving out to Arizona, I finally started finding Hawkwind albums in the used bins and one of the interesting ones was their 1972 live Space Ritual which mirrors the live side of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma but I don't think Pink Floyd would incorporate audio generators and freaky poetry from Bob Calvert. But then again critics didn't care much for Dave Brock playing the same chords over and over for 8 minutes or hearing Nik Turner blasting away with free jazz sax playing. Not for the faint of heart but perhaps something to listen to while smoking a J and having strobe lights blasting away.
The first album was produced with Dick Taylor (formerly of the Rolling Stones) and the only true song off that record was Hurry On Sundown. Everything else seemed to be free form weirdness that wouldn't sound out of place on ESP Disk. The second album In Search Of Space showed more of a space rock direction although the 15 and half minute You Shouldn't Do That would try many a people's patience. I love it as well as their signature tune Master Of The Universe to which Nik Turner did the lead vocal.
When Lemmy joined up, Hawkwind was it's most psychedelic and most freaky. Another long number Brainstorm clocked 11 and half minutes and the amazing Del Dittmer and Dik Mik's bizarre keyboards and generator sounds would go from one song into another. Border-lining on pompousness Time We Left This World Today was a call and response from Dave Brock as the guys would shout the counterpoint. And went on for close to 9 minutes before closing on Lemmy's ominous The Watcher. With Space Ritual Live, you either got it or you didn't. You had to be there in person to really experience the madness and magic that was Hawkwind.
After Hall Of The Mountain Grill, the next album was released through Atco in the US (U.A overseas) was the prog rock sounding Warriors On The Edge Of Time. Adding a second drummer to Simon King (Alan Powell) the record benefit-ted from some poetry from Micheal Moorcock, somewhat space rock, and prog rock it also had some punk rock in the hi energy of Kings Of Speed and (on the CD version) a bonus track of Motorhead, the last song that Lemmy Kilmeister recorded and sang before getting booted out of the band for drug procession and holding up the 1976 tour.
Astounding Sounds Amazing Music, Bob Calvert returns, band goes for a more prog rock sounds and is half good. However Quark Strangeness & Charm was much better as Brock and company returned to a more three chord rock sound and getting rid of Alan Powell leaving Simon King as the only drummer. In the US, this was released on Sire Records at the time of the punk rock revolution and another album I found in the cheap bins. In 1979, Hawkwind moved on to Bronze Records and scored a UK hit with Shot Down In The Night. With Levitation, Simon King left the band for good, replaced by Ginger Baker. Baker stayed on long enough to make the live This Is Hawkwind Do Not Panic and it may have been the best live album that Brock came up with.
But this is where I concluded my listening to Hawkwind, The Xenon Codex (1988) was a half assed effort, poorly recorded for Enigma/GWR by Guy Bridemead (who also screwed up Motorhead's No Sleep At All in that same year) and although I have heard good things about Space Bandits and Electric Teepee (Both on Roadrunner long ago and now out of print). I haven't really thought highly enough of them to really review it. Their new album Blood Of The Earth is out and seems to be nod in the right direction, again what I heard I can't quite recommend.
Hawkwind's glory period was the 70's up to Levitation. EMI reissued all of the United Artists albums and added bonus tracks to boot, best of which is Doremi Fasol Latido which includes Urban Guerrilla a song that was banned by the BBC in 1973. And I still recommend In Search Of Space and Hall Of The Mountain Grill as well. The best overview of Hawkwind seems to be the 3 CD EMI Import Epoch: Eclipse 30 year Anthems which does include Motorhead and Quirk Strangeness And Charm. Life after Lemmy, Quirk Strangeness & Charm plus The Hawklords 25 Years On were their last shining classic moments.
Hawkwind has so many albums and so many compilations that's it hard to review them all. The albums on Bronze were reissued through Castle/Sanctuary (or were) and Virgin did reissued the late 70s albums (they were on Charisma as 1979's 25 Years On and perhaps PXR5. In the mid 1990's I did find The Hawklords Live and This Is Hawkwind-Do Not Panic in the bargain bins and found that Hawklords live was a better live album that Live 79. While it is true that finding the original Hawkwind albums on UA and Sire are rare, you can still find the CDs at varying prices at Amazon. Robert Calvert passed away years ago, Lemmy is still working it with Motorhead and who knows whatever happened to the rest, Dave Brock continues to be the sole remaining original member still playing and sometimes still recording new music.
Update: Nik Turner's latest album might be the closest thing to how Hawkwind sounded back in the early 70s and though it's pricy on vinyl, the CD format of Space Gypsy is worth getting in any formats. On September 19th 2014 Turner will be in the neighborhood at RIBCO in Rock Island. A big falling out between Turner and Dave Brock over the use of the Hawkwind name unnerved Dave so much that he pulled the plug on a 2013 US tour and this year visa problems curtailed another tour attempt. Hawkwind has been putting out new albums but none of them really capture that spaced out feeling of vibes, echo, generators and free form sax like Turner's backing band, whose done better Hawkwind sounds than the actual band themselves. The last Hawkwind album Spacehawks was rehashing various songs of the past and yet another version of Sonic Attack, to which one wonders if Brock is becoming prog rock's version of Foreigner. In the meantime Cleopatra reissued Warrior On The Edge Of Time (remixed by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame but lately has been busy remixing classic albums from King Crimson, Yes and Jethro Tull) which a long time ago appeared briefly on Atco. Their most prog rock sounding it's also the last to feature Lemmy before being booted out of the band and going on to his own stellar career with Motorhead. I don't see the need to spend 50 bucks on a import 2 CD and DVD box set of Warriors, it's perhaps my least favorite of the Lemmy years but since I still have it here, I will take a listen to it.
In the end, Hawkwind's classic period begins with Space Ritual and ends with 25 Years On (known as Hawklords) Ginger Baker's appearance on Levitation is worth hearing as well as This Is Hawkwind Do Not Panic but once the old geezer wanted to take over the band, they showed him the door. Brock continues to do Hawkwind tours in the UK more often, but the only long standing member other than he is Tim Blake on keyboards. He's been coasting on overdrive for years but perhaps the success of Space Gypsy might light a fire under Brock's ass and he might make that one last victory lap album. Otherwise, he's content to remake Sonic Attack or Silver Machine. .
