A couple of years ago, a friend of mine got in touch to say that he was interested in finding out about Hawkwind and could I tell him more. So, I sent him a message in return which I hoped would be helpful. He replied a few days later saying it had made him laugh (and even more curious about the band) and if I ever got the chance I should publish it. So here it is. Hopefully others might find it useful too…
Hello mate,
So, as previously briefly discussed, Hawkwind. Like any band who have existed for over 50 years and have released dozens of albums, there have been some stylistic shifts and the quality of some of their output is questionable, so just jumping in for a random sample is quite risky. To complicate things further, there have also been a few dodgy deals done at various points, so the same few poor quality bootlegs have been released on different labels under different titles over the years. So, one has to be careful.
The key to understanding (and appreciating) Hawkwind is to understand the culture the band come from and what influenced them and what they were trying to achieve. They were very much a product of their time and certain characteristics of the band may now seem to be either quaint, naïve, outdated or even laughable, depending on how charitable you are feeling. However, some parts of what they were doing was pretty visionary (particularly the electronics/FX and textural parts of it) and they were one of the few bands from the pre-punk 1970’s that most punks had respect for. Suffice to say, their influence on stoner rock and psychedelic/jam genres is obvious.
They originally came out of the Ladbroke Grove hippy squat scene in the late 1960s. Ladbroke Grove was, at that time, far different from the millionaire’s hang out that it is now. It was a run down, drug soaked area, still showing scars from damage sustained during World War Two and was home to a significant counter culture- musicians, writers, artists, activists, revolutionaries and freaks of all persuasions living together in an atmosphere of creative and sexual freedom. Against this backdrop, the band formed in 1969 and gradually became a fixture at squat gigs and free festivals which, along with their support in the underground press, lead to a record deal and a debut album which appeared in 1970. This first album is a fairly innocuous slice of hippy rock, nothing particularly special but with a couple of good tunes. However, after the departure of original guitarist Hugh Lloyd Langton (who went on a ten year journey to repair his mental health after a horrific bad acid trip, eventually rejoining the band in 1980) Hawkwind gradually perfected a sound that became known as ‘Space Rock’ which is an LSD fuelled version of greasy biker boogie featuring simple, powerchord based riffs with frequent wah-wah embellishments, along with the sweeps, bleeps and swooshes of primitive electronic tone generators and lyrical themes and influences from science fiction and other cosmic mythology. All the albums between 1971’s ‘In Search Of Space’ and 1975’s ‘Warrior On The Edge Of Time’ are classic Space Rock.
After sacking bassist Lemmy in 1975 (who would go on to form Motorhead) the band decided they had taken the Space Rock formula as far as it could go and moved on to a more angular new wave style. I’m not so keen on this period. They didn’t recover, in my opinion, until the 1980 album ‘Levitation’ which, although a more straight ahead prog rock record, benefits from the return of Hugh Lloyd Langton, whose flamboyant guitar style dominates much of it. The rest of their eighties output is variable (mostly due to what are now outdated production techniques) and I lost interest in anything released after about 1990.
So, where to begin? For me, the classic years between 1971-75 show them at their best, when they were at their most druggy and indulgent. You’ll probably be familiar with their 1972 hit single ‘Silver Machine’ which has most of the characteristics of the Space Rock sound but diluted down into a three minute pop song. So, if you like that and want to hear bigger, better versions of that style then this is the period you should be looking at and is where I’d recommend starting. I’ll give you a couple of options.
I first heard of Hawkwind through a compilation album called ‘Masters Of The Universe’. There have been a few Hawkwind collections released under this name, as it is an easy title option for lazy compilers. But the one on United Artists Records in 1977 is the best. This contains my favourite Hawkwind song- ‘Orgone Accumulator’ which clocks in at ten minutes long, has funny lyrics, a great extended wah-wah guitar freakout and a surprising tasteful bass solo from Lemmy. This album also has ‘Sonic Attack’ on it, which is a poem by Sci-Fi writer Michael Moorcock read by vocalist Robert Calvert which is great too. Both ‘Orgone Accumulator’ and ‘Sonic Attack’ are taken from the 1973 live album ‘Space Ritual’ of which more about later. The MOTU compilation album also contains the original studio versions of two of their most well known songs- ‘Master Of The Universe’ and ‘Brainstorm’. Due to the limited technology of the period, basic production techniques and the fact that all of the band will have been out of their minds on various drugs all the time, these versions sound a little tame to modern ears and also suffer from instrumentalist/vocalist Nick Turner’s frequently annoying freeform saxophone meanderings being a little too prominent in the mix. They are both still landmark recordings though, that are proper Space Rock classics. MOTU also has ‘Lost Johnny’ on it which is interesting as the only thing Lemmy doesn’t play on it is drums and listening to ‘Lost Johnny’ blatantly shows where the Motorhead sound came from. Anyway, that’s how I discovered Hawkwind and this album gives you a good overview of the studio and live side of the band and you can then decide for yourself which way you want to go. However, if you want to think “fuck all that picking and choosing, I wanna go for the full 100% headfuck space rock extravaganza” then you need the 1973 live album ‘Space Ritual’.
This album is made up of recordings from gigs on the 1973 UK tour, which was a multimedia live show designed with the specific purpose of blowing the minds of people who were really high on drugs. As you listen to this album, it is beneficial to image the scene of a gang of bedraggled space hippies, playing at full volume, with a huge psychedelic lightshow featuring projections and constant strobes and accompanied by nude dancers covered in glowing body paint. Then imagine you are seeing and hearing all this while tripping on LSD. Its quite remarkable. It is also amazing that the band, stimulated by LSD, mushrooms, speed and a mixture of pills- both uppers, downers and everything in between- not only managed to stay in time and in tune but were also able to play the same song as each other. Every single person on this record, either onstage, off stage or in the audience were absolutely out of their minds on drugs when it was made. And its fucking great. The high power riffs, meandering jams and far out cosmic poetry work perfectly together, the songs segue into each other so the flow never stops and it is astonishing to hear what a fluid and melodic bassist Lemmy was back in those days. If you choose to start here, make sure that you listen to the whole thing in one hit, it works best that way, as the concept is supposed to be a journey through space, so you have to do it from start to end, like the band intended.
Finally, I must add that I got into Hawkwind during a period when I did little else but sit around and smoke grass. My best mate and myself lived in a second floor flat and our weed dealer lived in the basement. My mate had a huge glass bong and we’d buy large bags of potent homegrown grass and just sit around fucked and listen to music and watch films. It was this altered state that possibly made me receptive to Hawkwind but it doesn’t mean that their best work can’t be enjoyed in a more lucid frame of mind.
Have fun. Let me know what you think.
Cheers
Adi