Hawkwind

[navarre]

hi there people, does anyone here know a band called hawkwind? very influenced by SF and fantasy (particularly Michael Moorcock's writings). if anyone does know them say so, because i'm a new fan and i have a few questions regarding them...

[j. d. worthington]

Okay ... I know some about Hawkwind ... what is you want to know?

And -- Welcome to the Chronicles.

[Aes]

Hawkwind? Oh god, my mind's eye is burning already...

[j. d. worthington]

Um, Aes? Is there something you're not telling us?...

[navarre]

well, i have a few of their albums, namely the most popular ones, and i want to buy a few more. however their catalogue is truly huge i don't know where to start! wich of their albums, if you know, have the same type of music or sound that "hall of the mountain grill" and "warrior on the edge of time" have?

[j. d. worthington]

It would be those two albums, wouldn't it? Okay... with the exception of their first album, Hawkwind, there's something of that nature with all the albums they did with UA, though In Search of Space also has much more that's more loosely organized (especally "You Shouldn't Do That"). Doremi Fasol Latido is much harder driving, on the whole, especially "Brainstorm" and "Lord of Light", but is closer to Hall and Warrior. After they left UA, their sound changed radically; during the years when Bob Calvert was with them it was much more trend-setting for the high end of the late 70s, early 80s music, then they went in all sorts of directions over the following years. I suppose, too, that Chronicle of the Black Sword has some of that, since it, too, is closely allied to Moorcock, obviously.

Essentially, Hawkwind seldom stayed still, and their sound varied throughout the years quite a bit. There is a definitive Hawkwind sound and feel, but it's never the same, really. You can tell it's them, but if you're wanting the same sort of experience musically, that's not what you're likely to find.

Oh, and the live album, Space Ritual, also from UA, has a pretty good mix of the different types of music they were doing at that point, including a piece or two written by Moorcock. Choose Your Masques also has some pieces that he had a hand in, as well. His connection with Hawkwind has lasted, off and on, for a very long time, and the first Friends and Relations album has pieces from his own band, The Deep Fix.

Anything else I can help with, let me know. If you'd like a rundown of pieces that Moorcock has done with them (at least, those I'm aware of), let me know, as I've got quite a few of their albums.

[navarre]

thanks a lot for that exhaustive reply j. d., i see you know a lot about the band! actually the albums that i own, apart from "hall" and "warrior" are "space ritual", "in search of space", "quark" and their last one. i didn't like "quark" a lot, like you hinted it's very trend-setting, very poppish. and "in search of space" although i like space rock (i'm a pink floyd fanatic) is way too repetitive. so in the end, i suppose i should get the ones they made in collaboration with moorcock, right?

[j. d. worthington]

Essentially, if you're looking for something similar to Hall of the Mountain Grill and Warrior on the Edge of Time... then there's just those two. As I said, they never stayed in one place. There were individual tracks that had some of that, but those two are probably the closest together of any albums they ever did. There is a somewhat similar period with Choose Your Masques and Sonic Attack (oh, and I stand corrected, it was on Sonic Attack, not Choose Your Masques, as stated in my earlier post, that they had pieces with Moorcock), where the two albums were closer together than anything else, but vastly different from the ones they did with UA.

Which, I suppose, is a roundabout way of saying exactly what I started with: There really is nothing else in their repertoire like that, unless it's compilation albums which take tracks from throughout periods of their history. Sorry. Even the pieces they did with Moorcock are completely different from the ones on these albums.

Incidentally, what are you calling "their last" album? I've rather lost track of what they've released in the last decade, actually.

[Aes]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Um, Aes? Is there something you're not telling us?...

Originally Posted by You, in that rock costume thread

And Paige, if you want to talk daring, try Stacia from Hawkwind. Somehow I don't think anybody's quite going to do that one again...

I've never actually heard them, but another thread here made me do a google image search on the subject in question. Okay, so it's not eye-burning, but still!

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Aes

I've never actually heard them, but another thread here made me do a google image search on the subject in question. Okay, so it's not eye-burning, but still!

Ah, yes. Stacia. For that matter, the entire band. You should read the accounts of the court hearings on those.....

This is one time Google should definitely come with a warning label....

[navarre]

"take me to your leader" from 2005. i hardly even heard it so far but i just thought the cover was cool
thanks anyway man!

[j. d. worthington]

Well, for whatever aid it may have been, you're quite welcome... Hope you stick around and join the crowd....

[Robertbert]

I've got Live Chronicles from '85 (I think) which is sort of a greatest hits live thing...Which is a fantastic album, and Electric Teepee from the early nineties which is also good...

I always thought they were a bit hit and miss myself, an old friend was well into them, I never liked them as much...Which is why I've only got them two...But they're damn good!!...

[chrispenycate]

I never actually worked with Hawkwind, though I was on stage with them at a festival somewhere; I must have been working with one of the warmup bands, since I remember with vague amusement the difficulties in getting them off stage ("hey, man, we've only played two numbers" "yeah, but you were allotted an hour and a half, you've already played more than two, and there are more bands waiting")
It was strongly recommended to hold your breath while walking past their dressing rooms; in a period (perhaps 1970) where substance usage was rife amoungst musicians (when was it ever not? Ah, but the selection of sustances was so varied then) they were fairly extreme in their mixtures, and never went on stage in a mental state classable as "normal"; indeed, it is far from certain they ever achieved that state.
I know strctly nothing about their more recent history but;
I am the master of my universe
The winds of time are blowing round me.

[j. d. worthington]

Oh, Chris, for shame!

"I am the Master of this Universe
The Winds of Time are blowing through me
And it's all moving relative to me
It's all a figment of my mind
In a world that I've designed
I'm charged with cosmic energy
Has the world gone mad or is it me?"

Yes, indeed. (Now I'm going to have to go dig out all those albums again.....)