Hawkwind

Hawkwind invented space-rock, a style on the border between hard rock and acid rock that combined the overwhelming sonic power of the former with the free improvisation of the latter. They became a cult phenomenon reminiscent in many ways of the Grateful Dead, but fused with the power of the MC5. The pantagruelic sound of Hawkwind also represents a natural—if somewhat absurd—link between the culture of hippie excess and the culture of punk excess.

The main problem with Hawkwind is that they recorded a disproportionate amount of mediocre material and never managed to focus on a masterpiece album. An ideal anthology of the group would cover at most 20 tracks out of the roughly 500 they released. In their case, the idea matters more than the execution.

They formed in 1969 through the efforts of guitarist Dave Brock, saxophonist Nik Turner, and keyboardist Dik Mik. In all the variations of the band, and despite the total anarchy of their evolution, Brock would always be the brain of the group.

Hawkwind (UA, 1970) already contained some striking tracks: Hurry On Sundown, Mirror Of Illusion, and the two-movement suite Paranoia. It was somewhat conventional art-rock, but soon the poet Bob Calvert, visionary priest of the "Space Ritual Show," guided them toward an original pseudo-science-fiction reinterpretation of hippie ideology and toward a sound that applied acid-rock to hard-rock, reevaluating the role of the saxophone (Turner), the synthesizer (Mik), light shows, and onstage rituals.

In Search Of Space (1971) flaunted a violent but repetitive, obsessive, hammering music, punctuated by electronic shocks (Del Dettmat on synthesizer) and loquacious solos, dedicated to science-fiction themes. You Shouldn't Do That, You Know You're Only Dreaming, the grandiose dark proclamation of Master Of The Universe, and Adjust Me are classics of ingenious self-indulgence.

Doremi Fasol Latido (1972), with Ian "Lemmy Kilmister" Willis on bass, continued with greater conviction, though perhaps less imagination: Down Through The Night, Space Is Deep, Lord Of Light, Brainstorm, Time We Left This World Today. The tracks were hypnotic even when they had little to say. The classic Hawkwind sound is that of this album.

Singles included the apocalyptic anthem Silver Machine (1972), the epic Sabbath-like Urban Guerrilla (1973), their masterpiece Psychedelic Warlords (1974), the driving Kings of Speed (1974), and Motorhead (1974).

Their fantastic live show was immortalized on the double live Space Ritual (1973), which also added several tracks to their major repertoire (Earth Calling, The Awakening, The Black Corridor, Orgone Accumulator, 10 Seconds of Forever, Sonic Attack).

The golden era was already coming to an end, however. Calvert left the band, and violinist Simon House High Tide (dark) replaced Dik Mik and began playing the mellotron. Hall Of The Mountain Grill (1974) contains only a couple of faded copies of their classic style: Wind Of Change and Paradox.

Then Kilmister left the band to found Motorhead and was replaced by Paul Rudolph of the Pink Fairies. Despite the contribution of science-fiction writer Michael Moorcock, Warrior On The Edge Of Time (Atlantic, 1975) did not improve much (Assault & Battery, The Golden Void, Magnu, Simon House's instrumental Spiral Galaxy 28948).

Psychedelic Warlords (1992) is an anthology of early singles and tracks from the first albums.

Meanwhile, Robert Calvert had released two much more interesting albums: Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (1974), a sort of rock opera containing the bizarre vignettes Ejection, The Aerospaceage Inferno, The Song of the Gremlin, Catch a Falling Starfighter, and Lucky Leif and the Longships (1975), even more fairy-tale-like and surreal. Both feature arrangements by Brian Eno.

Despite Calvert’s return, the new Hawkwind album, Astounding Sounds Amazing Music (1976), was even worse than the previous one (except for Kerb Crawler), but Quark Strangeness And Charm (Sire, 1977) marked a remarkable return to form with Spirit Of The Age, Quark Strangeness And Charm, The Forge Of Vulcan, and the eerie cosmic psychedelia of Hassan I Sahba. Unfortunately, it was also the last album with Turner. With him went House, Calvert, the drummer, and the second guitarist. The era of orgiastic black masses for heroin addicts had ended.

Collection (Castle, 1986) is a double anthology.

The band broke up and later reformed (with Harvey Bainbridge on synthesizer), briefly changing its name to Hawklords, for PXR5 (1978), which contains the decent tracks Death Trap, Robot, High Rise. Singles released included Psi Power (1978), 25 Years (1979), and Shot Down in the Night (1980).

Nik Turner left for Egypt. Xitintoday (Charisma, 1978), credited to Sphynx, comprises flute recordings that Nik Turner made in 1977 inside the Keope Pyramid and overdubs by Tim Blake, Steve Hillage, Turner himself (on vocals) and others. The album, that pioneered ambient music, will be re-recorded with Helios Creed on guitar and backing by Pressurehed, and released as Sphynx (Cleopatra, 1993).

Upon returning to England, Nik Turner formed the Inner City Unit, which debuted with the singles Solitary Ashtray (1979) and Paradise Beach (1980). Pass Out (1980) contains Space Invaders, Watching the Grass Grow, Polyethylene, Cars Eat With Autoface. Maximum Effect (1981) has Beer Baccy Bingo & Benidorm and Bones of Elvis. Inner City Unit died after New Anatomy (1984) and The President's Tapes (1985).

Hawkwind, now featuring Ginger Baker and Gong's Tim Blake on synthesizer, released Levitation (Charisma, 1980), which does not boast any irresistible gem, but features a sequence of strong songs: Motorway City, Who's Gonna Win The War, Levitation, Space Chase, The Fifth Second Of Forever, Dust Of Time.

Sonic Attack (1981) is vastly inferior, despite Angels of Death and Rocky Paths.

During the 1980s, Calvert released Hype (1982), Test Tube Conceived (1986) and Freq (1984). The latter one is a bizarre case of agit-prop synth-pop. Bob Calvert died in 1989.

Turner rejoined Hawkwind for Church of Hawkwind (1982), one of their least appealing albums, despite the huge doses of electronics, and Choose Your Masques (1982), a moderate improvement (Choose Your Masks, Solitary Mind Games, Waiting For Tomorrow).
Again, the best of Hawkwind came out as singles: Zones (1983), Night of the Hawks (1984), Needle Gun (1985), Zarozinia (1985).

The Chronicle Of The Black Sword (Flicknife, 1985), the last major Hawkwind release, was a concept album inspired by their friend Michael Moorcock's writings. The Demise, Needle Gun and Zarozinia are relatively catchy, while the surreal soundscapes of Shade Gate and The Pulsing Cavern, and the fairy-tale ballads of Song Of The Swords, The Sea King and Elric The Enchanter give the album a cohesive and unitary feeling.

Dave Brock also recorded the solo albums Earthed to the Ground (1984) and The Agents of Chaos (1988), later collected on Dave Brock & the Agents of Chaos (Flicknife, 1991).

Then Brock focused again on Hawkwind but Turner had quit again. Out And Intake (1987) boasts two more classics: Ghost Dance and Assassins of Allah. On the other hand, The Xenon Codex (1988) is a very minor work.
Space Bandits (1990) marked the return of violinist Simon House, but did not last.

Harvey Bainbridge left, too, before the radio-friendly Electric Teepee (1992). He will release his first solo, the ambitious Schulze-esque cosmic journey of Interstellar Chaos (Taste, 1993), and then start the Alman Mulo Band (himself and Norman Alman), which released the high-tech world-music of Afrodiziac Dreamtime (Taste, 1993), the jazzy/ambient/ethnic hodgepodge of Diamonds and Toads (Taste, 1994) and Orisha (Divine, 1995).

Hawkwind was therefore reduced to a trio (Brock, Alan Davey and Richard Chadwick). The same trio recorded the dull It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous (Griffin, 1993).

Disguised as Psychedelic Warriors, Dave Brock, Alan Davey and Richard Chadwick recorded the electronic album White Zone (Griffin, 1995).

By far the most interesting works came from flutist Nik Turner. Prophets Of Time (Cleopatra, 1994) reinterprets material of the Inner City Unit and Hawkwind albums with the help of Simon House on violin and Helios Creed on guitar.
Spiral Realms are Turner and Pressurehed keyboardist Len Del Rio, who recorded Trip To G9 (Cleopatra, 1994) and Crystal Jungles of Eos (Cleopatra, 1995), two albums of cosmic music.
Anubian Lights are Turner, Simon House, Del Rio, Helios Creed and others. They debuted with the ambitious The Eternal Sky (Cleopatra, 1995). The 55-minute EP The Jackal And Nine (Cleopatra, 1996) increases the doses of world-music and ambient music.

Hawkind's keyboardist Dik Mik died in 2017. Nik Turner died in 2022. Simon House died in 2025.