Hawkwind

Hawkwind has been my favourite band for a year now, and it seems that they are generally regarded as one of the greats of space rock. But how come their albums are so lowly rated here on progarchives? I have heard the argument "their musicality is too messy", but then how come albums like 'Trout Mask Replica' are rated so highly? I don't really mind, but it seems to me that the founders of space-rock should get more recognition in an online progressive rock community.


BTW, to all you Hawkwind fans, check out Nik-Turner's "Space Gypsy". Fantastical sh*t.

Check out Nik Turner's Sphynx - Xitintoday - Fantastical sh*t !!!
And the Hawk's 'Electric Tepee', 'It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous', 'Levitation' etc. etc. (if you haven't already...). Hawkwind are awesome, though not everyone's cuppa tea.

Edited by Tom Ozric - December 03 2013 at 03:44

As much as I love Hawkwind, they could pretty inconsistent with quality, both in terms of musicanship and production, especially pre 1980's. Even their best albums have awful low points, where it's clear that had either run out of money, time, ideas, or were simply too battered or couldn't be bothered to finish the album in a coherant way.

You never quite knew what you were going to get with Hawkwind. Was Nik Turner going to play in tune on this album? Was half the album going to comprise appalling bootlegs of mediocre live performances that you would never want to hear, because they didn't have enough material for an album, but had a deadline to release an album anyway.

Albums like Astounding Sounds and Levitation are examples of how great Hawkwind could really be when they had the material, had reherased the material, took production seriously, and didn't do too many drugs.

I think the first 6 counting Space Ritual are all rated fairly. They did do quite a few mediocre albums in the 80's and 90's.

HolyMoly wrote: Hawkwind is an easy band to enjoy.

I bought "In Search of Space" when I was 16 and hated it so I wrote them off for many years.  Fast forward about 20 years and I became good friends with a Hawkwind fanatic and decided to give them another try.  He loaned me "Quark Strangeness and Charm" and "Warrior on the Edge of Time" as my first 2 albums as he considered those the most proggy.  I loved them both instantly and went on to build a decent sized Hawkwind discography.  I think they were at their best on stage with the "Friday Rock Show" and "California Brainstorm" albums.  I loved the way they took their early 70's classics ("Assault and Battery", "Brainstorm", "Masters of the Universe") and re-energized them for the 80's/90's.  

To elaborate what I was talking about with Hawkwind coming from a completely different angle than the other British progressive rock groups of their generation: While their music definitely is progressive in the sense of thinking outside the box and expanding the musical vocabulary of rock, there's not much in the way of classical technical virtuosity on display or influence from classical music. (until Hall of the Mountain Grill that is)

It's more like they're deconstructing psychedelic rock and then re-assembling it in unusual ways, going more for an otherworldly atmosphere than an intricate forwards progressing sonata compositional format. (hence the Krautrock comparisons) Not to mention that their approach to instrument playing is really more punk than anything else.

schizoidman wrote: Padraic wrote: HolyMoly wrote: Hawkwind is an easy band to enjoy.  Then I must really be screwing something up.     I've listened to several of their albums but Hawkwind and I remain a disconnect. I just can't get into their musical trip.

 

The.Crimson.King wrote: I bought "In Search of Space" when I was 16 and hated it so I wrote them off for many years.  Fast forward about 20 years and I became good friends with a Hawkwind fanatic and decided to give them another try.  He loaned me "Quark Strangeness and Charm" and "Warrior on the Edge of Time" as my first 2 albums as he considered those the most proggy.  I loved them both instantly and went on to build a decent sized Hawkwind discography.  I think they were at their best on stage with the "Friday Rock Show" and "California Brainstorm" albums.  I loved the way they took their early 70's classics ("Assault and Battery", "Brainstorm", "Masters of the Universe") and re-energized them for the 80's/90's.   Fantastic band but highly misunderstood by prog fans

That's uncanny since my situation was very similar. I first heard In Search in 1974 and was not really aware of them before that. I thought the music was jumbled up and the production  muddy so I never really got into them (I learned that many stoners back then were fans..) ,but many years later I met a fellow psych/prog fan and he played the later ones and it finally clicked with me.

Luis and Tom, my point is that HW don't show that influence as readily or do quite the same things with it as ELP/Genesis/KC etc. (and perhaps not from the exact same sources either)