HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL

With this 1974 release, Hawkwind fans got themselves a bit of a shock in the band's new sound. With the arrival of keyboardist/violinist Simon House, Hawkwind added a sweeping symphonic edge to their sonic palette and upped the musicianship a few notches in the process, but still being able to ferociously rock out as before. The addition of the swirling mellotrons and violin only enhanced the band's spacey/trippy atmospheres.

The new sound was best realized on tracks like "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)", "D-Rider" and "Paradox". Hawkwind's flat-out rocking side still gets a good airing on tracks like "You'd Better Believe It" and "Lost Johnny", where good 'ol Lemmy steps up to the mike! Simon House has a beautiful solo entry in "Hall of the Mountain Grill" (the name taken from a popular London hippie restaurant).

Rather conspicuous by its total absence though is Robert Calvert's sci-fi/fantasy poetry interludes between songs (at the time, Bob had to be checked into the nearest nuthouse). This is not necessarily a detriment, but it may have caused some listeners to wonder at first. Michael Moorcock would fill this gap admirably on the next album Warrior On the Edge of Time and eventually, Bob would return to the fold.

Overall, the album has a clear, crisp and fittingly spacious production quality, thankfully not tipping over into an echo-drenched mush, each instrument clear and distinct. If you love space-rock, this IS an essential album for your library!

The wind of change

It's 1974, and Hawkwind have gone all melodic! Ironically, the best track here is probably the soft synthesiser instrumental, "Wind of change".

There's plenty of the classic Hawkwind sound on tracks such as "Psychedelic Warlords" and "You'd better believe it", but even then, they are tarted up nicely. "D-rider" features some classic phasing (whatever happened to phasing anyway?), while "Paradox" varies the pace to great effect during some acid pop rock(!).

This album signalled the introduction by the band of more ambient and melodic tracks, or parts of tracks than we were used to. By doing so, the band demonstrated that they were in fact extremely adaptable, and not the "Status Quo" of acid rock previous offerings may have implied.

The remastered CD has 4 bonus tracks, of which "It's so easy" is the only one which may be considered worth seeking out (the other three are just edits). This version of the album is also lavishly packaged in a superb digipak cover.

With the entry of Simon House into the fold, Hawkwind started a more stylish variation of their cosmic psychedelic trend: House's proficient wizardry on mellotron and electric violin (besides some other keyboards) helped to add a sort of orchestral feel to the band's massively energetic sound, outlining it in a most refreshing way. In fact, despite this newfound source of sonic exquisiteness, Hawkwind's music became even more oppressive, and less predictable as well - the mellotron layers served as a proper complement for Brock's guitar riffs and a spacey counterpart for the enthusiastic rhythm section, or to put in other words, House brings a massive unearthly atmosphere that serves as a powerful counterpart to the combined efforts of Brock, Lemmy and King. The opening track 'The Psychedelic Warlords' is a clear symptom of the band's refreshed sound. The instrumental symphonic adventure 'Winds of Change' is a showcase for House's finesse on violin, while Brock displays the basic chords on organ in a very Wright-esque way. Del Dettmar and Nick Turner's roles in some way suffered from the incorporation of the newcomer's input, although the latter could still take center stage now and then with some flourishes on sax (as in the opening track) and flute, besides some eerie lines on oboe for 'D-Rider', another winner track. Dettmar's position was more endangered: in spite of the productive ambiences provided by his solid synth adornments for tracks such as 'D-Rider' or 'You'd Better Believe It', the fact is that there was one keyboardist too many in the band by then, and his interventions had become evidently much less relevant for the band's renovated sonic attacks. It wouldn't take too long before he takes his leave: in fact, Brock was in charge of some additional synth stuff before Dettmar's departure. The acoustic guitar-based number 'Web Weaver' brings some momentary relaxing release between the dreamy tension of 'D-Rider' and the frontal explosion of 'You'd Better Believe It' (once again, House delivers awesome violin stuff all the way through). The title track is a House- penned sonata, in which a multi-layered violin and an ethereal mellotron follow the grand piano chord progressions: another moment of relief, this time built out of pure romantic beauty. 'Lost Johnny' is a Lemmy-penned number: an effective rocker with a slight bluesy twist. Track 8 is a brief synth soundscape, mostly delivered by Dettmar - with some gong by King and some flute by Turner -, that serves as an interlude for the closing number 'Paradox'; this one pretty much copycats the structure of 'Psychedelic Warlords', albeit being less powerful. "Hall of the Mountain Grill" is an excellent album - sure it may not be totally satisfying for some addicted lovers of old-fashioned raw Hawkwind, but in my book, this is a psych-prog gem.

From the self-mythologising opener The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke) right on to the raver of a closer Paradox, the Hall Of The Mountain Grill is an exciting, cohesive and occasionally even beautiful album. While the succeeding album Warrior On The Edge Of Time has many proponents, this is ultimate Hawkwind album as far as I'm concerned.

All the familiar trademarks are here, but never before or after, do they match this sort of intensity and creativity. Psychedelic Warlords is propulsive as hell, with a great jam, with the players all in the groove with newcomer Simon House and Nik Turner standing out. The instrumental Wind Of Change with Dave Brock on organ and some great violin lines from House is just so beautiful and is probably my favourite Hawkwind song ever, even if it is not characteristic and far more symphonic than one is used to from this group. Then again maybe my favourite Hawkwind song is D-Rider, one of the best storming driving Hawkwind songs ever. What a vocal melody! It really takes me out to space, especially when the whole songs starts swirling ... whoosh, just like that!

You know what's also not bad? The space-folk of Web Weaver, which is acoustic guitar and a host of sounds that swoop down from the heavens. You'd Better Believe It is another memorable stomper. The Hall Of The Mountain Grill track is a dark piano-led instrumental, that calls to mind a scene from a horror-tinged sci-fi movie while Lost Johnny is a different beast altogether, composed and sung by future Motorhead star Lemmy Kilminster, but dressed up in Hawkwind sounds (as opposed to the baser Motorhead formula). I think it's the best thing the man ever did. And it does fit in with the flow. Goat Willow is a short ethereal instrumental with Turner on flute. The opener guitar of Paradox does seem a little bit too similar to what has gone before (a common problem I find with Hawkwind) but the melody line takes the song somewhere new.

Even though I've got a hatful of Hawkwind albums (well three studio, two live and two compilations), I listen to this one more than all the rest put together. Don't get me wrong, there are other good albums (the next one, Warrior On The Edge Of Time, for starters), and plenty of quality songs scattered around, but this is the be-all and end- all of Hawkwind albums for yours truly. ... 74% on the MPV scale

Hawkwind is a bit of a maverick on this site but in fact their sound was genuine progressive rock! On this album you can enjoy varied compositions that ranges from straightforward rock (including a very inspired Lemmy) to wonderful symphonic rock featuring the Mighty Tron in all its splendor!

A TRUE CLASSIC PROG ALBUM!

I took contact with Hawkwind through this particular album, back in 1974 or 1975, and I liked it pretty much but I never felt them as being progressive; for me they simply rocked! In fact, for some weeks I was deeply dipped into this work although I wasn't a usual pot user. I also tried to convince some friends but those more involved with symphonic prog only care a little unlike those more keen to hard-rock which became really Hawk-fans.

Until recently I didn't notice a thing about the band itself: the drug and drink addiction, the different line-ups, the bootlegs, etc. Even Stacia was a distant reference. My most vivid recollections are only Hawkwind's sound. I enjoy Lemmy's bass line and I like to hear Brock's sharp voice, a kind of band signature for the 70s. This album has also a good name doing a joke with Grieg's "In the hall of the mountain king", a tempestuous work indeed; but Hawkwind's "Mountain Grill" is tempestuous too. The cover is attractive but production shows some flaws - not compromising at all. Everything calls for psychedelia and space stuff.

Opening song, 'Psychedelic warlords' is also the best in the album, one of my band's preferred, spectacular with strong bass and odd vocals but other songs are worthy, and follow the same formula: pure rock splashed with adrenaline, stamina, vitamin, nicotine and THC.

'Web weaver' and 'D-Rider' and the title-song are good ones while 'Lost Johnny' and 'Goat willow' are the weakest points but even so fairly audible - and when I write audible, I'm thinking of someone already involved with Hawkwind, not a newbie.

'Paradox' is a splendid original ending song keeping all the album 'high' climate.

The CD has also some bonus tracks but the only that really counts is 'It's so easy', an average song.

I believe that among the more than a hundred of released Hawkwind's albums and CDs there are at least half a dozen that are really essential, "The Hall of the Mountain Grill" is one of those.

Consequently, my final rating is 4.

It really took me all these years to warm up to the music of mid HAWKWIND MK II (First HAWKWIND album is still one of my favourite psychedelic albums of all time) and I owe it all to my friend Bob Turnbull who had been at work on me on the music of HAWKWIND. A long story but years ago I snagged a best of 70's collection and thought HAWKWIND sounded on these samples terrible and not very captivating and I never really looked back. I finally listened to a full side of "Hall Of The Mountain Grill" and really enjoyed it so I bought it. And the result is....(drum roll please)... mikey likes it ! What amazed me immediately was the delicate inclusion of some lovely mellotron work, varied instrumentation (including lovely space electric violin) and kind space effects. The album is spacey yet ebbs and flows from tranquil droplets "Wind of Change" and "Web Weaver" to the heavy rockout of "The Psychedelic Warloads". Of course at this junction HAWKWIND had Lemmy, but they also added ex-High Tidesman Simon House into the equation who added in quite a new dimension to their sound. A great album from start to finish for sure

"The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" opens the album with electric waves, giving birth for the menacing guitar riff. Pleasantly out normal note count the chorus of voices starts to sing the theme of the song, contemplating possibilities for escaping the grey dullness of everyday life. The constructed motive morphs as a long hallucinogenic improvisation, having fine saxophone solo from Nik Turner, interesting surreal instrumental passages and reverbed echo chaotix. The song disappears in a thick wall of blasting wind, which evokes then a very beautiful and dramatic instrumental number, main melody drawn by a violin over orchestrated shimmer. Two last tracks of the first side are merged together; "D-Rider" oscillating between anxious internal depressions and relieving explosion to grandiose cosmic verse, and "Web Weaver" spinning more acoustic rock tapestries before getting lost in space.

The B-side of the vinyl starts with classic heavier rock punch of "You'd Better Believe It", dropping to infinite caverns of black vastness when the melodic phrases have been successfully computed. The album title song is a dramatic piano composition, a cosmic synthesizer orchestration bringing more dimensions to it. This is followed by Lemmy's tune "Lost Johnny" which he also signs. A quite nice rocker, predicting his upcoming Motörhead career, but maybe deviating little from the more thoughtful and highflying feeling of the other songs of the album. "Goat Willow" is just a short peculiar aural vision as an intro for album closer "Paradox", which I understood is recorded from a live concert. This song has really brilliant metaphorical lyrics, and the composition itself builds from powerful but simple minor chord progressions. The drums enter the song only after the singing is completed, opening the rockier improvisational sequence only after the beginnings recital. A set of Mellotrons have been brought to the stage also, and the farewell tune is on of the finest songs from the group I have heard.

This record introduced me to the cosmic realms of Hawkwind's spacey atmospherics and long improvisational progressions, and thus certainly affected for my own internal models regarding the expectations about the group. For a long time this along with the records "Space Ritual" and "Warrior on The Edge of Time" formed a trinity of most albums on the band's 1970's, but with more age gathered I started to find more appreciation also for the other albums of their unbalanced discography. The album also gave a very strong experience to me, motivating to search further the distant galaxies of this band's universe, and orientating my own growth towards more meditative record listening. A real classic, which I would warmly recommend to anybody interested of cosmic rock music.

Up to this point in their careers this is their best album by far, although I do have a soft spot for the charming "Space Ritual". Check out the lineup: Dave Brock, Lemmy, Nik Turner, Del Dettmar, Simon King and the newly added Simon House formerly from the hard rocking 60's band HIGH TIDE. Simon House brings a new flavour to their sound with violin and mellotron. This just sounds much more mature and professional to me. And the cover art is so well done, I especially like the picture on the back, it's stunningly beautiful. I wouldn't describe the pictures of the band in the liner notes that way though. Hmmm...

"The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)" is an awesome title. You can hear mellotron all the way through this one if you listen carefully. The intro is excellent the way it builds. Vocals a minute in. Check out the dissonant sax melodies followed by some prominant bass lines from Lemmy. The drumming is very active after 4 minutes. It drifts off into a psychedelic jam after that, building to a climax. Just a classic HAWKWIND song. "Wind Of Change" opens with an explosion as high winds come in. The organ and synths make for a fantastic intro. Drums beat lightly 2 1/2 minutes in soon joined by violin from House. This is so relaxing and beautiful at the same time. It ends with spacey synths.

"D-Rider" is a Nik Turner composition. I really the vocals and lyrics. It reminds me of early PINK FLOYD except for the prominant spacey synths with mellotron. Great track. "Web Weaver" features strummed guitar and piano followed by spacey synths and vocals. We get a beat after 2 minutes and the guitar makes some noise. "You'd Better Believe It" is a fairly straight forward tune,but it's really good. It opens with spacey synths as drums come in. It's building to a full sound after a minute. This is catchy folks. "Hall Of The Mountain Grill" is the only Simon House composition, and it's an instrumental. This is all House. Piano to open as synths, violin and mellotron join in. Nice. "Lost Johnny" features Lemmy on vocals. This one is raw but catchy. "Goat Willow" is a short instrumental composed by Dettmar. Harpsichord, synths and flute lead the way. "Paradox" is an excellent closing track. The guitar to open is a highlight, but the vocals are even better. Check out the drumming late along with the waves of mellotron. This might be the best of the bunch.

4.5 stars. I'm so impressed with this album. I didn't know HAWKWIND used mellotron ? I knew they used a lot of other things (haha). This record is a blast !

This band might well have his pros & cons, but one has to admit that so far, they produced very decent work. No masterpieces (at least this is how I feel) but good albums. Their excellent live "Space Ritual" being their best achievement so far.

No wonder that the opening number "The Psychedelic Warlords" sounds. is psychedelic as well as hard. While I quite like the first aspect, I am more restrictive about the other one (although I am a great fan of the genre, which is pretty much noticeable in some other reviews of mine).

The contrast with "Wind Of Change" is amazing. Spacey, glorious, almost "Morricone" like (you know the great "Spaghetti Western" composer). This song reminds me dramatically some fabulous atmosphere from "The Good, The Ugly and The Bad" or "Once Upon A Time In The West". Superb violin and fantastic and hypnotic theme. A highlight IMO. Do listen to this song.

Compositions are very well crafted and pleasant such as "D-Rider" which is very melodic and rather surprising I must say. And it is not the only surprise. If you listen to the psyche / acoustic "Web Weaver" and its

One of my fave from this album is by no doubt "You'd Better Believe It". A fantastic and wild trip, my friends. If ever you need some upbeat psychedelia, this is the one. Guaranteed. One might call it repetitive but the gorgeous beat keeps on digging, and the best experience can be felt.

The title track is there to remind us some reminiscence with space music. Aerial and full of quietness. Another good track (out of many). But there are some poorer moments as well. Nothing as if the whole album would be that great. It is true that some epic is missing; but this is a general comment to "Hawkwind" work so far.

Slightly better than a three star album, I will upgrade it to four, specially thanks to the closing number which is just superb. "Paradox" is my fave from this very good album. But IMO seven out of ten is more accurate.

The Warlords of psychedelic hard rock return!

With Hall Of The Mountain Grill Hawkwind set themselves in stone as masters of their craft. Blending hard rock and 70s heavy metal tenancies with spacey sounds and psychedelic song construction, this album blends the familiar Hawkwind of old with a new style that they perfect here. Where as on previous albums the sound came off as almost an ocean of inscrutable and messy sounds (and that worked well for what they were doing) they playing here is much cleaner, and the vocals actually have a place where there was little for them before. All in all, this album shows Hawkwind at a perfect time in their career.

Right of the clean riff of Psychedelic Warlords you can tell that the band has changed a lot. harmonized voices come in to take over vocals where the band used to trade off before and this is a good thing because it adds to that outer worldly atmosphere. It helps too because let's be honest - none of those guys are fantastic vocalists, but put together they make for an interesting mix. The songs seem to have taken on a tighter structure which is neither good or bad, just different, because their previous works on albums like In Search Of Space had a much more improvisational feel and it worked in context of the album. In this case the tight structure works in context. We're getting more to the song by song feel rather than an album on the whole, but the album still works as a whole anyways. Segueing seamlessly between vocal based songs and instrumentals with their trademark spacey whooshes this album always feels consistent.

The instrumentals on the album actually feel more like an evil version of Pink Floyd than what Hawkwind usually does. Songs like Winds Of Change and the title cut have a very spaced out feel to them while still keeping the Hawkwind surge of energy. Standouts on the album include the impressive opening song with it's heavy riff and vocals, the charging D-Rider with its impressive energy captured within the song and the (apparently recorded live) excellent You'd Better Believe It.

If you're looking for a heavy journey through space but didn't like the apparent lack of direction in some of the band's earlier albums then look no further than this album. Impressive to say the least, this one makes for an excellent addition to any prog rock collection, especially those more interested in the final frontier. 4 space ships out of 5, not to be missed!

This is better than the previous albums, but only slightly. The production is not very good though, it sounds as if it is played inside a metal tank! They did become a little bit more progressive here with sparse use of harpsichord and piano. However, there is also still a serious lack of real musicianship in this band, as well as a lack of catchy, melodious songs. The monotonous riffs and the repetitive beats are still here as well.

There were hundreds of much better bands around in the 70's and still today that deserve those two star ratings more so than Hawkwind does so only one star from me for this album.

Disappear in Smoke

It's dead easy to write Hawkwind off as one-hit wonders... or even one chord wonders, but this is a perfect space rock album, with not a note out of place.

The thing with Hawkwind, well, the thing with Hawkwind is that you either get it or you don't - and if you don't, it's probably a mystery why they have such a devoted hardcore of fans.

See, Hawkwind isn't about the notes.

Well, they kind of are - the insistent, driving space punk riffs that underpin the delicately shifting cosmic rays of the electronic washes that create Hawkwinds oft-imitated but never bettered atmospheres of outer space and beyond, and the strong, almost monotone melodies are coloured far more by dynamic and improvisation than composition.

It's like looking at one of those 3-dimension pictures you see in pop art galleries - some people see it first time, while you stand there crossing your eyes until the tears leak down your cheeks - but that picture remains elusive.

But on the surface, all those 3d pictures just look like a never ending repeating pattern of very simple, psychedelically decorated ideas.

And that is exactly what Hawkwind's music is like.

Hall of the Mountain Grill is an astonishing album in every sense - the dynamic is stronger here than on any other, the players entering that rare mind-reading realm where every sound counts. Apprently, the name of the album came from a cafe in Ladbroke Grove - so let's open the menu and check out the tasty treats that await.

I suppose this is more the greasy spoon of Prog than a cordon bleu restaurant - but who wants haut cuisine all the time? If you like your egg and chips in large portions, with plenty of grease and ketchup, and a free refill on your cup of tea, then this is the album for you.

Psychedelic Warlords appears on almost as many albums as versions of Brainstorm, but this is without question the best version, twisting and turning through many more than the usual 4 dimensions, adn literally exploding into the bleak soundscape of Wind of Change, the Hammond heralding something like a darker version of A Saucerful of Secrets (the vocal section), beautifully built up, Lemmy's bass providing a huge amount of drive, and aching chords sweeping across the multiverse from Simon House's plaintive Mellotron. Space is deep, and this track proves it.

The trip continues with D-Rider - a slightly dodgy drop-in, but nonetheless, the music feels like a continuation of a whole, rather than a haphazardly arranged collection of random songs. The heavily-phased, swirling vocals evoke the psychedelic era, while the crashing, thunderous chords suggest much later heavy metal, the fizzing drums and rich accompaniment boldly going where no band has ever gone before, into the inner dimensions of your mind, yet somehow linking that to the external universe, Nik Turner's ethereal sax and Brock's sharp rhythm attacks brightly piercing through the dense noise fields, all the while, Lemmy's bass lines twisting and winding streams of consciousness through the ethers of the ever-chirping and shrieking tone generators. Astonishing song.

The mood is lifted with a little gospel-style piano, and thick vocal harmonies by the Web Weavers - all the while, Hawkwind's famous electronic soundscapes taking an otherwise fairly simple song to cosmic proportions.

You'd Better Believe It begins with some synth work that sounds almost avante-garde, but ultimately rests in open 5th and octave fanfares to introduce the song, Simon Kings masterly drumming providing rhythmic confusion until the vocals start. The vocals are provided here by Dave Brock and Lemmy in harmony, and the quasi-Eastern melodies evoke parts of Brainstorm. There's a strange optimism shining through the dark soundscapes and disturbing, owping synth voices, as the rhythms speed up and slow down proving that unsettled feel familiar to all Hawkwind songs, Lemmy and King working perfectly in tandem beneath Brock's power chords providing the ultimate in drive. A violin soars above this texture, giving an odd Country and Western flavour that you'd think couldn't possibly work - but EVERYTHING works in Hawkwind's sonic world.

The sumptuous textures of the title track are a kind of lush, Satie-esque introduction to Lost Johnny, a bleak and spine-chilling tale recited by the Lemmster (and later intensified by him on Motorhead's first album(s)), and is allegedly about a character that hung out in the Ladbroke Grove. The constant drug references make this a particularly harrowing account of the darker side of this famous late 1960s underground scene in London.

Continuing with this theme - one track serving as the intro to the next, Goat Willow is a haunting short instrumental with a sumptuous echoed flute duet that feeds straight into what is probably the best track on the album.

Paradox starts out with what you might call a typical Hawkwind riff, Lemmy snaking one of his famous bass lines around Brock's hammered guitar rhythms. Then come the harmonised vocals and string sythns, the drums making their presence barely felt until nearly a minute and a half, at which the song explodes into space-punk fury, mellowing out for the hypnotic lines Down, down, round and round you go - and, relaxing into the music allows you to feel this ever-sinking, whirling, spinning feeling, available from virtually no other band in the history of rock music.

There is no band that takes you to the places that Hawkwind does - and if they don't on first listen, then you ain't listening right, or maybe you just don't want to go.

Too scared, maybe. Or in need of relaxation... ;0)

There's no doubt that Hawkwind's space is a very dark and scary place indeed - but this album is such a cosmic trip (and no, I'm not going to say MAAAAAAAAAAN!) that I recommend it to all, no matter what your taste in Prog.

This album clearly shows why, when documentaries of Prog are made, Hawkwind always get mentioned. It clearly shows why people say of a band; Oh, they sound a bit like Hawkwind - but you never hear of people saying that Hawkwind sound like someone else. Pink Floyd fit this oft- misunderstood category too - if they ever made the moulds for these bands, then they broke them straight afterwards.

Hawkwind were unique, and this is the album to own, if you only ever buy one. Although Space Ritual is a p[retty good choice too.

Hall of the Mountain Grill is the fourth album from psychadelic space rockers Hawkwind and a major change in sound compared to the previous album Doremi Fasol Latido which was released in 1972. Doremi Fasol Latido is maybe the most heavy and dirty album Hawkwind ever made while Hall of the Mountain Grill has a much more symphonic sound.

The music is still unmistakebly Hawkwind. Insistant relentless beats, psychadelic sounds and heavy rock bottom. With the addition of former High Tide member Simon House on Keyboards, Mellotron, Electric violin and backing vocals Hawkwind also adobted a very symphonic approach which really sets Hall of the Mountain Grill apart from their previous albums. Being totally new to Hawkwind I have reviewed their albums from an end and I can honestly say that this one is easily my favorite among the first four studio albums. It´s such a great album and songs like The Psychadelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) and You´d Better Believe it are good examples of how great Hawkwind can sound. But Hawkwind isn´t only about heavy psychadelic space rock. There are also some really psychadelic songs which doesn´t rely on relentless beats like D-Rider, Web Weaver and Goat Willow. Wind of Change is a symphonic song where Simon House violin is dominant. Lost Johnny needs to be mentioned too as it has Lemmy Kilminster ( Later of Motörhead fame) on lead ( Sandpaper) vocals.

The musicianship is great even though I think I hear a couple of mistakes by drummer Simon King. This is definitely the best performance from Hawkwind so far.

The production is excellent. Grand and symphonic when it needs to and rocking hard when that is needed.

Hall of the Mountain Grill is an excellent progressive rock album of the psychadelic kind and the new symphonic direction Hawkwind has taken on this album is really successful IMO. Where I´ve rated the three first albums small 4 star and big 3 star ratings I think Hall of the Mountain Grill deserves 4 BIG stars. This is very recommendable for fans of psychadelic progressive rock.

Another Space Rock classic from the Masters of the Universe! You'd Better Believe It!

This album is one of the best Hawkwind albums and each track merges in to one another to provide an overall sound experience unlike any other Hawkwind album.

Before we get in to the music, the cover alone has become an icon of rock, voted as one of the all time best album covers in many respected album lists. The Hawkwind spaceship has crashlanded on this cover, a prophetic symbolism perhaps of albums to follow that at times miss the mark.

It begins with the awesome 'Psychedelic Warlords' that has that patented chug-a-chug rhythmic pattern that has become a statement of space rock. Del Mik, Brock and Anderson have an amazing sense of timing as they churn one track after another.

'Wind of Change' and 'D-Rider' are interesting diversions in pace. The lyrics are characteristically simple with driving bass and drums forming mechanised hypnotic rhythms.

'Hall of the Mountain Grill' is just plain weird and progressive in its structure abandoning familiar rock trademarks. In fact every time I hear it, this track sounds uncannily like the theme to "Picnic at Hanging Rock" where the school girls climb the mountain to their fate mysteriously disappearing off the planet. Listen to both and you will be amazed.

'You'd Better Believe It' is definitley one of the best with killer guitar riffing and a wall of sound with fuzz guitars and charging drum salutes throughout. It is a 7 minute prog blitz. This is one the band loved to perform live on many occasions.

'Lost Johnny' is one of my favourites with Lenny at his best, both vocally and his bass performance. Simply wonderful.

'Paradox' finishes the album off well, and then the bonus tracks are excellent especially 'It's So Easy'.

This album is another one of the Hawkwind fan faves and with good reason. It is bettered by previous releases but this was one of the last times everything seemed to work perfectly for Hawkwind. You'd Better Believe It!

I'm not that big a fan of all early Hawkwind albums and 'Hall of the Mountain Grill' isn't going to change that anytime soon. I love the combination of heavy metal guitars, the fact that Lemmy (who would later form Motorhead) played on it and the layers of mellotron, but I don't think the band performs its music that well. The recording quality is also quite awful. On its best moments the band is quite exciting, like on the (pre)refrains of the opening track 'The Psychedelic Warlords'. That song also has some nice experimental sections. 'Winds of Change' is Hawkwinds Ennio Morricone moment, though the piece is played with a precision of a mid-sixties proto-punk group. The violin is well played by Simon House. On 'D-Rider' its Nick Turner's (wind instruments) turn to sing. During the heavily phased-out refrains the production looses to much of its power in my opinion. 'Web Weaver' is a short one-themed Hawkwind song with a strong first halve and a under-produced instrumental second halve. Side two is even more of a mixed bag. 'You'd Better Believe It' is taken from a live concert and has a different sound that the studio tracks. It does represent the thumbing space metal of the band in this era quite well. It has some symphonic pieces and a spaced 'up Lemmy song called 'Lost Johnny'. 'Paradax' is another live-cut with some more of same sound issues. It does have some catchy vocals though. This album has to much powerful moments to give it a really low rating, but even a remaster doesn't quite fix the sonic and consistency problems a thrown together record like this has.

Hall of The Mountain Grill is a deserving try from Hawkwind to open up their dense sound and introduce some symphonic elements into their murk: nice goodies such as a melody, a song structure and mellotron! I've always liked this album but I believe the good stuff doesn't justify anything above 3.5 stars. Similar albums such as Warrior On The Edge Of Time and Levetition are a lot more successful.

The Psychedellic Warlords is a Hawkwind classic; with their typical rhythmic guitar strumming and the simple but effective pace of it. The songs has a more complex build then anything their tried before, with declamatory verses, a bit of a bridge and a beautiful mellotroned chorus.

Wind of Change is a moody instrumental with great mellotron and keyboard playing. Also D-Rider features lush spacey keyboards. The guitar riff is very typical again, in fact, Hawkwind is so happy playing this middle-eastern inspired rhythmic strumming that they overdid it and used the exact same riff and rhythm on the closing track Paradox. It's my main criticism with the album. Despite the will to progress and a number of good ideas, the album has too few of them and ends up too repetitive and inconsistent for me.

Web Weavers is another track that re-uses the exact same ideas as Paradox, this time it's the vocal melody that is copied over. Were they too stoned to notice?

You'd Better Believe It is another piece that sounds too Hawkwind cliché, besides the muddy production of the album starts to annoy by the time I'm that deep into the album. I usually skip this one. Next on is some filler, the title track is an ok piano piece but nothing remarkable, Goat Willow is completely pointless. Actually, since Paradox only rehashes previous ideas, only Lemmy's Lost Johnny can charm me, but it's hardly his best work.

There is a limit to the amount of self-plagiarism that I can handle and Hawkwind crossed it too many times here. With about 20 minutes of quality material I feel that even 3 stars are flattering. Don't ignore the more accomplished executions of this style on Warrior On The Edge Of Time and Levitition though!

Talk about re-inventing yourself. Simon House's arrival coincided with a fairly dramatic change of direction for Hawkwind on Hall Of The Mountain Grill (1974). Despite all their electronic shenanigans, I had previously felt that Hawkwind's brand of Space Rock was earthbound rather than earth-shattering. I never really got the point of their lengthy single chord jams either, but then the strongest substance that ever went up my nostrils was Vick's Sinex! For me at least, House's Mellotron and electric violin finally managed to truly etherealise Hawkwind's sound.

THE PSYCHEDELIC WARLORDS is classic Hawkwind featuring a great guitar riff underscored by Mellotron, and a nice saxophone improvisation by Nik Turner midway through the song. However, it is also tuneful with a catchy hook. The emotive WIND OF CHANGE is completely different but equally good and showcases House's prowess on the violin, backed by his own Mellotron and Brock's organ. The Turner composition D-RIDER is the third top-notch track in succession and begins with choppy guitar, swirling electronics and despairing oboe, before bursting into life with phasing and Simon King's drum fills.

The remainder of the album doesn't manage to reach the same heights as the three aforementioned tracks, although YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT is a good rocker that precipitates punk and features some fevered fiddling. The Simon House-penned title track is a dark, ambient instrumental and is another worthwhile piece, although there aren't really any duff tracks on the album. Many view Space Ritual as the definitive Hawkwind album, but if you're new to the band and a symphonic fan then you might want to start here.

Although I've had this album for years and have yet to find anything on here that really interests me, I do like some of what Hawkwind is trying to do, which is to basically groove out but add some nice things such as saxes, violins and of course mellotron to keep things interesting. Of course, the actual songs often consist of only one or two actual melodies, but some of the grooves are worthy of a little head-nodding and general spacing out.

Things start off fairly well with Psychadelic Warlords, which takes a backbeat rock rhythm and basically plays with some echo effects atmospherics to break up the monotony. As it breaks up toward the end, Wind of Change emerges out of the chaos with a surprisingly beautiful--but simple--dirge that shows the band's symphonic touch. D-Rider then picks up the space rock vibe and heavy, mellotron-y, and echoed tone of the opener. Paradox closes the album nicely as well, with that typical Hawkwind sound.

Overall, there are some nice moments, but the band sure has a formula for most of this album: moderately-paced backbeat rockers with repetitive riffs, average vocals, and lots of spaceyness. It's basically some decent music to put on to nod your head to and not think too much about, but upon closer listening scrutiny does not have much to deliver, particularly when listening to the album straight through. It's partly personal taste, but I've come to the point where I just don't get much out of Hawkwind's brand of space rock.

I´m no expert on things about Hawkwind, but among all albums I´ve heard so far from this classic space rock band, this is surely my favourite. It is also their most symphonic, melodic and varied. Thanks to Simon House´s mellotron and violin they reached another level entirely with Hall Of The Mountain Gril. While their roots are still firmly planted in the psychedelic/space rock tradition, this is a truly ´song´ oriented work (meaning that those pointless jams and excessive repetitiveness are almost absent). The group uses their minimalistic approach to maximum effect on most tunes while the tracklist show a very flowing sequence of great songs. Even bassist Lemmy Kilmister (future Motorhead) has a chance to shine on his Lost Johnny, a terrific rock´n roll number.

All the band members are in fine form here. And the songwriting shows how creative and tight they were at the time. So it is no wonder that one of Hawkwind´s best songs is the opener: The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) is one of my favourites ever. A very inspired and well arranged and played space rock number, no less. The second track , Wind Of Change, is also outstanding, being a fine (and rare) climatic symphonic instrumental. And so on. There is no filler here, only very good stuff. Robert Calvert´s absence is not a bad thing (I never really liked his poetry interludes anyway. Specially during the vinyl days when it robbed precious time that could be filled with more music).

My CD came with four bonus tracks, of which only It´s So Easy is really a worth addition, the rest are just single (i.e., shortened or edited) versions of three tracks: Paradox, You Better Believe It and The Psychedelic Warlords. Otherwise the sound of my copy is crystal clear and very well balanced.

Conclusion: maybe Hawkwind´s best ever CD, at least on the prog fan point of view. It is also an excellent starting point if you want to know this groundbreaking band. A real masterpiece in progressive rock music. 5 stars.

The transformation starts with the very first notes, a sly dive into the space travelling music that Hawkwind should be famous for (in fact, its already legend!) and after the scintillating Space Ritual live masterpiece, this is the power duo studio albums (along with the magnificent Warrior on the Edge of Time) that historically define the most memorable musical travels of this rather odd band, who have been around and prolific for over 40 years. The 1974 version of this high-flying group of space cadets (that is who you are Captain Brock) were not only gifted instrumentalists, namely violinist/keysman Simon House and the thundering Lemmy bass attack but also composed some brilliant tracks that litter the two albums in question. By the time they released Quark, Strangeness and Charm , the line-up changes had shifted their sound to an equally but different punky-space prog style , in fact , remaining a very good album. The stun-worthy opener "The Psychedelic Warlords" is a supreme example of the Hawk appeal, a driving yet melodic space voyage that hooks you in and then hurls you deep into the void. It all starts with a spooky short intro and wham, riff time! Relentless beat, hammering first and then hammering at you, until 'you disappear in smoke and that ain't no joke!' Within the howling mellotron-infused intervals, the bass bombards like a howitzer, a snake-like determination to buzz the mind and numb it into submission. Guiratist Dave Brock is only happy to pound it through, along with phenomenal drummer Simon King, perhaps the most underrated stick man in prog because of his fancy of muscular beats that hypnotize into surrender. A tremendous beginning. As for their penchant for alternating rock tracks with electronica, what better manuscript than the next track, the fabulously keyboard- adorned "Wind of Change" one of the finest ambient pieces ever, majestically symphonic , yet burdened by some hidden melancholia as the mellotrons blast forward , the House violin caressing the sonic horizons with remarkable skill , a prog-rock classic . "D-Rider" is saxophonist Nik Turner's comp, a quasi early-Roxy Music sax intro that settles into another cosmic voyage, highlighted by some rifling drum fills amid the vaporous synths and the guitar riffing along for the ride ?pardon the pun! A very good track but not more. "Web Weaver" is almost San Francico sound circa 1968, hippy-trippy and loopy, featuring a blistering jam that is most conclusive. Cute and enjoyable! They get spacy again with the slow morphing "You Better Believe It" , where once again after a sweeping intro, the marshalling beat kicks into hyper gear and cannons away. A mid section gives the lads a stage to stretch their craft .This is not complex music but very powerful, especially in a live context as I have previously stated in my Space Ritual review. Suffice to say the following motto "SEE HAWKWIND LIVE AND YOU WILL LOVE", It's just not the same on albums? The title track is a piano-led composition (a rare Hawkwind event with all the synths raging) that again searches out the interstellar beauty amid the cosmic storms. The brisk "Lost Johnny" is for all intended purposes a pre-Motorhead Lemmy tune that is deceptively simple and hard, all bass and guitars played by the Ace of Spades himself. You could see how this material differed from the others, just like the short Del Dettmar ditty "Goat Willow", a synthy breeze. This impressive classic ends with the moody "Paradox", once more offering a marshalling beat that explodes into a power groove , the guitars trashy within a synthesized whirlwind. Throw in some incredibly vivid artwork and you have a classic

4.5 Starship warps

Although Hawkwind's previous two studio albums were excellent, neither succeeded at capturing the power and might of their live set; Hall of the Mountain Grill, however, pulled this off masterfully. The album juxtaposes some of the most complex and intricate material had cooked up to date, like the title track - spiced up to no end by Simon House's delicately handled mellotron and violin contributions - with some of their heaviest rockers, like the Lemmy-penned Lost Johnny, which adds a psychedelic space rock edge to the dark, bass-driven story of an out of control drug addict. This and the subsequent Warrior On the Edge of Time represent the absolute peak of Hawkwind's studio work.

I was pretty excited about listening to this album. I had heard about Hawkwind on a prog documentary I had watched on YouTube and I didn't know that this was Lemmy Kilminster's band before he started Motorhead. I chose to get In the Hall... because reviewers on this site gave it a strong recommendation.

First the disappointing aspect: the sound is pretty poor. After having heard so many re- mastered albums, I have a visual image of the music, and a good re-mastering makes the music seem like a 3D map where each instrument seems to stand out and can be felt. A poor re-mastering is more like a topographic map where the lines tell you where you should see relief in height and depth but in the end it still is only a flat map. This re-mastered version sounds like the 2D map. The drums are just there, as is everything else. It's a flat soundscape, which is such a disappointment since the music is quite alive and rich in sound and variety, and some numbers are very catchy.

As far as progressive music goes, the basic songs and music are not much more than aggressive rock songs of the seventies. Where the music gets more proggy is in the instrumentals especially. Mellotron, piano, and other instruments find their way into compositions of varying styles and moods. The actual songs with lyrics are usually composed of driving guitar, drums and bass without much technical going on, particularly the guitar which mostly sounds like grunge power chords. But then there're the spacey keyboards effects, and fiddle or violin playing also figures in the recipe. Overall, I really like the musical concept of the album and I often find The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke), You'd Better Believe It, and Lost Johnny playing in my head fairly regularly.

Learning to love this album (except for the sound quality) rather quickly, I tried to listen to samples from Doremi Fasol Latido and Warrior on the Edge of Time on Amazon but again the sound quality seems pretty poor. I read that some of the master tapes of Hawkwind's recordings were lost and so the re-mastering is not done from the master recordings. I read Rush had this problem with at least one of their earlier recordings as well. Too bad. With a sound boost I think Hawkwind would really be impressive to listen too. Even still, I can recommend this album if heavy space rock is on your list of preferable listening material.

This is essentially Hawkwind Hawkwinding. If you've familiarized yourself with a couple of Hawkwind releases from around this time period, HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL is not much of a surprise. Thick, psychedelic guitars, extended spaced-out jams, synth sound effects, a consistent rhythm section, the occasional break into acoustic rock to alter dynamics; it's all here in chunks that newcomers can adjust to fairly well. The addition of veteran keyboard/violin player Simon House only adds a few touches to the already established sound of sci-fi raucous guitars.

There are more regular pianos on this album than memory serves, and it's what makes the title cut so haunting and intriguing. The song ''Web Weaver'' is in practice much like the acoustic driven songs of earlier lore, but with much more jangle and an overall happier tone, something out of character for the band. ''Lost Johnny'' has a more straight blues-rock approach to it (it was written by Lemmy, go figure) even if there are still psychedelic undertones.

As for the rest, the style that Hawkwind had mastered on DOREMI FASOL LATIDO makes a return appearance here. Yes, ''Disappear in Smoke'', ''You'd Better Believe It'' and ''Paradox'' fall into some of their better songs in this style, the whole album feels too much like Hawkwind is on cruise control, losing the mystique that made the previous DOREMI FASOL LATIDO so intriguing.

So, how does a counterculture 'People's Band' maintain its underground credentials after releasing a hit single ("Silver Machine", in 1972), quickly followed by a certified gold album ("Space Ritual") the next year? The answer: it doesn't. The fourth Hawkwind studio album found the group not only elevated to higher plateaus of commercial refinement, but also obviously thrilled with the new view.

After releasing LPs at a uniform rate of one-per-year since 1970, the band devoted themselves to constant touring for a while (staging their seminal Space Ritual set), which in turn triggered a shift in attitude and personnel. The classical violin and epic Mellotron played by newcomer Simon House introduced an almost symphonic grandeur to the Hawkwind sound, enhancing the band's cosmic obsessions to the nth degree, as illustrated in the luminous alien dreamscape depicted on the back cover.

But the album doesn't quite hold together as a consistent musical statement. 'Side Two' in particular is thrown off balance by the lopsided contrast between Simon House's gently nuanced solo acoustic piano in the title track and Lemmy's grindhouse "Lost Johnny", together bracketed by orphan live tracks recalling an earlier, edgier Hawkwind. None of which can match the album's now classic curtain raiser "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)", in which Hawkwind gets (almost) funky; or the romantic instrumental "Wind of Change": a rewarding departure for such lowbrow interplanetary travelers.

Symptoms of inevitable growing pains, maybe, for a group of musical outsiders suddenly flush with success and fame. It's possible that the notoriety of their hastily aborted "Urban Guerrilla" single helped scare the band straight as well. Whatever the motivation, Dave Brock and company were making a brave attempt to upgrade their unpolished identity and become respectable.

Softwind

4.5 stars

Very nice cover art for a pretty strange title. Important in HAWKWIND's discography, "Hall Of The Mountain Grill" is surprisingly smoother than their two previous heavy stoner studio releases. The band still plays efficient space rock, however the compositions now become shorter, less improvised, more focused and melodic. The arrival of Simon House at keyboards and violin brings a particular color to the music. He will be present on all remaining official HAWKWIND 70's albums.

The tracks "You'd Better Believe It" and "Paradox" might have been recorded live, although the audience cannot be heard.

The opener "The Psychedelic Warriors" is simply a classic from HAWKWIND. A soft space rock tune, with a hazy ambiance. The pretty instrumental "Wind Of Change" uses slow synthesizers layers and violins to create an aerial, melancholic ambiance. "D-rider" is a cool space metal song with electronic sound effects. The enjoyable "Web Weaver" reminds a little "You Know You're Only Dreaming" from the "In Search of Space" record. The rocky "You'd Better Believe It" is also pleasant and features multiple various solos, as well as Lemmy Kilmister at choirs.

The title track is in fact a short dark transition driven by piano and guitar. "Lost Johnny" is composed and sung by Lemmy. At this time, his voice is not as stony as in MOTÖRHEAD. A heavy scratchy rock tune, that the bassist will reuse later in a speeded-up version on his future band's debut album. Not much to say about the short experimental ambient "Goat Willow", rather anecdotic. The closing track, "Paradox", sounds very similar to "D-rider" during the beginning, but contains a powerful passage with an efficient space metal riff.

Compared to their previous albums, the music and flow is much better balanced. There are no genuinely weak tracks, however the songs tend to be a little less memorable and refreshing than on their two previous studio releases. Although the softest and maybe least known effort from HAWKWIND 's stoner period (1971-1975), "Hall Of The Mountain Grill" is nonetheless one of the band's best and most accessible albums. An essential listen for every space rock fan.

Prepare once again to take off aboard the spaceship...

The general formula of the first three albums of British space rockers HAWKWIND was to deliver a pummeling series of guitar riffing with a bass and drumming intensity to match accompanied by slinking swirlies of synthesizers that offered a psychedelic whirlwind affects over a well established rhythm section. After three studio albums and a phenomenal live offering, HAWKWIND experienced a major shakeup in its lineup with the loss of Robert Calvert who stocked the band with an ample supply of creative poetic prose and lyrical brilliance including his spoken word interpolations. If that wasn't bad enough, long time synthesizer wizard and production pioneer Del Dettmar also jumped ship thus leaving HAWKWIND in a most awkward position - either reinvent itself or perish.

Well up to the challenges of the world of change, HAWKWIND emerged all the better for it with its fourth album HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL which took its inspiration for the title from the 1875 Edvard Grieg score titled "In The Hall Of The Mountain King." The new lineup featured Simon House who was a classically trained violinist and keyboard player and had played with both High Tide and the Third Ear Band. The new lineup meant a new chapter and the band expanded its musical repertoire with gusto. The album showcased a considerable expansion not only compositionally but sonically and creatively with the use of new instrumentation and a focus on more diverse tracks that allowed hitherto suppressed elements that were insinuated but never really fully explored to find a new lease on life and became a major aspect of the the new HAWKWIND sound.

Starting off with the exceptionally strong track "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" the HAWKWIND stylistic approach became much more song oriented with extremely catchy melodies and a less bombastic backing of the guitar, bass and drums. The music exhibited a more balanced feel between the uptempo rock aspects and a symphonic keyboard backing that also found moments of jazzy saxophone squawking, flute runs and oboe. While the general HAWKWIND rhythm section had stayed pretty much in tact, the sophistication of the composition was allowed to step things up a few notches with lead vocalist Dave Brock offering a more diverse vocal style and lyrically speaking the band did not suffer one iota from the loss of Robert Calvert's departure. Taking things in a totally new direction began with the second track "Wind Of Change" which shifted the focus on an ambient instrumental space rock section before breaking back into the more rock oriented "D-Rider."

The beauty of the album is how it alternates between the heavier rockers and the softer pieces such as the piano-based "Web Weaver" which tames the guitars into the backing piece of unpredictable psychedelia while a piano roll provides the main melody and the band engages in some beautiful vocal harmonies followed by some bluesy guitar soloing and all accompanied by the same synth swirls that the band had become synonymous with. While the band engaged in a total remake of its sound, tracks like the heavy hitter "You'd Better Believe It" kept the past firmly placed in the present with an emphasis on the Lemmy fueled guitar riffs and bass and drum action however this time around it also featured Simon House's exquisite violin playing emphasized rather than the spacey synths of previous releases. The title track tames it all down again with a short orchestrated classical piano piece before unleashing the boogie rock guitar riff heavy "Lost Johnny" courtesy of Lemmy who would later cover in Motorhead.

The album perfectly ends with the strange short ambient meets flute track "Goat Willow" followed by the extremely addictive rocker "Paradox" with its perfect chord progressions, bass groove and contrapuntal synthesizer parts. The vocals are also of classic HAWKWIND mode and provides the most satisfying conclusion to what many consider one of HAWKWIND's highlights of its career. HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL has always been a love at first listen sorta album but after time it really sinks and showcases how the band stepped everything up in the absolutely perfect way by keeping the album well balanced, by offering totally new aspects to the band's sound without jettisoning everything that came before. In the time of great change HAWKWIND displayed on their fourth album a phenomenal step up in maturity in terms of songwriting, compositional arrangement and instrumental interplay. This is perhaps my favorite of all their albums but the entire early 70s stock is so beautiful it's hard to pick on any given day. Any way you slice it this is a HAWKWIND masterpiece.