HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL

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.