Last But Not Least

Pezband : Baby It's Cold Outside

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Four tracks from 1977 that I must mention before the year is out.

The Big Man himself, Clarence Clemons, played sax on this Chicago power pop band's self-titled debut album. Patient listeners will hear Clemons at the end of this shoulda-been-a-smash that shouldn't be confused with the "rapey" Christmas classic.

Larry Wallis : Police Car

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An in house producer for Stiff Records, who once spent time in The Pink Fairies and as an early member of Motorhead, Larry Wallis released "Police Car"/"On Parole" produced by Nick Lowe, and backed by two members of Eddie And The Hot Rods; bassist Paul Gray, and drummer Steve Nicol. Like everything Lowe touched in 1977, it's a solid slice of pop.

Hawkwind : Hassan I Sahba

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Yes, I did a post about Hawkwind's surprisingly pleasing Quark, Strangeness and Charm already, but the single "Hassan I Sahba" deserves its own mention. The driving Eastern inspired number is an audience favorite during blissed out live shows. There are many people who say Quark is their favorite Hawkwind album.

Cluster and Eno : Selange

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From the highly regarded pairing of German electronic group Cluster and Brian Eno, in full ambient mode, comes this decidedly upbeat instrumental. Eno was everywhere in 1977 and he'd be everywhere in 1978. Only Bruce Springsteen is likely to get more mentions next year if I can convince myself to continue...

You'd Be About 60 Now

Hawkwind : Spirt of the Age

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On June 17, Hawkwind released Quark, Strangeness and Charm, an album full of all three qualities. Quark, not to be mistaken for the sound a duck makes, is a scientific term for a subatomic particle. It's the kind of thing science fiction buffs long time Hawkwind associate Michael Moorcock and the band's new vocalist Robert Calvert could spend hours discussing. Moorcock's friend, Michael Butterworth, has just written a SF novel, The Time of the Hawklords, about a fantasy version of the band whose instruments has the power to save the world.

Ignored by Rolling Stone and regarded only as the birthplace of Motorhead by Spin, Hawkwind received little fanfare in America and even less after bassist Lemmy Kilmister . I was one of those who almost didn't bother listening to Quark. So I was surprised by how much I liked this album. It's a new sound for Hawkwind, more poppy especially on the title cut which sounds like a Roxy Music outtake.

For some fans, this is the favorite album. I've actually had a hard time figuring out what song to spotlight. "Hassan-i Sabbah" has a cool Middle Eastern vibe. "Damnation Alley" is a post apocalyptic rocker. But I've settled on "Spirit of the Age" which begins with ear splitting electronic noises before settling into a krautock vibe and lyrics that tell the tale of a space traveler who has to leave his girlfriend on earth:

I would've liked you to have been deep frozen too 
And waiting still as fresh in your flesh for my return to Earth 
But your father refused to sign the forms to freeze you 
Let's see you'd be about 60 now, 
And long dead by the time I return to Earth 
My time held dreams were full of you, 
As you were when I left; 
Still underage
Your android replica is playing up again
Oh, it's no joke 
When she comes she moans another's name

Back On The Streets

Hawkwind : Back on the Streets

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On January 28 1977, the Lemmy-less Hawkwind released the rockin' single "Back on the Streets". An NME reviewer wrote : "Here you get cranked-out basic chords designed to make your eardrums bleed, lyrics that are unintelligible apart from the chanted title-chorus, and the rhythm section playing like they enjoy feeling those blisters squish against their instruments".

40 Year Itch : Footprints in the Sands of Time

Hawkwind : Assault and Battery Part 1

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   There are some Hawkwind fans who will still tell you Warrior on the Edge of Time, released on May 9, 1975, is the band's all time best album. It certainly gets started in a strong way with the double barrel blast of  "Assault and Battery Part 1/ The Golden Void Part 2". Both feature two drummers bashing away together behind swirling mellotrons and Lemmy's raggedly roaring bass turned up to 11. 

If the following lyrics sound familiar:

 "Lives of great men all remind us,

We make our lives sublime, 

And departing leave behind us

Footprints in the sands of time"

...perhaps you were paying attention in your American Lit class. They are the words of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-182) in "The Psalm of Life".

40 Year Itch : Astral-Planing, Floating Free

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   If you're only going to buy one Hawkwind album your entire life, it should be Hall of the Mountain Grill, released in September of 1974. It's true that two earlier albums, Space Ritual and Doremi Fasol Latdio,  have achieved more legendary status but they are monochromatic silver-machine sludge fests compared to this album.

   Being a psychedelic space ranger is tough work. Band members would come and go. But in 1974, Hawkwind had something you couldn't find on earlier records: time to get things right.

    Drummer Simon King said "The Doremi album lacked production. I wasn't really happy with the Space Ritual either. But the new one – I'm quite pleased with it. I like side one because I think it's something we haven't done before. Yeah – I'm pleased with half of the new album." 

Side one features both "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)","D-Rider" and, on its second cut,"Wind of Change" a rumbling so loud and low you'll believe Hawkwind invented sensurround sound ( coming two month's before the film Earthquake).

  This would be the last album to feature bassist Lemmy Kilmeister , who was booted from the band in 1975, during one of Hawkwind's ill-fated North American tours.  He went on to form Motorhead.

A 1001Songs Top 25 Album of 1974

40 Year itch : Every Inch Exists in Miles

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" In my own evolution as an artist and as a fan , Hawkwind were second only to the Stooges in importance to me"
   Jello Biaffra, Dead Kennedys

The sonic space rock assassins Hawkwind were riding high on their Top Ten single "Silver Machine" when they set out on their 1972 Space Ritual tour with dancers ( including the voluptuous Stacia), a mime, the extraordinary lighting effects of  Jon Smeeton and resident poet Robert Calvert. Their ambition: to create a multi-media sci fi interplanetary rock opera while melting ear drums all across the UK.

   Calvert explained the story line succintly:

 The basic idea is that a team of starfarers are in a coma...and the opera is a presentation of the dreams that they are having in deep space.




The resulting double live album Space Ritual/Alive in Liverpool and London became Hawkwind's most successful ever...leaping into the English Top 10 in 1973. Many of the better tunes roar past the nine minute mark repeating the same riffs until they seem to be swirling around your head. In that respect they weren't all that different from what was happening in the Krautrock scene. The ultimate head trip/ road trip album.

40 Year Itch: Space Chuggin

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Space rock pioneers Hawkwind followed up their #3 UK charting single "Silver Machine" with their third album  Doremi Fasol Latido, a record that would appeal to the same "fanboys" of the early 70's who liked sci fi novels, prog rock and dropping acid in their basement apartments. This is the first album to feature bassist Lemmy from Motorhead and drummer Simon King. Doremi Fasol Latido was recorded at  Rockfield Studios in Wales which Lemmy described as a barn surrounded by mattresses. To appeal to the fanboys, the back cover includes the legend: 

 The Saga of Doremi Fasol Latido is a collection of ritualistic space chants, battle hymns and stellar songs of praise as used by the family clan of Hawkwind on their epic journey to the fabled land of Thorasin.

In his review for Sounds, Martin Hayman  gets to the essence of space rock's appeal:

The bass and drums batter on with unflagging pace, synthesisers swirl and whistle around the thunderous block riffs whose endless repetition generates that numbed hypnosis, tuneless and menacing voices incant largely incomprehensible lyrics. This is not to knock Hawkwind: the sound they are getting is thicker, fuller, more convincing than ever before. Its total effect is pretty devastating, but the means by which the effect is achieved is no revolution in sound."

The subsequent tour included dancer Stacia who was the subject of an earlier post. This clip includes some NSFW shots of Stacia and Lemmy's explanation of how he joined Hawkwind.

40 Year Itch : It Flies Out Of A Dream

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On July 13, 1972 UK space rockers Hawkwind were shown on the BBC's "Top of the Pops" program performing their #3 hit "Silver Machine". The band felt ill at ease with idea of miming the song on a sound stage so the BBC recorded their July 7 concert at Dunstable Civic Hall.

 As you might imagine from just watching the first few seconds of the clip, the band had a difficult time not being upstaged by their six foot tall "happily bisexual" sometimes quite nude dancer "Stacia" whose measurements according to Penthouse Magazine were 42-28-39.

 This performance would haunt her in a way: "When we made Silver Machine we attracted a Top 20 audience of filthy little boys who came along to stare at me " she told Record Mirror in 1974.

Stacia wasn't sure at the time where her dancing would lead. She told Penthouse:

 "I want to try everything. You know, if I got an acting role, I'd take it...but it could only be in a horror movie. One guy in the States said I looked like Dracula's Aunt Trixie. We all invited him to dinner and he thought we were going to beat him up."

 Stacia stayed with Hawkwind until 1975. Today she is an artist living in Ireland.

Hawkwind is still going strong. Their 27th studio album was released in April of 2012.

We'll be revisiting Hawkwind in November.