I always hear a lot about Hawkwind online, but I’ve been putting off listening to them for quite a while. I think this is in part due to my love for the Grateful Dead – it’s taken quite a while to listen to be willing to listen to anything other than the Dead, and also because in the past I was somewhat averse to listening to new albums, especially from bands I had never listened to, that weren’t personally recommended by someone I know. That being said, I’ve really been getting into that sort of psychedelic space rock from bands from that same musical space like Gong. Also a fun tidbit about the band I recently learned is Lemmy from this band is the very same Lemmy from Motorhead, so I’m stoked to listen to this one tonight.
“Assault and Battery / The Golden Void” starts out the album quite interestingly with something of an almost lo-fi sounding orchestral string piece as the main platform the rest of the instruments work off of. The way the other instruments play in though is incredibly smooth. I can definitely hear how they may have played into the sound of Spacemen 3. It’s quite an interesting piece, with little solo-type parts hear and there but the entire song has the steadily rocking piece grooving the whole time. It’s not really very dark sounding, but it kind of is in the sense that it’s strange. There’s a really awesome sound happening with the synth/keyboards with the guitars. Wow, that percussion section is really sweet. The song feels like it’s building so much momentum and definitely has direction, but when the vocals kick back in, it’s almost as if you hadn’t gone anywhere at all – super impressive. This is one absolutely epic opening track. I think it may have just shifted to “The Golden Void” portion, though I cannot say for sure. All I can say is that I’m really digging this one. That saxophone adds such an awesome dimension to it. And the keyboards almost remind me of Manfred Mann in a certain way. I can’t believe it took me so long to listen to Hawkwind.
“The Wizard Blew His Horn” is quite a short tune compared to its predecessor, and there’s such a different sounding song. It’s spacey, echoey, and induces an interesting headspace.
Wow, that transition is absolutely sweet. “Opa-Loka” starts out like waves going through water and time at the same moment. It’s got a nice steady feel to it, and definitely feels like it’s slowly building up to something. This one sounds like somewhat of a Spiritualized tune to me. It seems to be an instrumental, or at least it is up to this point. It’s almost as if the song is revolving in space – really sweet. I’m honestly getting lost in the tune more than I even realized, it’s quite captivating to me.
Wow, that transition to “The Demented Man” is smooth as can be to my ear. This song adds somewhat of an almost holy element to the song, with the acoustic guitar playing, the somewhat of a church chorus singing in the background as well as the possible organs I might be hearing, and just the way the vocals are laid out. The acoustic guitar is really awesome with its steady repetition.
“Magnu” starts out side two with an ominous windy sound, that the electric guitar promptly plays off of. Wow, those vocals sound inter-dimensional to me. The background instrumentation gives a nice steady platform for the song to perform on, while the vocals and saxophone play off one another in a cosmic sort of way. Wow, I really dig the way they play with the soundscape. These synths are off the charts; they’re swirling around in circles and shapes I’ve never conceived. Each instrument definitely gets their share of spacey noises in. One of the synths was absolutely screeching, and it was wicked sweet. Somehow there’s still a song structure you can hear in the song with all that cosmic chaos happening.
Wow, I didn’t even realize that the album switched to playing “Standing at the Edge” until the lyrics came on. Absolutely seamless transitions between songs. Wow, super strange, almost dark, and super inter-dimensional space sounding track happening, and extremely psychedelic. Really sweet to hear that headspace..
“Spiral Galaxy 28948” starts out like an alien spaceship is landing on Earth. Wow, it switches to an absolutely awesome psychedelic shuffle sound. This one sounds to be an instrumental. I really love that guitar swishing around in the background while everything else is chaotically going on. I really dig this composition for sure. The synths have almost a twinkling starry space effect going on.
“Warriors” has another seamless transition to it, much like the rest of the album, and the intro reminds me of a drums/space portion of a Grateful Dead show. The lyrics are more akin to talking in this one, more so creating that psychedelic headspace than anything. Wow, the effects are absolutely sick.
Once again, I didn’t realize the next track even started. “Dying Seas” has almost a sea shanty feel to it, but more chaotic and spacier for sure. Wow, those synths are absolutely sweet, almost like they’re being played underwater with this one. The saxophone has added such an interesting element to this whole album.
“Kings of Speed” was the original final track to the album, and it definitely feels like things are being tied up. That looming darkness of most of the rest of the album is replaced by something a bit more uplifting sounding, though definitely psychedelic in nature. This one feels like a nice jam-piece to finish off the album, almost a conclusion to a journey of sorts. It seems Lemmy may have taken some influence from this song into his song, “Ace of Spades”, with Motorhead.
“Motorhead (Bonus Track)” features the bass much more prominently than any other song on the album. Definitely an interesting addition to the album, and brings a bit more depth of sound to the already vast space the band creates. This song almost sounds a bit punk rock to me, and wow those strings in this one are wicked awesome, almost bluegrassish – I think it might be a fiddle of some sort – unlike anything I can remember from the rest of the album. This song is a pretty fun one to listen to, honestly.
I can safely say that Hawkwind is a very exciting band that fans of psychedelic and space rock will definitely enjoy. I’ve really been getting into the space rock genre lately. Definitely an album I’ll be able to revisit sooner than later, I feel like there are things and layers I didn’t come close to catching with just a single play-through. And most definitely enjoyable to listen to.
-A