The Psychedelic Warlords

The undisputed masters of space rock would have to be Hawkwind. They have a strange sci-fi presence coupled with good old fashioned fun. Their music is primarily "three-chord" driven masterpieces that run like time clocks. They use synthesisers much in the same way cars used V8 engines: to power up and go! I've heard no dynamic musicianship in this band, though drummer Simon King was very good. Still, Hawkwind proves that not all prog bands had to be mind-blowing musicians.

Hawkwind was like The Grateful Dead in the sense that they have a tremendous, die-hard following. To be a Hawk is to be a dedicated follower of the band, and a trekker of space and time. I like to think of them as "space bikers".

My first experience with Hawkwind was a live radio broadcast called "The King Biscuit Flour Hour". This was an hour-long live event every Saturday night. I want to say that it started at 10 pm, but I'm not sure. Each week, a band was featured live in concert. This was a program that we all looked forward to eagerly. One evening in particular, they announced that the concert of the week was going to from "Hawkwind." Hawkwind? Who's that? Never heard of 'em, but once I did, I never forgot them.

I believe that the station that broadcasted these concerts was KQIV, and Saturday nights were something to look forward to. Also, as a sort of stoner notoriety, they also featured every Saturday evening, "The National Lampoon Radio Hour". For a guy like myself, Hawkwind was the ultimate in mental space travel. That live radio Hawkwind concert was truly exceptional, and I'd never heard anything like it in my life.

Not even Pink Floyd came close to the same galaxy as these guys. The music was powerful and driven, motored on intergalactic sheets of free-form noodling and power chords. The Hawks were networked with synthesizers, wah-wah pedals, and one powerful drummer that kept the Hawkship cruising at light speed. Hawkwind immediately became a strong part of my Prog library.

Though not nearly as complex as the musical signatures of most prog bands of the era, Hawkwind anchored their spot in the category by being basically, from another planet altogether. The complex musicianship that so defined prog rock just plain wasn't necessary. Hawkwind was a space jam band plain and simple.

My first album by them was "Doremi Fasol Latido". I think that this is probably one of the best albums they ever produced. (Embarrassingly, it took me about a year before I figured out the title!) It certainly contains some of their finest works such as "Brainstorm", "Space is Deep", "Lord of Light", and "Down Thru the Night". All of these songs became concert standards.

What really appealed to me most about Hawkwind was their jamming style. They could take a song and grind for 10 minutes on just one chord, or a couple of chords, and you never really noticed anything but the hypnosis of their technique. Sadly, I never saw hawkwind play live, in fact, I've never even seen a video of them with the exception of "Silver Machine." The first time I ever heard "Silver Machine", I couldn't believe what a great, powerful, and kick-ass song this really was. I wanted it to go on forever. It was on a compilation album called "Roadhawks" that I hadn't even acquired until 1976.

Now, was there ever a hotter song than "Hurry on Sundown"? It still revs me up whenever I hear it. Prior to the "Roadhawks" album, I purchased "Hall of the Mountain Grill" in 1974. My three favorites were: "Psychedelic Warlords (That Disappear in Smoke)," "Wind of Change", and "D-Rider".

By this time, I was really getting a taste for the marvelous drumming of Simon King. He was a power hitter, much like Cozy Powell. Simon was a true driving force behind Hawkwind just as much as the rest of the band. This is the one aspect that I truly admire about Hawkwind, was the fact that everyone was an equal part of an engine that created an overall sound. Unlike many Prog bands that focused on styles revolving around solos, Hawkwind was like a solo act with each member performing together as an engine. Similar to Tangerine Dream, they created one unique overall sound. Del Dettmar who provided a blanket of synthesizers that painted the galaxy, was a strong contributor to the Hawk sound in the early 70's.

"Space Ritual" the live 2-record set was in my opinion, the greatest Hawkwind album of all time (next to Doremi of course). This record proved that they could bring their studio sound to the stage to a point where the listener would never be able to tell the difference. Hawkwind was unique. They employed a female dancer named Stacia, who performed her own style of musical interpretation dancing as the band jammed on.

As stated on Wikipedia (edited): "Stacia was six feet tall, and an attractive and imposing figure of a woman by any standard, and often augmented her visual impact by performing clad only in iridescent or luminescent paint."

Hawkwind teamed with science fiction author Michael Moorcock who wrote novels about the band as fictitious adventures. Moorcock even performed on stage at times with readings and vocal narratives that introduced various songs. One of which was "Sonic Attack" from the indelibly popular 2-record live album "Space Ritual" Moorcock also did readings during certain songs as well.