Even the short lived name change to Hawklords is good!
I but these guys on the back burner of investigation for so long because I assumed they were another stoner jam band with twenty albums of pointless noodling, I was totally wrong! The only segment of their catalog I haven’t checked out yet is the post early 80s stuff. The fans who hated the Calvert period are idiots, you can tell them I said that btw
Listening to Quark Strangeness and Charm right now and its been a long time since a album almost instantly jumped into my favorite list, I mean scifi themed prog rock with a song about young Einstein’s search for love?
Good for you for listening. Now go find some Gong. And some Soft Machine. And some Caravan. And while you’re at it, you might as well get used to seeing the name Daevid Allen.
I’m very selective when it comes to Hawkwind. When they are good, they are very good, but when they are bad…
My favourite album is Hall Of The Mountain Grill, which benefitted from the inclusion of the amazing Simon House. Incidentally, that Wiki article is wrong in one respect: the titualr cafe was not in Portobello Road, but Ladbroke Grove; I lived just around the corner from it at the time.
Just to correct myself: my memory is playing tricks. The Mountain Grill Cafe was at 275 Portobello Road. In my defence, I lived on one of the roads that intersect Ladbroke Grove and Portobello Road; I was just getting my corners mixed up.
(I know this is nitpicking in the extreme, and that no-one is really interested, but…)
Excellent band, of a certain English breed, if I can be so bold.
I like the story of how Lemmy came to leave, you normally get cited ‘musical differences’ but with this band it was recreation drug differences that caused the departure - Lemmy was a speed freak and the rest of the band were properly into psychedelics, which is obv. incompatible when you’re on tour and one of you want to drink, fuck and fight for three day and the rest want to explore Middle Earth. Bless 'em.
Whoops! You’re right, of course. I could have sworn I typed “which includes”. But it was late, and the sun was in my eyes, and I shouldn’t have drunk all that cough syrup.
I totally agree with this. It’s pretty much true for any prog music/band, but Hawkwind could be the poster child band for this sentiment.
Snowboarder Bo: While I agree that your choice of bands can’t be surpassed for their quality, I don’t think they are quite in the same genre. Hawkwind were part of the Ladbroke/Westbourne Grove scene, which included the Deviants, the Pink Fairies, Junior’ Eyes and Quintessence. All fine bands.
Your lot, as I am sure you know, are from the Canterbury scene.
Well, I was just going for spacey-prog-folkish bands (except for Chrome) with that short list, not for a locale-centered list.
I’m a huge fan of all of Mick Farren’s endeavors, but Deviants weren’t very prog, and Pink Fairies were, to me, much more psychedelic rock/art-noise than prog-rock. Plus Pink Fairies were much more like the MC5 or the Stooges in their attitude, writing mostly about social issues and revolution rather than about crazy space elves or something. You’re right that I prolly should have included some Pink Fairies in my list, tho; they have more than a few awesome songs and far too small a fan base. I’m on my iPad at work atm, so it’s difficult to do youtube in my browser, but if someone wants to post a link to Do It or Street Urchin, those are both excellent tunes.
I used to have Battersea Power Station on cassette (recorded from a friend’s LP) but to me Junior’s Eyes is kind of like Boston’s Ultimate Spinach: they showed promise, and weren’t terrible, but they never really ever found an “A” game, if ya know what I mean.
Quintessence was similar, except that I don’t think they even found their “B” game.
Another band that I should have mentioned, because they were truly awesome despite only releasing one album, is Tomorrow. Imagine all the good parts of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd without the crappy parts. Short(ish) songs, but lots of tempo changes and excellent guitar (from a young Steve Howe). Terrific lyrics. I always think that this album must have been what Andy Partridge was most listening to when he was working on the Dukes of Stratosphear album.
I have never thought of Hawkwind as being very prog - more steamrollery, in a good way.
I loved the Deviant’s first album, Ptoof, with the amazing fold out sleeve. I was also very keen on Quintessence. They were very involving live, and they had some very adventurous album sleeves too.
Hey Nine, check this out: I found the whole Deviant’s album Ptooff on youtube! To everyone else: if you’re a fan of old Zappa & the Mothers, and you’ve never heard the Deviants, you should give this a listen. Mick Farren totally fuckin’ rocks.
