a favorite mp3 blog of mine (egg city radio) has recently posted some vintage hawkwind live bbc show. i am familiar with the recording as hawkwind bbc radio one in concert. this recording is notable for several reasons. for one it features a favorite lineup, perhaps the definative early hawkwind ensemble which was responsible for the extremely consistent recordings from doremi faso latido, and space ritual. also it is mostly presented as 6 or 7 tracks but actually contains 10 pieces not counting the cutup introduction “countdown” and andy dunkley’s closing announcements. most importantly though, it is a live to tape recording which contains no overdubbing or remixing. it is pure live hawkwind. 

bbc radio one, is not as dramatic or quite as intense as its big brother, the double LP space ritual but it is free from the edit and overdubbing that was employed to make space ritual presentable and tidy for its grand presentation. it has been critisized for some of its more rough edges. some backing vocals are shamlessly out of tune and the live to tape production is more stark than space ritual and a little cleaner as well. for al its warts it is a more true representation of the band on its first major upswing. it also includes a great rendering of their hit, “silver machine”. because it hits a little harder at times and because it is a little more insane. despite its brevity and acid stained musicianship it is a fine recording whose weakest points don’t diminish its finer ones. the aleatory elements provided by nik turner’s flute wind (and sax hawking) as well as del detmar and dikmik’s electronics work as they weave in and pierce out through the would be, could be power trio of by dave brock’s psych-wah-guitar, lemmy’s lead bass and drummer simon king as he hammers out a limey version of the teutonic motorik beat. had brock had more earth bound intentions or had lemmy just taken over this could have been the first incarnation of motorhead. 

both the space ritual and bbc radio one open with the non album track “born to go”. over 10 minutes folded into what seems to be about 4. both also end with the piece “welcome to the future” a cynical spoken bit written by the absent robert calvert who had yet to take up permanent residence amongst the hawks to reign in their second golden era. “master of the universe”, “brainstorm”, and the hit that made it possible, “silver machine” are 3 of 4 of the acid rock anthems that this era are best known for. and while they amound to the bulk of the set in time it should be noted they saw fit to include the more electronic driven and experimental songs, “electronic no.1” and “earth calling” to punctuate the set. this along with the total freakout of “paranoia” from the debut LP are used to make the point that hawkwind are not some mere one trick pony. more than a rock band with some electronics flown over it all to make it seem novel. the electronics were as important as the guitars in what hawkwind were doing musicaly. the chaos they bring is crucial to the drama they are presenting for this was the embryonic version of their opera.

i find the radio one disc so important or at least interesting because for one it is a great recording by a band i happen to think is great. but also because even with calvert absent from the fold they are able to present a micro version of their collaboration which was the space rock opera: space ritual. the tour was conceived by hawkwind and calvert who was at the time only a contributor, not a full time member. though the short version lacks the grand scale and drama of its big brother it points out they could still do it in 45 minutes and it would still remain effective. the rockers, the narratives, the experimentalism are all presented as equals as on the double LP. radio one, takes essentially the same trip as space ritual only in a much shorter space. the narrarations lend to an overall feeling this was some kind of concept piece or a bastard cousin of some kind of performance art fused with rock, where the music didn’t totaly blow for once. in ways similar to the dramatic van der graaph generator and peter hammill’s work but with a more overt sense of humor, at least musically speaking. 

spoken word pieces backed by organic soundtracks emphasize the influence current science fiction and fantasy writers had on the group. the work of roger zelazny, philip k dick, and on and off collaborator michael moorcock cannot be overlooked. moorcock wrote what is perhaps the groups most famous spoken word piece, “sonic attack”. an allusion to burroughs’ the naked lunch appears in the space ritual credits for the group’s peripheral members as “heavy metal kids”. during the second golden era this idea would be taken a step further by robert calvert’s lyrics. moorcock’s contributions to this first golden era though are just as crucial for two reasons. for one they are a fitting literary analog to the music of hawkwind and for another in that they allow the group to serve up some of their interesting stabs at ambient soundscapes. the words and the accompanying sounds flesh out the overall patchwork of elements that make hawkwind something beyond just a good stoner-space-rock outfit. to a minor degree, the visual side of hawkwind’s live experience would be represented in their albums sleeves, dancer, stacia would appear in the credits as would the designs of barney bubbles. these couldn’t replace the liquid light show they used in concert, but to their credit they tried to make their sleeves something psychedelic too, without resorting to flower power iconography or jargon.

after two more stellar albums, lemmy quit/was fired and formed motorhead which need no introduction. their appeal to both punk and metal contingents echoes hawkwind’s cross pollination. in fact the reformed sex pistols have covered “silver machine” as an opener on their ’02 tour. in context of the time of this first golden era it should be noted as the grateful dead in america once inspiring elements of the early hawkwind, were working back to more traditional, earthy, roots explorations, the hawks were digging deeper into what was happening at the time and fusing their twice removed blooze with the advancing germans and their kosmische musik. in doing so they absorb can’s ability to allow chance to fall seamlessly into more disciplined grooves. and in comparison to their countrymen, hawkwind were a greasy and grinding side of heavy rock that echoes and exceeds early black sabbath in some ways. fuzzed out guitar and bass are signatures for both but hawkwind have a more potent sense of adventure which makes their more lengthy and noodly moments more digestable than some of the more indulgent sabbath soloing or drawn out jams. but to compare the two is not exactly fair. they are coming from different places and taking different trips. 

following this first golden era as i call it, at least two more periods of activity which are marked by exceptional albums for their time which both embrace the new and reject the old just enough to keep things moving foward and fresh. their name would be dropped in albums by the fall, the sisters of mercy and even john lydon’s autobiography. their sounds echo even still thoughout cult rockdome and ambient houses. this period of hawkwind for me also represents the enduring spirit of the late 60’s psychedilia by embracing the dark as well as the light and striking a balance. when the summer of love ended hawkwind was there to carry on instead of turning around and back tracking to lite FM and later floydian pomp. as a testament to this they are still going in various forms, motorhead is still goig, nik turner is always into something. attention passengers of the space ship hawkwind, this is your captain speaking, your captain is dead. 

as a guide to the first golden era i suggest everything. that’s right, they’re all good. but if you need to get only one or two, space ritual is the one. doremi fasol latido is the first one with lemmy and a heavy side or raw space rock. in search of space is very good but a couple of weaker numbers make it seem a tad inconsistent. the s/t first album is decent. again a few folksy parts but also a few relentless noise tracks blending into a few good heavy rocking tunes. hall of the mountain grille features simon house on synth and electric violin and is more textured and laid back. the finale, warrior on the edge of time is the brock-turner-lemmy-house-detmar line up’s farewell. it is another mini-opera with droning and narrative pieces whose dramatic and conceptual undercurrent is similar to that of the space ritual. and it is lemmy’s driving composition “motorhead” that prefigures the group’s second golden era with a more streamlined, proto new wave sound with robert calvert joining as vocalist. they would abandon chaotic, freakout electronic environments for more textured synthesized sounds. lyrics being brought to the front the music begins to embrace accesability more than in the past.