Marking
45 years in orbit, Hawkwind’s seventh studio album, Quark Strangeness
and Charm, was released on June 17th, 1977. Coming in at a time when
the UK was besieged by the punk revolution, it saw the group tightening
its sound into a more concise attack while struggling to keep the
cohesion of the group following a number of upheavals in personnel.
In
terms of the group’s lineup, the biggest change was that this was their
first album without co-founder Nik Turner. His departure was followed
by drummer Allan Powell, while bassist Paul Rudolph was dumped from the
band in the middle of recording the album. All these changes put the
focus on Robert Calvert as the groups primary front-man, who stepped up
to the plate in fine style, offering a distinctive voice for the group
backed by inventive lyrics with a deft sense of humor. In fact,
according to some critics, he upstaged the band with the quality of his
work. But that’s a bit unfair as guitarist Dave Brock kept his riffs
tight and economical in a manner that was appropriate for the times and
Simon House offered up some fine violin parts. The rhythm section may
have been a little disjointed as the replacement bass player had to
overdub his parts, replacing the recordings Rudolph had laid down for
the bed tracks with the new drummer. As such, the linking between the
drums and bass may not have been as aligned as it could have been if
they’d been able to record together.
Despite all the upheaval,
the album was well received both critically and commercially and still
holds up as a notable entry in the group’s canon. I find it sticks to
its melodic hooks with a firm grip while steering clear of the jam band
meandering which defined some of their previous works. For “space
rock”, the "trips" feel to the point and solidly conceived. As an
updated and slightly stripped down version of the band’s sound, I think
it works exceptionally well and has stood the test of time, musically.
