HAWKWIND - HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL @ 50

 

Celebrating its golden jubilee today, hitting the half century mark on its journey through deep space, the forth studio album by space-rock pioneers, Hawkwind, Hall of the Mountain Grill, was released on September 6th, 1974. The album saw the group going through one of its many lineup changes, with with lyricist/vocalist Robert Calvert and electronic effects wizard, Dik Mik departed and replaced with Simon House on synthesizer, Mellotron and electric violin. Future Motörhead founder, Lemmy Kilmister, was still with the band, though this would be his last time working with them before he got dumped while on tour in the US.

Despite the turbulence of the personnel changes, particularly significant without the conceptual guidance of Calvert, the album is still considered by many as a career highlight. In the wake of Robert Calvert's departure, lead vocals for the album were performed by Dave Brock, along with Lemmy on "Lost Johnny" and Nik Turner on "D-Rider". The band's line-up would continue to shift during the year. Del Dettmar left prior to the release of Hall of the Mountain Grill to live in Canada, and Alan Powell joined as an additional drummer. Science fiction author and friend of the group, Michael Moorcock, stepped in to read poetry at their concerts.[

The album's title was a nod to Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King", and to a Portobello Road cafe called The Mountain Grill (now closed), which was frequented by the band and their contemporaries from the Ladbroke Grove scene in the early 1970s. Hawkwind's frequent solo support act and occasional live guest musician Steve Peregrin Took had a song "The Ballad of the Mountain Grill," released in 1995 on a Cleopatra Records CD under alternative title "Flophouse Blues (in the Mountain Grill)". At one point, underground newspaper International Times had its print-works in the upstairs of the Grill.

Hall of the Mountain Grill reached number 16 on the UK album charts and number 110 in the US. Retrospective reviews have been generally positive. Though they were critical of the title track, AllMusic called Hall of the Mountain Grill "The band's best studio album" and "the quintessential guitar-oriented space rock record". Head Heritage were far less impressed, contending that the departures of Robert Calvert and Dik Mik were losses that Hawkwind could not remotely compensate for, and that the entire album "has the undeniable feel of a stop-gap album released half-desperately to keep the machinery of Hawkwind's constant touring well-greased". Regardless of the lack of critical consensus, it's one of the band's albums that I can return to repeatedly for a proper dose of their patented intergalactic musical excursions.

HAWKWIND - QUARK STRANGENESS AND CHARM - @ 45

 

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.