I knew absolutely nothing of the British space rock band Hawkwind until quite recently, with the retrospective listening project that has since become this website.
It seems to me that I once checked out a band I’d heard was influenced by Hawkwind, and that band reminded me of Led Zeppelin. But I feel I must be misremembering this, because Hawkwind sounds nothing like Zeppelin—their music has more to do with the extended propulsive trance of Krautrock, or the hazy guitar swirl of Sonic Youth in their longer, more ambient pieces.
This isn’t music you listen to for tunes or hooks, exactly, and certainly not for rousing choruses or emotionally resonant lyrics. No, it’s all about the roar of the noise, the interminable rush of wind in an aural storm. You don’t move much to the beat, other than perhaps a slight nodding of the head—rather, you lay back, space out, and attain pure bliss.
Nowadays, Hawkwind is probably best known as the starting place of Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, who would later move on to form Motörhead—yet another band that I’d heard of but never listened to seriously until recently, and which also proved to be much better than I’d anticipated. But Hawkwind is certainly worth a listen in its own right.
Here are two playlists of Hawkwind at their finest.
Playlist 1
The best place to start your Hawkwind experience is their live double-LP, Space Ritual. Here’s a 1-hour condensed version. Great stuff.
Playlist 2
This playlist provides highlights from Hawkwind’s studio albums. Sadly, I’ve short-changed what is probably their best studio release, Doremi Fasol Latido, simply to avoid duplication of songs from the live playlist. But there’s plenty of other good stuff here.
Note: I’ve stuck with the early years here—although such albums as Quark, Strangeness and Charm have some worthy tracks, the poppier feel doesn’t seem to fit with the sound here. Plus, I’ve already gone over my standard CD-length playlist length.
Cover Art:
- Space Ritual: Source, Discogs.com, Fair use.
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