NIK TURNER

One of the more popular solo efforts from the many former members of space-rock legends Hawkwind, saxophonist Nik Turner's 'Sphinx: Xintoday' saw the light of day just as his former band-mates were chucking in the chunky, proto-metal riffs and tripped-out madness in favour of a more measured, new wave approach, a change-of-style that would elongate the group's stuttering career deep into the 20th century - and beyond. Like many solo efforts from ex-progressive rock stalwarts, Turner was ably assisted on tape by many of his mates, with Gong members Steve Hillage(guitar), Miquette Giraudy(voices) and Mike Howlett(bass), Hawkwind alumni Tim Blake(synth) and ex-Hawkwind, Vinegar Joe and Chicken Shack drummer Allan Powell amongst the large cast of musicians to feature. Released in 1978, a couple of years into the late-seventies punk explosion, 'Sphinx: Xintoday' seemed very much to be a kind of neo-psychedelic concept piece about the ancient Egyptian pharoahs, with Turner himself said to have played some of the albums flute solo's inside the great pyramids at Giza. Whatever you believe, however, and despite the talented cast of musicians, this portentous album unfortunately fails to match the swirling, energetic and multi-coloured qualities of the best Hawkwind albums. Obviously, in creating his own opus, Turner was trying to distance himself from his former employers, at times, rather heavy-handed style, though in slowing down the music, adding ethnic flourishes and giving free reign to his imagination, the former Hawkwind saxophonist has only succeeded in creating a rather undistinguished and thoroughly unexciting concept album that wastes far too much time on lengthy, flute-drenched introductions, and then never, ever seems to get going. There is a nod in the direction of such Krautrock luminaries as Embyro, Agitation Free and Between, all of whom proved far more successful in their blending of Eastern, ethnic elements and Western rock sounds, though the cavernous production quality and ambling, overlong instrumental sections only detract from what could have been an interesting slice of late-seventies Egyptian-spiced psychedelic rock. Many of the tracks on 'Sphinx: Xintoday' segue carelessly into one another, giving the impression of one long, formless piece, though by the time the album is halfway through, those Hawkwind fans who have invested in this lacklustre album will be seriously craving for some proper rock action that is rarely, if at all, forthcoming. Those with a bit more patience may find the softly-spun melodies and flute-and-sax-dominated sections more to their liking, but truth be told, this is a strangely-unimaginative, flatly-conceived and ultimately, disappointing release, that obviously lacked a producer strong enough to curb Turner's more indulgent ideas. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2011

There is a very cool story behind the making of this album. The info i'm giving is from the liner notes. Nik had just left HAWKWIND and in 1976 he got the chance to fly to Cairo, Egypt to visit the Great Pyramid. He had been interested in Egyptology for some time. When he got there he climbed the pyramid alone all the way to the top where he played his flute looking at the distant streetlights far below. He rented a cheap room in the village below and the next day went inside the pyramid playing his flute in the different rooms and hallways. The sound was awesome so Nik decided he just had to record this somehow. He got hold of someone(by phone) with recording equipment who agreed to do it. By now Nik had been adopted by the local Bedouins of the village that ran the pyramids. The head of the village Shiek Mahmoud actually closed the Great Pyramid for 3 hours so he could record his improvised flute playing. Nik jumped up and down on the floor boards, and even got the Shiek to bang the sarcophagus with his stick and to even chant, recording it all. Throughout this recording Nik quotes from the "Book Of The Dead" or as he calls it the "Book Of Coming Forth By Day" or "Exit Into Day" which is where the title of the album came from. His voice is processed, echoed and tampered with in many ways for affect. There is an all-star cast on this album mostly former members of GONG and HAWKWIND. So you can't expect this to be normal can you ? Haha.

"The Awakening(Life On Venus)" opens with the sound of thunder booming many times before the warm flute melodies begin to fill the air, joined by spoken words. "The Pyramid Spell" opens with banging sounds from the Kings Chamber(thanks Shiek) as flute and tablas create a rhythm. Spoken words arrive. There is some bass and percussion in this one as well. "The Hall Of Double Truth" opens with knocks from the Kings Chamber before moog and flute arrive. Spoken words come in, as the sound of chinese bells come and go. "Anubis" opens with a dog barking in the before flute and percussion take over. Spoken words 1 1/2 minutes in. He's almost rapping 3 1/2 minutes in. The dog is back after 4 minutes. "Thoth" opens with the ticking of a clock as flute comes in. This has some different sounds on it like zither, congas and floating synths. The vocals again are spoken.The guitar to end it is great but unfortunately we just begin to hear it and it fades out.

"Horus" opens with some loud synth sounds. Even the flute sounds different on this one. Spoken words before 2 minutes with spacey sounds. This one is very experimental, but check out the excellent guitar to end it from Hillage. "Isis And Nephthys" is my second favourite track. It opens with harp as flute and drums join in to form a melody. Miquette Giraudy is doing the vocals. She suits the music well. By the way she was playing synths on the previous track "Horus". "Osiris" features more flute as drums arrive 1 1/2 minutes in with vocals to follow. We get some harp, vibraphone and guitar in this one. Very spacey ending. "God Rock(The Awakening)" is my favourite song on here. Flute to open. Percussion a minute in before drums arrive before 2 minutes. Vocals(singing) and sax 2 1/2 minutes in. This is quite catchy. Some scorching guitar melodies 4 1/2 minutes in.The background synths almost from the start are a nice touch. We get some chanting from the shiek(in the pyramid) that are joined by spoken words as the music has stopped. An ethnic Indian instrument is next to end the song.

I would descibe this record as an experimental concept album. It is very unique given the circumstances. I'm sure that this is Nik Turner's pride and joy and he should be very proud of this work.

Essential only to those who were there, this set was not a patch on the 1977 one at stonehenge when Mike Howlett played. Some moments when Steffy makes it sparkle but this is not the best recording and it seems that it was a forgettable set in any case. Deeply Vale was prehaps the last of the great free festivals and is much missed. Nic never one of the greatest of sax players is appriciated more for the soup he provided and the joints than the music but a true hero of the free festival movement anyway. Buy something by inner city unit to hear Nic at his best or buy the original sphynx recording on charisma if you can find it.

Wow this is one you have to hear believe me this is an important even landmark record. Nic Turner reveals his thelamic centre and draws a great performance from top acid progsters Steven Hillage and one Hi-tea Moonweed. Even the most sonic of camels Miket delivers the vocal of her career. To start with Nic recorded some of his wacked out and musically illiterate flute playing in the great pyramid. Then this band came together under a pyramid constructed in the studio designed for getting touch with the "gods" of Egypt. This is no Nancy boy posing like cradle of filth. Live Nic and his band preformed in bandages, this is weird occult prog at its most extreme. The vocals are pretty scary but in this age of demonic possessed vocalists this is far more positive. Nic Knows his pantheon pretty well and so all the trademarks are there for those who have an inkling as to what this is about. The music is great inspired even although at times the music from the great pyramid is a hindrance. Nic's Heart is fully displayed and impaled as the god forms take over and the entities manifest. Then as if by magick the set is over. What you have experience is a true one off , a ritual of high magick from the Alter of the Hawklords. .

Where do I start - this is quite simply one of the true psychedelic classics - this may be a hackneyed phrase but is still inadequate to describe this album. With flute recorded in the Great Pyramid, Turner and his illustrious guests - notably Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy and Dave Howlett of Gong, a couple of stray Hawkwindites and a few unknowns - bring forth a masterpiece. Originally released in 1978 on Charisma, it found its way on to a limited edition CD in the 1990s (NOT Cleopatra records 1993ish which is a different recording), but has just been re-released (2007) on Eclectic records with a bonus track of the unedited flute music. The album opens with a classic invocation of the Sun God Ra, taking the listener along a journey following the Egyptian Book of the Dead, meeting most of the major deities on the way, and exploding at the end with the title track 'God Rock' (Exit in to day). The original LP and Eclipse remaster come with the original booklet with lyrics and much egyptian detail. The album is not a heavy-rock extravaganza and owes more to the mellower side of the Gong musicians present than to Turner's erstwhile Hawkwind days. Turner's flute is simply inspired, and haunts the album throughout with the natural reverberation produced by kilotons of stone, similarly Miquette Giraudy's vocals on 'Isis and Nephytys' are simply magickal as is her synth work throughout, and Hillages glissando guitar ranks among his finest recorded material - the album ends with sounds from an Egyptian market to complete the eastern theme. Listen on headphones with your head adequately prepared for best effect. I bought the LP first time around and played it to death - it is one of the lost classics - Go Find!

In many ways this album mirrors the synth & sequencers direction that Nik's erstwhile colleagues in Hawkwind were taking in the early '90s. Prophets Of Time was created at a time when he re-recorded much of his own back catalogue in America with the likes of Helios Creed and members of Pressurehed adding a modern techno feel. It sort-of works, but only in parts and can be a little unfocussed. So we get some pure Spacerock, but generally it is tempered with a delightfully naive blend of industrial techno-punk and space-age ambience. There are no extended jams [longest track is under 7 minutes but it is also the best - 'Stonehenge, Who Knows'] nor thundering metal riffs [heavy, but generally more Vicious than Lemmy].

Most of Nik's own songs are re-workings of tracks first recorded with his 1980s band Inner City Unit - 'Watching The Grass Grow' [spirited thrash], 'Strontium 90' [industrial punk], 'Stonehenge, Who Knows' [brilliant Spacerock], 'Cybernetic Love' [percussive punky thrash recorded in a dustbin, maybe], 'Bones Of Elvis' [spacey-industrial-punk-thrash] and 'Fallout' [psych-industrial-punk .... strange and brilliant]. Despite a stylistic make-over, most of these still display their raw punkish origins and are generally the most successful tracks with plenty of energy, atmosphere and aggression on offer.

The remainder is a mixed bag: pleasant but undemanding spacey instrumentals 'Prophecy' [meaty synths but too long], 'Lunar Sea' [spacey but lightweight] and 'Walking In The Sky' [ambient-industrial with chanted title phrase]; a decent rendition of old Hawkwind song 'Children Of The Sun'; new 'songs' 'Communique' [infectious beat and loony alien abductee] and 'Andromeda' [percussive and spacey], neither of which are fully developed; and a clutch of so-so recitations by Genesis P Orridge over ambient instrumental soundtracks, only one of which works - the eerie 'Chances Lost' intoned by Orridge in a desperately mournful Marvin The Paranoid Android voice.

One little gem in the sonic armoury is Simon House's violin. It only gets an occasional airing but they are significant moments. It's a good album, an interesting experiment in blending the different styles and overall a successful enterprise producing an hour's worth of entertainment. I could do with less twiddly-dee ambient filler, a little more meat and volume, and a few new songs with more substance than those on offer here, but otherwise its a worthwhile addition to my collection.

A 1978 concept album about the Pyramid's theme which involves most of the Gong family : Steve Hillage, Tim Blake, Mike Howlett, Miquette Giraudy plus other musicians such as Harry Williamson -who collaborated a lot with Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth-, Nik Turner from Hawkwind is on flute and vocals. Recorded into the pyramids, (which feature a superb acoustic, judging by the album's sound) the compositions try to carry this esoteric mystic vibration one could expect from such concept. Alas, the inspiration is lacking and the music never really gets off. We have an improvised egyptian twirling flute all along the record, lovely Tim Blake's synthe and (too rare) Hillage's cosmic guitar interventions, but all that lacks focus and real mystery. Nick Turner's vocals are odd (seem that there are passing through a Vocoder machine, as it was the fashion in that year). Things are getting better from the piece « Isis And Nephthys » until the end of the album, with more rhythm, thanks to the drum. The almost 30 minutes bonus (2007 SPV CD release) is just Nik Turner's improvised flute. Pleasant, but not transcendent. This record proves that you can gather the best musicians around a great concept, but if inspiration is not at the rendez-vous.the result is just good.

What an AMAZING album !!!!! It's hard to put this phenomenally cosmic release into words - absolutely mind-blowing. Former Hawkwind woodwinds player Nik Turner is joined here by an all-star crew of space cadets, performing music of the Gods, and, hence, it's by the Gods !! Turner has excelled himself with this album, no stoned waffling or neo-punk tendencies to be found, just pure SPACE. Based on the history of Egyptian Gods, the music is just incredible. Apparently, Turner's Flute playing was recorded in the Great Pyramid itself, adding more depth and ambience to the whole affair. Steve Hillage plays lead guitar and glissandos, Tim Blake twiddles his EMS, Nik Turner's voice is often heavily affected with delay, reverb, pitch-shifted delay, Leslie and so on as he spins his stories of Ancient Egyptian folklore. Mike Howlett contributes some suitable space-Bass licks and so on. Lots of ethnic percussion, gongs and chimes are utilised to create a mythical atmosphere of the lost world, and that works perfectly, almost as if Ancient Egypt as we know from history, exists concurrently, somewhere in space. The gorgeous voice of Miquette Giraudy can be heard perfectly here, more so than any Hillage solo release. This album has to be given 110 % attention, preferrably late at night, and if possible, somewhere far away - I committed this LP to tape so a friend and I could drive 100km's either to a craggy edge where land meets the sea, or down a forest road high up in the mountains to listen to this in peace, and absorb all it has to offer. That is how powerful this album is. Along with Steve Hillage's 'Green', Tim Blake's 'New Jerusalem' and Mother Gong's 'Fairy Tales', Xitintoday is a MUST HAVE - needs to be heard to be believed.

This is one of the forgotten gems of prog. Of Nik Turner, sax and flute player of Hawkwind, one would expect something on the heavy side, but this wonderful album is very quiet and spacy (though not completely without rhythm, and in the last track it even rocks a little - but don't expect anything like Hawkwind). With half of Gong plus former Hawkwind drummer Alan Powell and Morris Pert of Brand X on percussion the lineup is exquisite. But the biggest surprise is Nik Turner himself. His flute clearly dominates the album, and one really feels the ancient Egyptian Gods evoked by it. The music makes a lot of use of vocoder, which adds to the feeling that supernatural beings are around. This is not an album to play in the background; listen to it late at night by candle light. In m opinion clearly the best album of 1978. Warning: The 1994 CD of Nik Turner of the same name - "Xitintoday" - only has the lyrics in common with this album. The music of that release is completely different though, not even the same compositions. It is not a bad album itself, but no competition for this masterpiece. So stick to the vinyl, if you can find it somewhere (unless Virgin decides to reissue this gem on CD). And then "Hommage to Thee, Oh Ra, in Thy Rising".