QUARK, STRANGENESS AND CHARM

Oh, yes... "QS&C" is the missing leg of a Hawkwind table where the dish is ready to be eaten - and what a dish! Tasteful and amusing and... doping? Now Calvert seems totally integrated and also dominating in the Hawkwind scene, his voice sounds loud and high, a kind of message to be comprehended for all. And also to notice the year (1977), when our planet was invaded by rotten eggs and strange flying discos we could rely on a fresh breeze of good rock spiced by the outdated spirit of the 60s. This is a great Hawkwind album in terms of production and musicianship - I think that the band should never been like in "QS&C".

But songs are what really imports, then:
'Spirit of age', another great opener, a specialty of Hawkwind; a flock of odd sounds and quaint noises provide the introduction while the listener is getting more and more inside the tunes, all done to combine with a great peak, an anxiously expected moment - if one are plunged in the spirit of the band and the song, that's the culminating point!
'Damnation Alley' composes a good pair with opening track, there's a apparent initial calmness changed by a really old-style rock song - bass, guitar and drums work splendidly.
'Fabled of a failed race' is that in Hawkwind's lexicon is known by a soft rock, the result is fair.
The title-song is probably the weakest of the album, but not dispensable, mainly if you seek for a Hollies-kind sound of mid-60s.
'Hassan I Sahba' (or whatever other name it has) is one great moment, what a great bass-line! And vocals also... it's interesting to notice that the Arab tunes fashion only would appear 20 years later - Hawkwind certainly made a time travel.
'The forge of Vulcan' is another weak point, dull and repetitive; with irritating anvil sound and meaningless keyboards - luck it is a short track.
'Days of underground' brings back the more typical Hawkwind sound, but it's marginally tolerable although lyrics are fair.
'The iron dream' is a nice ending, resembling much more iron than dream, a song that could be more lenghty.

This album together with previous "Hall of Mountain Grill", "Warrior on the Edge of Time" and "Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music" forms the tetralogy of Hawkwind 70's Show, maybe of the entire band career, hence it's an obligatory piece in all prog music collection. Total: 4.