I want to like Hawkwind, but

I also would like to enjoy their music more. Levitation is the album I return to the most, it's more concise and well produced.
I returned to "In Search of Space" recently and I found the mixing terrible. I don't mind if they played stoned but they should have left that work for someone sober :P

Thanks for the replies.

Edited by Ghost Whistler - August 08 2020 at 07:18

I've heard a lot of filler with the Hawkwinds. But when their music hits, it's highly enjoyable, to say the least. And what a great history they have.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: This is my favourite Hawkwind song, featuring none other than Matthew Wright on vocals!   Matthew Wright looks like he's in Space Rock heaven in that video.

It may be unfair to say but if their stuff was cheaper I'd be tempted. Levitation, which I have on lp, is ridiculously and stubbornly expensive on Amazon. I would definitely like to own that and Black Sword (for sentimental reasons if nothing else, plus I like Elric). 

They have way cool album covers........

I love Hawkwind, and I don't think there are any other bands like them.

I'm sure there are a plethora of 'trippy' acts out there whose members were 'influenced' by them, but Hawkwind are pretty unique. They were the dark side of the acid trip; not the blue skies and pixies dancing among the flowers. They were the psychedelic warlords, harassed by the police in an inner city tower block. They were the urban guerrilla proto punks, being visited by the bomb squad, tearing up their floorboards looking for explosives. They were the buskers, the poets, the revolutionaries.

With a few notable exceptions who passed trough their ranks over the years, they weren't the best musicians. They weren't the most disciplined of acts when it came to producing consistent albums, and half of their albums probably didn't need to be released at all. As a teenager trying to collect their albums, in the absence of the internet, it was difficult to know where to start and where to finish, but this added to their mystery, and the pleasure of my own journey of discovery. When you bought a Genesis or Rush album, you knew that even if you preferred the songs on another album by them, it would at least be a professional effort. When it came to Hawkwind, you had no idea what to expect when you bought an album. How mashed were they when they recorded it? How competent was the producer? Who was fighting who in the band at the time? etc.

Fascinating band.

If you don't like something, it's fine. Don't feel guilty about it. :)

Hrychu wrote: If you don't like something, it's fine. Don't feel guilty about it. :)

I tend to associate them with being in the sixth form at school. There was always a Hawkwind album on the turntable when I went into the common room. Nowadays I will still listen to Quark, Strangeness and Charm (possibly the best album of 1977) but most of the very early stuff is tedious to my ears. I saw them headline a festival about 3 years ago and frankly it was terribly underwhelming (boring and repetitive) although the laser show was quite nice.