OUTTRO

So there you have it for the main thread of Hawkwind-dom.

The last two albums aren't too hot, but if there's one thing to learn from all this, it's that it's damn tough to write 'em off cause they just keep coming back at you when you least expect it, although I must admit my expectations are as low as they've been since the early eighties.

Some parting odds and ends for your consideration:

I will not review or recommend any of the many hundreds of semi-official boots and compilations -- stick with the albums above, to at least provide a glimmer of hope that the artists involved with the products may get their fair share of the proceeds.

Bear in mind that Bob Calvert died in poverty in 1988, after a number of failed legal attempts to keep his creations from filling other's pockets at his and his estate's expense.

He deserved better than that, having provided Hawkwind its most viable image and material.

I would also recommend avoiding the solo albums (particularlyTurner's) since most of them suck massively, and have also tended to be vehicles for the deliberate and systematic removal of proper credits, stiffing songwriters living and expired; frankly, as noted above, even some of the core Hawkwind material is damnable in this regard.

Calvert's solos are the exception to this rule, and his Live At Queen Elizabeth Hall (featuring Inner City Unit's Steve Pond and Dead Fred, see below) and Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters are damn good BLANGA slabs.

Greasy Truckers, a 1972 benefit album with Hawkwind, BrinsleySchwarz, and others, features superior Space Ritual quality BLANGA. Worth tracking down if you can't get enough of the Ritual -- and who in their right mind can?

Anything by Lemmy's star-vehicle Motorhead is worth having -- their body of work merits its own separate BLANGA guide (maybe next year's project.)

I also heartily endorse anything by the brilliant Inner City Unit, which featured boss drummer Mick Stupp, astonishing keyboardist / multi-instrumentalist (at the same time) Dead Fred, the widdly guitar stylings of Trev Thoms (early ICU), and the brawnier, more BLANGA fare of guitarist Steve Pond (late ICU).

The President's Tapes LP and Blood And Bone EP are the high points of the ICU pantheon from a BLANGA standpoint -- "Paint Your Windows White" from the latter is godhead Desert Island Disk gotta have kinda stuff.

Oh... and did I forget to mention that Turner did some stuff with them too? You can get over that....

If you want to read more about Hawkwind, Kris Tait's This Is Hawkwind Do Not Panic is a good starting point. There are also long-standing UK and US fanclubs, the addresses of which are inmost of the more recent official compact disks.

HAPPY BLANGA!!

Hugs and kisses,

GNHN.

P.S. Feel free to e-mail me with comments, thoughts, input, errors, etc.

I s'pose I can keep this up-to-date for another 25years if need be....