Customer Reviews

Hall of the Mountain Grill

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I try to get my friends into Hawkwind, I usually
start them out with this album, for it really is a good intro-
duction to them. Hawkwind got a tad more musical on HALL, due in
part to the arrival of violinist/keyboardist SIMON HOUSE, and
HALL also was their first progressive rock album. I don't like
every song on this, but I still think it's a very powerful album.
YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT has a very memorable vocal line to it; the chorus,
which has LEMMY singing the song title, is one of their best
choruses ever. Tis a very heavy song, with an extended instru-
mental break during which the soloists go nuts! The title track
is a very spacy, but melodic instrumental and is quite lovely,
actually. WIND OF CHANGE saw the first appearance of a mellotron
in a HAWKWIND song.LOST JOHNNY is one of LEMMY's best songs.
It's very spooky sounding, with it's dark lyrics and sythesizers
and is really a very enjoyable hard rock song. DEL DETTMAR con-
tributes a very nice, soothing instrumental. YOU BETTER, PSYCHE-
LEDIC WARLORDS and PARADOX showed that HAWKWIND hadn't complete-
ly abandoned their hard rock side. HALL is a terrific HAWKWIND
album!

With so many great albums, it's hard to say which one is Hawkwind's best. If it all came down to it, my vote would probably go to Mountain Grill. Well, for best studio album, anyway. With Psychedelic Warlords, D-Rider, Lost Johnny, Paradox...how can you go wrong? Hard to come by, but incredibly rewarding.

I'm convinced that the reason this CD is not considered one of HAWKWIND's best is that it has been so hard to come by. Before purchasing my CD, the last time I had heard this album was in 1979. It was one of a number of HAWKWIND disks on the premises at the time and had been purchased from a British collection at a used record store. It was considered rare back then! This disk contains the type of music that made HAWKWIND famous! Many of the songs on this disk have seen wide release on badly-mastered "Best-of's" and live albums; this does not do them justice. Trust me - the original studio master sounds great! Assuming that the digital-remastering didn't harm the sound - this recording compares favorably with 'Doremi Faso Latido' and 'In Search of Space'. "Everybody" but Dik-Mik is on the line-up, and Simon King is playing drums! Nik Turner turns in classic HAWKWIND "winds"; Simon House adds keyboards and "strings"; Del Dettmar has control of "electronica"; Lemmy provides the bass; and Dave Brock leads the show. You can hear the beginnings of 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' in these songs.

This is, quite simply, the best album Hawkwind ever made, and one of the greatest space rock albums of all time. Every song is a mindblowing experience, especially with the aid of headphones and pharmaceuticals! I found this album in a cut-out bin in 1977, purchased it for the cover, and haven't stopped listening since -- I own more copies of this record than any other -- plus the CD!

When I first saw this album back in the 70's I bought it for the album cover because I never heard of them and because they cut a corner from the album it was like two bucks a bargin in my book even if the album sucked, but it was great I played that on my turntable over and over. I haven't heard it in ten years but now that its out on cd I will repurchase it and still keep my album cover.

An interesting album for Hawkwind, and one that must've come as quite a change to fans in 1974. After "In Search of Space," "Doremi Fasol Latido" and "Space Ritual," (all of which I'd give 5 Stars) this was a bit more progressive in terms of songwriting, and a bit less forceful in terms of sheer lysergic-effects pedal driven overloads. While I don't agree that this is Hawkwind's best LP, it is one of their last excellent albums ("Warriors on the Edge of Time" being the very last of their classic United Artists album run).

In case they ever re-release these records as domestic CDs, I'd rate them as follows:

Hawkwind- 4 Stars In Search of Space- 5 Stars Doremi Fasol Latido- 5 Stars Space Ritual- 5 Stars Hall of the Mountain Grill- 4 Stars Warriors on the Edge of Time- 4 Stars

(from that point on, I'm unable to advise).

The quality of this album is still as thrilling as their former classics (in search of space, Space Rituals, etc.) The song cycles are inspiring and impressive. However, we could saw a crisis that Hawkwind was beginning to repeat themselves (which later came true) and began to craft their songs instead of filling it with accidential muse. The songs are less intact, and we could see more "individual works" (like excellent solo Hall of the Mountain Grill, Goat Willow by the two Keyboard wizzard Simon House and Del Dettmar) but less fascinating collaboration, which is a trademark found in "Space Ritual". It seems that Hawkwind were beginning to degenerate. Anyway, it's still a great work in 70's work.

although hawkwind never got the acclaim that pink floyd did, they were very high on the list of space rock bands, hall of the mountian grill is a very solid studio album to have, although it isnt as spacey as some of there other efforts it shows both there polished side and there spacey side.... you dont need any drugs to get high to this band theyll take you somewheres while your listening to them, and thats what music is all about, escaping reality in a fun way.... id also highly recommend the live album space ritaul....

This incredible 1974 album opens with Lemmy's chugging Rickenbacker bass and the thunderous drumming of Simon House on The Psychedelic Warlords. Adding a very nice textural element to this track is the spacey mellotron work of Simon King. As a huge fan of the mellotron, I can't get enough of this instrument and it is all over this album. In fact, this album is a little different than previous efforts such as Doremi Fasolatido (1972) in that there is a bit of a proggier feel. Hawkwind would continue this approach on the absolutely incredible follow up album Warriors on the Edge of Time (1975).

The lineup on this album includes Dave Brock (electric, acoustic 12 string guitar, synthesizers, Hammond organ, and vocals); Lemmy (bass, vocals and guitar on Lost Johnny); Simon House (piano, mellotron, mini moog synthesizer, violin); Nik Turner (saxophone, oboe, flute, and vocals); Del Dettmar (piano, Hammond organ, synthesizers, and kalimba); and Simon King (drums). This is my favorite Hawkwind lineup.

The music on this album is very spacey, loaded chock full of synthesizers, and drenched in mellotron. Good examples of the synth-heavy tracks include Wind of Change, Hall of the Mountain Grill, and Goat Willow. All three feature very haunting melodies. At the other end of the spectrum is Lemmy's crushing and bass-heavy tune Lost Johnny and the tracks You'd Better Believe It and Paradox, which feature a pulverizing and insistent beat. These three tracks are the heaviest on the album. The remaining tracks more or less straddle both extremes. All in all, it is a very nice blending of styles and is precisely the reason why I like Hawkwind so much. According to the liner notes, of the tracks included on the original album You'd better Believe It and Paradox were recorded live although you would never know it - there is no audience noise whatsoever, although there is an energy to the tunes that suggests a live performance. The live tracks on this album were recorded at Edmonton Sundown in January of 1974.

This remastered album is quite nice and features fold-out cardboard flaps that feature glossy photos of the band. Unfortunately, there are not any liner notes. The bonus tracks include versions of You'd Better Believe It (single version) and The Psychedelic Warlords (single edit) along with a remixed version of Paradox and finally, the decent track Its So Easy (live).

This album is very highly recommended along with the eponymous debut and Warriors on the Edge of Time. I should note that if you are able to find a copy of Warriors on the Edge of Time issued by the German Rock Fever label grab it - it contains bonus live tracks not available on other versions of the album.

I'm convinced that the reason this CD is not considered one of HAWKWIND's best is that it has been so hard to come by. Before purchasing my CD, the last time I had heard this album was in 1979. It was one of a number of HAWKWIND disks on the premises at the time and had been purchased from a British collection at a used record store. It was considered rare back then! This disk contains the type of music that made HAWKWIND famous! Many of the songs on this disk have seen wide release on badly-mastered "Best-of's" and live albums; this does not do them justice. Trust me - the original studio master sounds great! Assuming that the digital-remastering didn't harm the sound - this recording compares favorably with 'Doremi Faso Latido' and 'In Search of Space'. "Everybody" but Dik-Mik is on the line-up, and Simon King is playing drums! Nik Turner turns in classic HAWKWIND "winds"; Simon House adds keyboards and "strings"; Del Dettmar has control of "electronica"; Lemmy provides the bass; and Dave Brock leads the show. You can hear the beginnings of 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' in these songs.