In Search of Space [Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered]

Hawkwind | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Caroline
• ASIN: B00005MCX0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,632 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered with 3 bonus tracks.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars In Search of Hawkwind July 30, 2002

By Greg Lasley

Format:Audio CD

I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade when I first discovered Hawkwind. A friend suggested I read Micheal Moorcock's Elric saga. After completeing the series, the violent visions in my pre-teen head thirsted for more. At my elementary school library I found that Moorcock was cross-referenced to a picture book about rock bands of the seventies. I learned from the book that he played with a band called "Hawkwind." At the time I listened to alot of Twisted Sister and Billy Idol and I wasn't about to spend my allowance on something as bizarre as what I saw in that book.

As I grew older (and my tastes matured?), I would see Hawkwind albums in the used bin at the local record store but, at that time, they seemed either too "cheesy" (a word we used alot back then) or too metal for me to take a chance on. Later, I became familiar with Motorhead and I had a renewed interest in science-fiction which lead me, after almost 20 years, back to Hawkwind.

What's the point? Well, the point is that people who really love music find deep personal and emotional connections to their favorite bands and albums. The fabric from which our tastes evolve is woven with memories of our pasts. That might be why when I first heard In Search of Space, everything about the album made sense to me. The smooth sonic segues between songs, the battling oscillators, the thudding bass and expressive drumming; faraway vocals and riffing guitars suggesting more than merely martian alienation.

This digitally remastered release of Hawkwind's In Search of Space album makes a perfect launching pad from which to explore other of the band's releases. Hawkwind completely come together conceptually and sonically on this album.... I have been searching for a band that does a better job of what these guys do and I have yet to find them. (My buddy asked me recently why I buy so many albums; I told him it's because I've been looking for a band as good as Hawkwind). They find the perfect balance between two styles: more prog than most rock and more rock than most prog (particularly on Master of the Universe and Silver Machine).

I hope that you too will give them a chance and be rewarded as well as I was... Read more ›

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Their best studio cd? March 16, 2005

By J. Joens

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I came to Hawkwind through their live cd "Space Ritual", which is one of the outstanding live cds of all time. This studio cd is from about the same time period, and is the only cd that replicates the power of Hawkwind's live performances.

The opening cut, "You Shouldn't Do That", (which clocks in at 15:41!) is a good test of whether you are or are not going to be a Hawkwind fan. Many of my friends find the song boring and repetitive - but in fact it makes good use of a repeated themes intermixed with background variations, and is in the same league as songs like "The Sheltering Sky" by King Crimson. The next three cuts keep things moving at a nice pace. "We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago" is particularly noteworthy - it is a powerful acoustic song that in some ways reminds me of some of the acoustic pieces on Led Zepplin's zoso cd (Led Zepplin 4). The final two cuts on the cd are a bit weaker, and the three bonus tracks, while good enough, are hardly essential (though one of these, "Silver Machine", has achieved near legendary status among some Hawkwind fans because of a rumored live cut of the song that was apparently left off the "Space Ritual" cd.

The question mark in my review refers to the fact that I have yet to listen to any Hawkwind cd more recent than "Quark, Strangeness, and Charm". Certainly "In Search of Space" is their best early studio effort, and though not perfect, it is well deserving of a five star rating.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars CLASSIC HAWKWIND!! March 1, 2002

By R. Recchia

Format:Audio CD

The first HAWKWIND album, aside from the opening and closing
tracks, sounded like one long, very unpleasant dream. IN SEARCH OF SPACE is MUCH, MUCH BETTER and still stands as one of their
greatest albums! Every track, except the headache inducing acid
trip ADJUST ME, is great! It's odd that this is the only album
where DAVE BROCK and NIK TURNER wrote songs together, for their
two colloborations on this, YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT and MASTER OF
THE UNIVERSE, are two of the best HAWKWIND tunes ever and were
the first two songs that really defined who HAWKWIND were or were
going to be. YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT is 16 minutes worth of hard
rock guitar riffing, free form jazz soloing and spaced out vocals
and vocal chants and has some outstanding jazz influenced drum-
ming from TERRY OLLIS; it also has a very cool bass line by DAVE ANDERSON and some wild and crazy electronics by DIK MIK and DEL DETTMAR(love
them names!!). On top of all that, it's a very catchy song and even at 16 minutes long, STILL doesn't feel long enough!
MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE is a heavy metal/space rock classic, with
one of BROCK's most irresistably catchy guitar riffs. Again, the
drumming is outstanding, as is DAVE ANDERSON'S bass playing.
I never cared for the live versions of this song; I feel that they sped it up too much. This is the definitive version of this
song. CHILDREN OF THE SUN, a NIK TURNER/DAVE ANDERSON, collobora-
tion is a very folksy/hippy like acoustic number and a mighty
catchy tune at that!... DAVE BROCK's two songs, YOU KNOW YOU'RE ONLY
DREAMING and WE TOOK THE WRONG STEP YEARS AGO, are also quite en-
joyable; the former being a very psychedelic song and more like
something from their first album and the latter an acoustic
guitar driven protest song. The only real fault with the album, I
think, is NIK TURNER's vocals, but this is but a minor gripe!
This is a great album; no HAWKWIND fan should be without it! Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars if you only own one hawkwind album... December 4, 1999

By eastern front reader

Format:Audio CD

some like the lemmy era, some enjoy the calvert period (after calvert, forget it). I could mention these later albums by name, but why bother? 'in search of space' is a genre-defining release on par with 'paranoid,' 'in rock,' 'demons and wizards,' 'salisbury,' 'fragile,' 'atom heart mother,' etc... this album introduced me to the notion that progressive rock was at least as much about adventure and wonder as it was merely about complexity and dexterity. while I am basically aware of what came before and (to varying degrees) painfully aware of what came after, 'in search of space' really is the all-time last word in cryptic, drug-addled, space-conjurations. if you've got the money and the inclination, buy every hawkwind album with 197 as the first three numbers of the release date. this band is more prolific than the grateful dead when it comes to compilations and live albums, so try to purchase discs wilth 1970's release dates and avoid live albums expect 'space ritual.'