In Search of Space [EXTRA TRACKS] [IMPORT] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Hawkwind

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 2001)
• Original Release Date: December 11, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Caroline
• ASIN: B00005MCX0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,033 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

UK remastered & repackaged reissue of the British progressive rock act's 1971 album with 3 added bonus tracks 'Seven By Seven' (original single version), 'Silver Machine' (original single version) & 'Born To Go' (live single version edit). 2001.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Greg Lasley (la-la-land) - See all my reviews

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...

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	J. Joens - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stepping Forward, March 11, 2005

By	BluesDuke "A sacred cow is worth but one thin... (Huntington Beach, California) - See all my reviews

The second album from legendary star-traveling metalloids Hawkwind is a big step up from their charming if flawed debut album...and almost where they'd plant themselves with their magnificent third album. They're getting there, though, and for the most part it's an engaging listening in. Especially since the beginning of the best-known Hawkwind lineup is now in place: aside from the early mainstays (guitarist Dave Brock, saxophonist/flutist Nik Turner, drummer Terry Ollis, keyboardsman/electronicat Del Dettmar), second guitarist Huw Lloyd Langton is gone, bassist Dave Anderson is succeeded by Ian (Lemmy) Kilmister before the album is done (Anderson co-wrote two songs), poet/vocalist Robert Calvert is aboard, and Dik Mik Davies (who seems to have exited briefly after the debut album) returns to team with Del Dettmar (who joined when Davies first departed) on keyboards and electronica.

The good news: It has their first bona-fide band classic, the extraterrestrial thrust of "Master of the Universe" (which beats the bloody hell out of Black Sabbath and their "Masters of Reality" any day of the week, and has probably been beaten to death for its popularity in concert over the years) and a pair of exquisite electro jams, "You Know You're Only Dreaming" (written by Brock) and "Adjust Me" (a group composition). Not to mention a pair of sweet acoustic dreams, "We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago" and "Children of the Sun."

The not-so-good news: "You Shouldn't Do That" is fifteen minutes of grandly pounding rock and roll with perfectly understated electronic lacing and transdimensionally spare flute and guitar lines, as if the Velvet Underground had scored a 1950s sci-fi B-movie, but disrupted rather unconscionably by a lyric which doesn't exactly sound like it really belongs to this music.

The bonus news: Two brilliant earlier singles--the underrated "Born to Go" and the coming major hit "Silver Machine"--are included with this remastered version. So as a package of stepping forward and then kicking themselves right into their own future, the new "In Search of Space" probably outpoints the original album.

The best news: "In Search of Space" is a direct line to the beginning of their best studio work and, probably, their best-remembered period.