Customer Reviews

In Search of Space

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...

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.

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!

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.'

This is a contender for being the greatest album of all time. I really mean that. I have had several spiritual orgasms listening to this stuff. "You Shouldn't Do That" is a work of pure genius, and if it were a painting, it would make sense to take down the Mona Lisa and put this song up in its place. I love the song "Adjust Me" just as much. I think the psychological state of nirvana might sound like this album. I have been in love with it for ages. Imagine a group of people with extreme musical creativity and talent combining space music, heavy metal, jazz, and folk into one form. That is this album. (Hawkwind had several other great albums in their early days, by the way.)

I grew up on this record in the early 70's with the proper "special fx" as accompaniment... The peak moment for me was in 1972-1973 when the only tape in my (homebuilt) 8 track was a copy of this album which I used to play again and again in my 1960 Mercury Park Lane Turnpike Crusier. An old car with a bubble windshield, it was like driving a spaceship around the (Dallas) world and "In Search Of Space" was the perfect soundtrack for my cruising...

"Technicians of Space Ship Earth This Is Your Captain Speaking Your Captain Is Dead"

Or in other words, this, for me, is the essential Hawkwind. Web commentary sez Lemmy played bass on the lp but it does not sound like him, I tend to believe the credits on the lp instead. Dave Brock and Nik Turner, together, making sounds that they both agreed on, that is Hawkwind. Sing along to "You Should Do That, You Shouldn't Do That", play "We Took A Wrong Step Years Ago" for your girlfriend, my favorite other two songs are "Adjust Me" and "Master Of The Universe" (original) and the whole lp is really special, I cannot do a special thing here but all you zombies, enjoy! (And Terry Ollis, drums, are you still around? - your drums were perfect!...} - darms

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.

The album was remastered and re-released in 1996, and much of the drum and bass playing was re-recorded, as well as additional vocals added. Three bonus tracks were also included. The merits of the reworkings are debatable; personally I don't like when things are messed with like George Lucas and his mucking with Star Wars, or the use of autotune on Let it Be. I want the original work of art, not the new and improved one. So I think the original 6 track cd or the LP are the ones to search out. The '96 mastering is excellent though, and there are no problems with the music except that it isn't the same music from 1971.

This album shows Hawkwind moving away from the folk based sound of their debut to a heavy guitar, SF themed lyrics, spacey electronic sound. In addition, one can see elements of psych, prog, trance, and free jazz. It's quite the witches brew. If you have any interest in psyc/prog/space/stoner/70's rock, this in an essential album.

This is probably Hawkwind's finest moment... or maybe not. Heck, I don't know! The band has like, four very good albums in the early 70's that are all masterpieces of hard rock/space rock! You decide which one is the best :)

"Master of the Universe" has a VERY Black Sabbath-like guitar riff, that might remind you of "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath". It rocks, it's catchy, and it just flat out *rules*. This song SCREAMS classic.

"We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago" is another really good melodic song with a sad and catchy vocal melody. I love this song a lot. Quite underrated in fact. Sounds like the kind of song that radio stations should have fallen in love with. Maybe it's a good thing they didn't, seeing as how they overplay everything they get their grubby little paws on.

"Adjust Me" is pure weirdness packed inside 6 minutes. It's probably the coolest thing I've ever heard the band do though, or at least, ONE of the coolest things. Hawkwind had so many far-out and memorable moments in their underrated career!

The "You Shouldn't Do That" jam is quite freakin' brilliant. It's jazzy one moment, and suddenly EXPLODES with crazy guitar playing the next. It's quite spectacular.

Yes, it's an album you MUST own if you dig early 70's hard rock.

Very pleasant to see the oldies mentioned. Heavy acid influence on an r an b background. I have it on reel to reel . This copy has extra tracks , but it shows the widespread appeal of the band . Still releasing . Mind blowing then and now. Pink Fairies anyone?