A Quest for Prog 24: Hawkwind – Warrior On The End Of Time

"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year.  The band selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog.  And the albums I am reviewing is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.

Hawkwind – Warrior On The End Of Time (1975)

Produced by Hawkwind

Michael Moorcock – Vocals

Dave Brock – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals & Bass Guitar

Nik Turner – Saxophone, Flute & Vocals

Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) – Bass Guitar

Simon House – Violin & Keyboards

Simon King – Drums

Alan Powell – Drums

Track listing:

Side One:

01. Assault and Battery (Part 1) (5:36)

02. The Golden Void (Part 2) (4:33)

03. The Wizard Blew His Horn (2:00)

04. Opa-Loka (5:40)

05. The Demented Man (4:20)

Side 2

01. Magnu (8:40)

02. Standing at the Edge (2:45)

03. Spiral Galaxy 28948 (3:55)

04. Warriors (2:05)

05. Dying Seas (3:05)

06. Kings of Speed (3:25)

Released in 1975 “Warrior On The Edge Of Time” is the fifth album by English band Hawkwind.  The band were formed in 1969 by Dave Brock and are one of the originators of the Space Rock genre.  The band has released 26 studio albums over its 40 year existence with Dave Brock being the only constant member of the band.

The album begins with the almost dancey “Assault and Battery (Part 1)”.  The song opens with keyboards and a bass and drum groove.  The melody has a 60’s pop feel but with a sinister edge to it.  The song is dense with guitars and features some nice flute.  It is quite sloppy in places and reminded me of a mix between Syd Barrett and Flying Nun records Bands.  Cool tune.

“The Golden Void (Part 2)” follows straight on and is a dreamy keyboard lead track similar to Eloy.  The song builds and get’s heavier as it goes along and the Saxophone gives a song a night time feel.  The vocals are really strong on this track as well. 

The first of three spoken word passages “The Wizard Blew His Horn” is next.  The vocals are heavily delayed and delivered in an almost Beat Poetry style.  Lyrically it’s pretty silly but it enjoyed it because of that.

The groovy “Opa-Loka” follows.  This track has a great Space Rock feel with a really nice groove from the drums and the bass.  The track has allot of movement and really drives along.  It reminded me of Evil Heat era Primal Scream.  Awesome tune.

“The Demented Man” starts with a nice guitar picked passage with feedback and seagull sounds overlayed.  Again this tune has a similar feel to Eloy and Pink Floyd.  The melody really drives the track with is Bass and Drum free.  The keyboards are quite atmospheric and feature some interesting Coral sounds.  Really nice way to finish the side.

Side two starts with “Magnu” a 70’s rocker with a cool eastern feel.  The track is quite schizophrenic and manic with an interesting mix of instruments.  The vocals on this track are really heavily processed with lots of delay and reverse delay.  The mix is the real let down off this track with back really low and the vocals, strings and Saxophone really high in the mix.  This is none the less a great tune that be better served by a more balanced mix.

“Standing at the Edge” is the second spoken word track and is similar to “The Wizard Blew His Horn” but with more of a Sci-Fi feel to it.  Again the lyrics are silly with some great lines like “We are the soldiers at the edge of time, were tired of making love”.  Strange little tune.

The almost baggy “Spiral Galaxy 28948” follow’s on.  The track is spacey with groovy drums and wah way guitars.  The song takes some interesting directions folky flutes and squealing keyboards.  Baggy and Space Rock is a cool mix.

The third and final Spoken Word passage “Warriors” is the most aggressive of the three.  With Dalek vocals and timpani banging in the background.  Awesome track.

“Dying Seas” is next.  This track is quite strange and sounds like a warped records or worn cassette.  Kind of like a Syd Barrett tune with a grinding backing track.  Didn’t think much of this track.

The album ends with “Kings of Speed”.  This is the most conventional track on the record and it reminded me of The Who.  With a driving piano and what would become an American Indie feel this has the feeling of an attempt at a single.  Fun tune but not as exciting as other on this record.

I really enjoyed this record and bar a few weaker moments there is allot of get from it.  Especially highlights “Assault and Battery”, “Opa-Loka” and “Magnu”.  If you like the Space territories of Prog definitely give this album a listen.

7/10 

Future of The Left w/ Dead Farmers & Yes, I'm Leaving – Annandale Hotel, Sydney 08th December 2011

I have seen Future Of The Left every time they have come to Sydney and this was show number 4 at the mighty Annandale Hotel.  This is the second time that this 4 piece line up of the band has toured and since that time we have only seen the “Polymers Are Forever” ep.  So expectations were high for some new tunes.  The band entered the stage to the sounds of an unreleased FOTL tune “Cosmos Ladder” and rapturous applause from the crowd. 

The band was an assault on the ears from “Arming Eritrea” to the final strains of “Lapsed Catholics” partially due to a very aggressive mix by the sound engineer and Guitarist and Bassist Jimmy and Julia being fully integrated into the band.  A number of “established” tracks were knocked out with great energy before were treated to our first new song “Beneath The Waves An Ocean”.  The song is based on a grinding bass almost industrial bass line.  Is it slower than previous material and has a great chorus.  It worked great live and here’s hoping that it sound this good on new record.  “I Am The Least Of Your Problems” which posted in demo form a year ago was next and what a fun punky number.  Probably one of the weaker of the new tunes but still fun.  The lead track of the recently released ep “Polymers Are Forever” was great live and was the first track in the Keyboard section that included live favourite “Manchasm”.  
The set featured three Mclusky covers in the form of “To Hell With Good Intentions”, “Without MSG I’m Nothing” & “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues”.  All were great and lead up to the 10 minute finale of “Lapsed Catholics” which was fun but a little long.  But at least I wasn’t the long haired dude who had a beer bottle taped to his head so that guitarist Jimmy could have beer poured into his mouth.  It was a crazy night and good to visit with our friends for the forth song in four days and I hope they come back soon.

Future Of The Left Setlist:

Arming Eritrea

Chin Music

Small Bones Small Bodies

Adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood

Beneath The Waves An Ocean

I Am The Least Of Your Problems

Polymers Are Forever

Manchasm

Failed Olympic Bid

You Need Satan More Than He Needs You

New Adventures

To Hell With Good Intentions

Sheena Is A T-Shirt Salesman

Without MSG I Am Nothing

Robocop 4 : Fuck Off Robocop

Plague of Onces

Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues

Lapsed Catholics

Unknown Mortal Orchestra w/ DZ Deathrays & Kill City Creeps – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney 07th December 2011

We arrived on a very wet Oxford Street and found a pre-gig venue for beers and burgers.  This meant that we missed first opener “Kill City Creeps” but turned up in time to catch “DZ Deathrays”.  This two piece from Brisbane are a confused bunch.  Not quite Garage, not quite Metal, not quite there yet.  The song for the most part sounded very similar bar a few exceptions.  Guitarist Shane Parsons' seems to have spent allot more time playing with effects pedals than coming up with interesting guitar lines.  A fairly dull and one note kind of set from the band but here’s hoping that they play more and come up with some interesting.

I have been a fan of Ruban’s Nielson’s previous band “The Mint Chicks” for a long time and had seen them a number of times over the years and their “Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!” is one of my favourite albums of all time.  Unknown Mortal Orchestra is quite a departure from the Punk sound of the Mint Chicks and one that has divided people I know.

A full OAF greeted Unknown Mortal Orchestra.  Bassist Jake Portrait and drummer Julien Ehrich are firstly a great rhythm section but also give Ruban room to take these songs to different places to the album.  The songs are very different in a live setting and have a driving psychedelic rock feel that creates version of the songs that in my opinion surpass the album versions.  The highlights of the set were “Thought Ballune” which had a strut and the melody was much stronger in a live setting, the evil rock n roll of “Boy Witch” and the encore a cover of Cans “Vitamin C”.  The song starts off with just drums and then bass and the band really seemed to be having fun jamming this song out.  Cool ending to a great set on a Wednesday night.  I am certainly keen to see what comes next from the band as I think an album with this band will be a very different prospect.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Setlist:

Little Blu House

Thought Ballune

Strangers Are Strange

Nerve Damage!

Jello And Juggernauts

How Can You Luv Me

Boy Witch

Ffunny Ffriends

Encore:

Vitamin C