Hawkwind

Produced by former Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor, Hawkwind's first album was rightfully compared to Pink Floyd's early sound: an appealing conglomeration of hippie rock grooves and interplanetary guitar trips set to the phosphorescent wandering of Dik Mik's electronics and Nik Turner's cool sax playing. Hawkwind may not have been their most lucrative album, but it's where it all began. Hawkwind's initial galactic blues-rock sound is based on Dave Brock's guitar playing, rising smoke-like through the haze of lyrical space funk. The two opening tracks set the tone, with "The Reason Is" sinking in nicely to the mood of both Dave Brock's and John Harrison's guitar viscosity. After this, the real Hawkwind begins to emerge, as the eight-minute "Be Yourself" is delightfully plastered with echoed vocals and comic book ominousness, putting drummer Terry Ollis in the spotlight this time. "Seeing It as You Really Are" moves hauntingly forward through the blackness of space as a constant jam, with the keyboards, saxophone, and guitar set adrift on a nonstop instrumental voyage. What begins to materialize throughout this debut album is the band's trademarked sound as a whole, with each player making their instrument effectual and authoritative from the get-go. Hawkwind's sound indeed solidified as their career moved upward through the '70s, but their first album magnificently introduces the starting point of what was going to be a long and peculiar journey.