''Choose Your Masques'' is the thirteenth studio album by the English

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

group

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

, released in 1982. It spent five weeks on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, peaking at No. 29. The group's line-up for this album remained unchanged from the previous ''

Church of Hawkwind ''Church of Hawkwind'' is the twelfth studio album by Hawkwind, released under the band name Church of Hawkwind in 1982. The name change reflects the fact that this was a musical departure for the band, being a more experimental electronic offer ...

'' album, although for this recording the group started to heavily use drum machines and drum loops, with most of Griffin's contributions being relegated to disjointed drum fills. Griffin was unhappy with this role, and group-leader

Dave Brock David Anthony Brock (born 20 August 1941) is an English musician. He plays electric guitar, keyboards, bass and oscillators. He is a founder, sole constant member and musical focus of the space rock group Hawkwind.Allmusic– Dave Brock biogra ...

was dissatisfied with Griffin's

timekeeping Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

, so they mutually agreed to part company, although Griffin reluctantly agreed to fulfil the scheduled tour commitments. The album was recorded in June and July 1982 at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a two- ...

. Science fiction author

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...

contributed lyrics to the album, but credited his wife Lynda Steele in order to bypass his music publisher Douglas Smith with whom he was in dispute. The lyrics to "Fahrenheit 451", which had been written by former lead singer Robert Calvert and originally recorded but unused in 1978, were based on

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

's book ''

Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, ''Fahrenheit 451'' presents an American society where books have been personified and outlawed and "firemen" burn any that ar ...

''. The album makes use of samples, featuring

Ian Holm Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor who was knighted in 1998 for his contributions to theatre and film. Beginning his career on the British stage as a standout member of the Royal Shakespeare Company ...

from a 1981

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

serialisation of ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' on "Dream Worker", and the spoken introduction of '' The Outer Limits'' on "Void City". " Silver Machine" and " Psychedelic Warlords" are re-recordings of the early 1970s singles which were not originally intended for inclusion on the album. The group undertook a 29-date UK tour in November and December to promote the album, with support from the Spanish rock group

Barón Rojo Barón Rojo (') is a Spanish heavy metal band from Madrid that achieved international success in the 1980s. The band is led by siblings Carlos and Armando de Castro, previously from the band Coz, and is considered one of the most important rep ...

. Saxophonist and singer Nik Turner rejoined the group for this tour. Recordings from this tour have been issued on the albums ''

Zones Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

'' (1983), ''

Out & Intake ''Out and Intake'' is a 1987 (see 1987 in music) live/studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind. The album is compiled from various sources: studio out-takes from 1982; live recordings from 1982's '' Choose Your Masques'' tour; st ...

'' (1987) and '' Choose Your Masques: Collectors Series Volume 2'' (1999). A full double album recorded on the tour was finally released in 2016 as ''Coded Languages''.

Track listing

Side 1

# "Choose Your Masks" (

) – 5:28 # "Dream Worker" (

Harvey Bainbridge Harvey Frederick Bainbridge (born 24 September 1949, Dorset) is an English people, English bass guitar, bass and Keyboard (instrument), keyboard player. He is best known as the bass player and keyboard player in Hawkwind. Career Bainbridge's f ...

) – 4:58 # "Arrival in Utopia" (Moorcock, Brock) – 5:47 # "Utopia" (Brock) – 3:00

Side 2

" Silver Machine" ( Robert Calvert, Brock) – 4:22 # "Void City" (Bainbridge, Brock) – 6:48 # "Solitary Mind Games" (Marion Lloyd-Langton,

Huw Lloyd-Langton Richard Hugh "Huw" Lloyd-Langton (6 February 1951 – 6 December 2012) was an English musician, best known as the guitarist for the rock band HawkwindStrong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Rock Discography'', Canongate, , p. 466 at various times. ...

) – 3:58 # "Fahrenheit 451" (Calvert, Brock) – 4:48 # "The Scan" (Bainbridge, Brock) – 1:02 # "Waiting for Tomorrow" (H. Lloyd-Langton, M. Lloyd-Langton) – 3:46

EBS/Griffin bonus tracks

"Silver Machine" (Calvert, Brock) – 7:25 # " Psychedelic Warlords" (Brock) – 4:52

Atomhenge bonus tracks

"Psychedelic Warlords" (Brock) - 5:02 # "Silver Machine" ull version(Brock, Calvert) - 3:46

Atomhenge bonus disc

# "Void City" lternate version(Brock, Bainbridge) - 6:38 # "Candle Burning" (H. Lloyd-Langton, M. Lloyd-Langton) - 2:48 # "5/4" (Bainbridge, H. Lloyd-Langton) - 3:21 # "Waiting For Tomorrow" lternate mix(H. Lloyd-Langton, M. Lloyd-Langton) - 3:43 # "Radio Telepathy" (Brock) - 5:44 # "Dream Worker" xtended version(Brock) - 2:34 # "Lato" (Brock, Bainbridge) - 5:34 # "Oscillations" (Brock) - 2:01 # "Recent Reports" (Brock) - 5:48 # "Lato Percussive Electro" (Brock) - 3:45 # "Solitary Mind Games" lternate version(H. Lloyd-Langton, M. Lloyd-Langton) - 5:06 # "Silver Machine" hort single version(Brock, Calvert) - 2:58

Personnel

;Hawkwind *

– electric guitar, keyboards, vocals *

– electric guitar, vocals *

– bass guitar, keyboards, vocals * Martin Griffin – drums ;Guest musician * Nik Turner – saxophone on "Void City"

Credits

* Recorded at

, Monmouth – June & July 1982. Produced with Pat Moran. * Sleeve designed by Andrew Christian and Terry Oakes.

Release history

* October 1982: RCA/Active, RCALP 6055, UK vinyl * October 1996: Emergency Broadcast System Records, EBSCD124, UK CD * October 1996:

Griffin Music Griffin Music was an independent record label created in 1989 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by author/publisher Robert Godwin. It was originally created to record and finance the second album of Led Zeppelin tribute act, Michael White & The White. Du ...

, GCD613-2, USA CD * October 2010: Atomhenge ( Cherry Red) Records, ATOMCD2026, UK 2CD

References

External links

Choose Your Masques at Atomhenge Records
{{Authority control 1982 albums Hawkwind albums Active Records albums Albums produced by Pat Moran Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios