''Spirit of the Age'' is a 1977 song by the UK rock 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 ...

. It was originally recorded and issued on the album ''

Quark, Strangeness and Charm ''Quark, Strangeness and Charm'' is the seventh studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1977. It spent six weeks on the UK albums chart peaking at number 30. This is Hawkwind's seventh studio album, hence "The Hawkwin ...

''. The lyrics of the song are composed of two of

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African-British writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist, performance poet and lead vocalist of the space rock band Hawkwind. Early life ...

's science fiction poems, the first verse being "The Starfarer's Despatch", which he had recited at shows whilst being the "resident poet" in the band in 1971, and the second being "The Clone's Poem". Both of these poems were published amongst a collection of his poetry issued as ''

Centigrade 232 ''Centigrade 232'' is an album and a book of poems by English writer and musician Robert Calvert, recorded in 1986 and released in 2007. The poem Centigrade 232 was set to music by Spirits Burning in 2001. Some titles were set to music by Hawk ...

'', published by Quasar in 1978. Throughout the song is a rhythmic electronic pulse. This repeated sound is the Morse Code for SOS (dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot). The song was a popular addition to the band's live set and even remained after Calvert's departure from the band in 1979. A more aggressive version of the song with vocals by Brock was issued on the ''

Live Seventy Nine ''Live Seventy Nine'' is a 1980 live album by Hawkwind recorded on their Winter 1979 UK tour. It reached #15 on the UK album chart. This is a reconstituted Hawkwind with Brock, Bainbridge and King emerging from the dissolved Hawklords, joined ...

'' album in 1980. On 14 November 2019, the group recorded a session for

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available only ...

show, playing "65 Million Years Ago", "Last Man on Earth", "Spirit of the Age" and "

Silver Machine "Silver Machine" is a 1972 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single on 9 June 1972, reaching number three on the UK singles chart. The single was re-issued in 1976, again in 1978 reaching number 34 on the UK s ...

1993 Mixes

The song was subject to various remixes and issued as the ''Spirit Of The Age - Solstice Mixes'' EP in June 1993 on 4-Real Records (4R1). Mixes were by Astralasia (Marc Swordfish, Nosmo) and produced by

Salt Tank Salt Tank are two English record producers, David Gates and Malcolm Stanners, plus percussionist and vocalist Andy Rose, from Basingstoke. Their music ranges from laid-back trance, such as their hit single "Eugina" (some of its many versions inc ...

(David Gates & Malcolm Stanners).

12"

#"Spirit Of The Age" ''Full Vocal Mix'' (Calvert/Brock) – 9:56 #"Spirit Of The Age" ''Hard Trance Mix'' (Calvert/Brock) – 8:43 #"Spirit Of The Age" ''Cyber Trance Mix'' (Calvert/Brock) – 9:52 #"Spirit Of The Age" ''Flesh To Phantasy Mix'' (Calvert/Brock) – 12:06

CD

#"Spirit Of The Age" ''Radio Edit'' (Calvert/Brock) #"Spirit Of The Age" ''Full Vocal Mix'' (Calvert/Brock) #"Spirit Of The Age" ''Cyber Trance Mix'' (Calvert/Brock) #"Spirit Of The Age" ''Flesh to Phantasy Ambient Remix'' (Calvert/Brock) Note: The band performed a very rare second encore at the 1993 Brixton Academy gig, where they mimed along to "The Full Vocal Mix", with both members of Salt Tank on stage.

2004 single

In 2004 the band recorded a new studio version of the song which was issued as a single in two different formats. The first verse featured a vocal by tabloid journalist

Matthew Wright Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

who, while interviewing the band on a London radio show, had revealed that he was a big fan of the band. This version was included on their '' Take Me to Your Leader'' album.

CD1

#"Spirit Of The Age" (Calvert/Brock) – Radio Edit #"Angela Android" (Chadwick) – Live Version #"Assassins of Allah" ka_"Hassan-i_Sabbah"/"Space_is_Their_(Palestine)".html" ;"title="Hassan-i_Sabbah.html" ;"title="ka "Hassan-i Sabbah">ka "Hassan-i Sabbah"/"Space is Their (Palestine)"">Hassan-i_Sabbah.html" ;"title="ka "Hassan-i Sabbah">ka "Hassan-i Sabbah"/"Space is Their (Palestine)"(Calvert/Rudolph/Brock) – Live Version

CD2

#"Spirit Of The Age" (Calvert/Brock) – Live Version #"Paradox" (Brock) – New studio version

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spirit Of The Age Hawkwind songs 2004 songs Songs written by Dave Brock Songs written by Robert Calvert