''Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music'' is the sixth studio album by the British rock band

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 1976. It reached No. 33 on the UK album charts. The title makes references to old science fiction magazines (''

Astounding ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Cl ...

'' and ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

''), the concept being that each piece of music (and its title) would be interpreted as an individual science fiction story. The record cover is a parody of the cover of these magazines, while the inner sleeve carried small ads, with each band member having their own product (e.g. Dr Brock's cure for piles, Paul Rudolph's Manly Strapon, and Simon King's Pleasure Primer). The cover was double-sided, one side illustrated by Calvert's childhood friend Tony Hyde, the other by

Barney Bubbles Barney Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher; 30 July 1942 – 14 November 1983) was an English graphic artist whose work encompassed graphic design and music video direction. Bubbles, who also sketched and painted privately, is best known for his distin ...

signed as Grove Lane, with initial print-runs having either as the front cover. Bubbles original design was to have been Steppenwolf looming over the city. This album marked the start of a new era for Hawkwind, having left the management of Douglas Smith for Tony Howard and changed record companies from

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

to Charisma Records. Musically, the dirty heavy metal lead bass guitar playing of

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was a British musician. He was the founder, lead vocalist, bassist and primary songwriter of the metal band Motörhead, of which he ...

was replaced by the cleaner, formally trained bass playing of Paul Rudolph. All members of the band were now contributing to the writing and arrangement of the music leading to more width in style, and the recording and production is better defined than previous albums. The greatest change is in the return of

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African-United Kingdom, 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 ...

, this time as a permanent vocalist rather than the peripheral poet role he occupied on '' Space Ritual''. Not only did he bring crafted lyrics to the band, but he was intent on turning live shows into a piece of music theatre with specific characters for him to act out, Calvert explaining in a 1976 interview that "We're writing numbers now with visual ideas in mind, rather than trying to think of things to impose on numbers we've already got. We're trying to get the visual side of the band focussed on individuals rather than on screen projections. Nik, Dave and myself are, in some parts of the show, playing the parts of actors... All in all, it works up to quite a nice piece of theatre, spontaneous theatre that is." The group performed at

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle () is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roma ...

on 24 July as "special guests" to

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

, featuring also

Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hi ...

, Curved Air, Budgie and MC

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

. They promoted the album with a 17-date British tour from 15 September through to 5 October, with support from Tiger featuring Nicky Moore and

Big Jim Sullivan James George Tomkins (14 February 1941 – 2 October 2012), known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English guitarist. Best known as a session guitarist, he was one of the most in-demand studio musicians in the UK in the 1960s ...

, and the ''Atomhenge'' stage set designed by Larry Smart of Exploding Galaxy. Soundboard recording from these concerts have been issued on '' Weird Tape Volume 5'' (1982) and '' Atomhenge 76''/''Thrilling Hawkwind Adventures'' (2000). After the tour, the group dismissed Turner and Powell, recorded the single "Back on the Streets" and then undertook another 8 date tour in December.

Songs

"Reefer Madness" lyrics are inspired by the 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film ''

Reefer Madness ''Reefer Madness'' (originally made as ''Tell Your Children'' and sometimes titled ''The Burning Question'', ''Dope Addict'', ''Doped Youth'', and ''Love Madness'') is a 1938/1939 American exploitation film about drugs, revolving around the me ...

''. It was performed during the tour of the album, appearing on the live album '' Atomhenge 76'', and remained in the set until the formation of the

Hawklords Hawklords were an English music group active between 1978 and 1979. Members were from Hawkwind, who were inactive during that period, (Robert Calvert – vocals, Dave Brock – guitar and Simon King (musician), Simon King – drums) and a loca ...

in 1978. The song was added to the setlist in 1990/1 to be performed by Bridget Wishart, a version appearing on the live album '' California Brainstorm''. Calvert had written the lyrics to "Steppenwolf" when Adrian Wagner, for his album ''Distances Between Us'', "wanted a song about living in cities and I was re-reading

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

's '' Steppenwolf'' at the time. It seemed to me that there was a strong myth in it about city life and it gave me the basic idea." It was performed during the tour of the album, appearing on the live album ''Atomhenge 76'', and remained in the band's set until Calvert left in 1978, versions included on '' Weird Tape 4 and 5''. The song has occasionally been re-instated into the live set, between 1982 and 1984 it was performed by Turner, in 1996 by Ron Tree, in 2003 by Arthur Brown and in 2017 by Mr Dibs during the Into The Woods tour. "City of Lagoons" is a Powell composed instrumental, although erroneously credited to House on the album's release. "The Aubergine That Ate Rangoon" is an instrumental, its title references Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band's 1967 hit single " The Eggplant That Ate Chicago". " Kerb Crawler" was released as a single backed by "Honky Dorky" which is the band jamming on "Reefer Madness". There are reportedly two versions of the A-side, the original and a re-mix by Pink Floyd's

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

– it is the latter that appeared on the album. "Kadu Flyer" lyrics were written by Turner, who credited them to Jamie Mandelkau for legal reasons (Turner was still under contract either to United Artists or Douglas Smith). Calvert is also given a writers credit on some releases. Kadu is an abbreviation of

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. "Chronoglide Skyway" is a House composed psychedelic instrumental, featuring saxophone and guitar solos, although erroneously credited to Powell on the album's release. It was performed during the tour of the album, appearing on the live album ''Atomhenge 76''.

Critical reception

The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' journalist Dick Tracy (a pseudonym of John May) reviewed the album as "Hawkwind are back on form... their music has acquired about fifteen new levels since the old churn-churn days". He highlights "Reefer Madness" as the "stand-out" track and notes that "Simon House has injected a big shot of tuneful keyboarding into the mix".''

'', 6 November 1976, Dick Tracy

Track listing

Personnel

;Hawkwind *

– vocals *

Dave Brock David Anthony Brock (born 20 August 1941) is an English musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the founder, the sole constant member and the musical focus of the space rock group Hawkwind.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

– Dave Brock biography Brock w ...

– electric guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *

Nik Turner Nicholas Robert Turner (26 August 1940 – 10 November 2022) was an English musician best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner played saxophone and flute, as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, Tur ...

– saxophone,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, vocals (on "Kadu Flyer") * Paul Rudolph – bass guitar, electric guitar * Simon House – violin, keyboards, mellotron, sitar (on "Kadu Flyer") * Simon King – drums * Alan Powell – drums

Credits

* Recorded at Roundhouse Recording Studios, February to March 1976. * Produced by Hawkwind, recorded by Mark Dearnley. * "Kerb Crawler" remixed by

(as Dave Gilmour). * Cover by Tony Hyde and

Charts

Release history

* August 1976: Charisma, CDS4004, UK vinyl – some copies were printed with the front and back cover reversed. Original copies contained an inner sleeve. * August 1976: Charisma, 9211–4004, Canada – disc label says "Amazing Music, Astounding Sounds" * March 1983: Charisma, CHC14, UK vinyl * April 1989: Virgin, CDSCD 4004, UK CD * August 1995: Griffin Music, GCD483-2, USA CD; GCD345-0, USA CD with the Michael Butterworth ''The Time of the Hawklords'' book. * 2005: Sunrise Records, LC12774, USA CD * January 2009: Atomhenge ( Cherry Red) Records, ATOMCD1005, UK CD

References

External links

Discogs.com
Discography details

– Original cover and inner sleeve
Atomhenge Records
{{Authority control 1976 albums Hawkwind albums Charisma Records albums