Hall of the Mountain Grill Hawkwind Artist

The band's best studio album, coming off of the success of {|Space Ritual|}. The group's {|rock|} roots are juxtaposed effectively with the swelling synthesizer flourishes and pretentious song ideas, creating the quintessential guitar-oriented {|spac... Read more

The band's best studio album, coming off of the success of {|Space Ritual|}. The group's {|rock|} roots are juxtaposed effectively with the swelling synthesizer flourishes and pretentious song ideas, creating the quintessential guitar-oriented {|space rock|} record -- the highlight was the live recording of {|You'd Better Believe It,|} with its crunchy guitars, but nobody minded keyboardman {|Simon House|}'s languid, synthesizer-laden {|Hall of the Mountain Grill|} (especially as it was followed by the {|Lemmy|}-sung {|Lost Johnny,|} a great all-out rocker). The sound, especially the mix of ballsy high-volume guitar playing and soaring electronic keyboards ({|The Psychedelic Warlords,|} {|D-Rider|}), would later get co-opted by outfits such as {|Blue Oeyster Cult|} ({|Don't Fear the Reaper|}) and {|Kansas|}. Overall, this is the sound and imagery that the punkier kids and druggies who went to shows like {|Laserium|} were looking for, and if the producers of {|Laserium|} had devised something hooked around this record, it could have run 20 years or better. [The 2001 British reissue includes several bonus tracks: {|Paradox,|} the Single Version Edit of {|You'd Better Believe It,|} the Single Version of {|Pyschedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke),|} the Remix Single Edit of {|Paradox,|} and {|It's So Easy.|}] ~ Bruce Eder Less