Hawkwind – Sonic Assassins – what it says on the tin.

FROM THE ARCHIVES…

Hot on the heels of the Psychedelic Selection, we revisit Hawkwind in 1977. A golden age (not so much for Rock and Roll) but certainly for the more progressively inclined. And Hawkwind.

Here’s the latest from the archive in the form of a new edition of the 1977 Sonic Assassins concert. All the surviving recordings remixed from the masters of the Queens Hall, Barnstaple show on 23rd December 1977. One was billed as being an appearance by Dave Brock’s Sonic Assassins. A tour whose previous UK dates had swung from the Reading Festival to Wigan Casino, Hawkwind members Brock and Robert Calvert were joined by future members Harvey Bainbridge (bass), Martin Griffin (drums) and keyboard player Paul Hayles. The latest incarnation of an ever changing roll call.

The Brock/Calvert side project was recorded and featured early renditions of tracks such as Freefall and Death Trap, along with a classic improvised piece later titled Over The Top. The latter highlighted Calvert at his most off kilter improvisational lyrical best as the sonics swirl around him. In time, the set would later be seen as sowing the seeds of both the Hawklords who appeared the following year and a future line-up of Hawkwind.

CHAOTIC ORDER

Mark Powell’s booklet notes fill in the gaps with the tale of a year that’s packed with a chaotic order, while the music combines some meandering improvs with some Hawkwind staples. The pummelling and raw Death Trap wouldn’t be out of place amongst the Punk classics of the era while the Acid Jazz doodling in Free Fall provides the soundtracks of psychedelic nightmares. All in contrast to the majesty of Golden Void that opens the set. I guess whoever plays it be it the Hawks of the Lords, Golden Void is canon. There’s a wonderful ambient finale whose reverie is disturbed by the sharp riff of Magnu and the motorik pace again picks up.

And once Calvert has delivered his rmabling discourse, there’s Masters Of The Universe to trample any remaining vestiges into the ground. A false ending brings the fury to a temporary standstill before Brock leads the gang off again and asking if the world’s gone mad. Perhaps the sudden closure suggesting he’s not far from the mark. As always, the prophetic comes into play with a finale of Welcome To The Future that provides the warm down relaxation. A grand souvenir of the wonderful late Seventies. An era when the Hawkwind story was taking something of a turn. Call it the spirit of the age.

Here’s a blast through Death Trap:

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