Hawkwind — Hall Of The Mountain Grill( reissue)
First released in 1974, Hall Of The Mountain Grill, was the third album from British space rockers Hawkwind. It's seen as one of the band's most consistent releases, as well as one of the all-time great guitar-focused space rock albums of all time. Here from Atomhenge is a recent CD reissue of this stone-cold/ spaced-out classic, with the whole album getting remastered, and topped off with six rare/ bonus tracks.
The CD comes presented in a glossy digipak, which features a twenty-page inlay booklet, including a new seven-page essay, pictures & artwork, and full credits. This reissue also comes as either a two-LP or an epic seven-CD/ 2 Blu-ray set.
The album was recorded between May–June of 1974 in Olympic Studios, London, and two tracks were captured live at Edmonton Sundown.. With the band being a five-piece, taking in- Dave Brock – lead guitar, 12-string guitar, synthesizer, organ, harmonica, vocals. Nik Turner – saxophone, oboe, flute, vocals. Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) – bass, vocals, guitars. Simon House – synthesizer, Mellotron, violin. Simon King – drums, percussion. Del Dettmar – keyboards, synthesizer, kalimba. It was released on 6th September 1974 on United Artists.
The original album took in nine tracks, and really, it has a near-perfect track sequencing. As we move from the opening “Psychedelic Warlords( Disappear In Smoke)”, which shifts from churning guitar tone, subtle synth ambience, and forceful male vocals. Onto some sax freakout, more hazed chugging, and moody synth sweeps. There is the galloping guitar ‘n’ bass, simmering synth washes, mournful Pink Floyd-like vocalising of “D-Rider”.
In its second half, we get the first live track in the form of "You'd Better Believe It"- with its slowly mixing blend of wabbling from space synth tone, bounding guitars, hard-hitting drums, and male vocals- with second vocal layers coming from Lemmy. There’s piping electronics, ethnic percussive detail, electro harpsichord jaunt, and mellow piping flute tones of the instrumental track “Goat Willow”. Before we finish off with the second live track, “Paradox” with its urgent to punchy gallop riff and hazed vocals/ synth sweeps.
The album has been remastered, and you can certainly notice more edge to the guitar/ bass tones, as well as more mysterious sweep/ spacy grander to the synth work.
On the bonus side, we have six tracks- taking different studio versions, B-side tracks, and single versions. With the most interesting of these being the studio version of "You'd Better Believe It"- which halves the live tracks seven plus seven-plus-seven-minute runtime. And the alternative version of “Winds Of Change” with great loud'n’ moody bass up in the mix.
In finishing it’s great to see this stone-cold classic Hawkwind from the 70’s getting a reissue- with a nice balanced remastering, and a decent selection of bonus tracks.