My first discovery of the band Hawkwind was when I was in a record store. I was with a friend of mine and we were talking about this band when we noticed a guy looking through the Hawkwind section, as he was commenting on how "great" Hawkwind was/is. With obvious curiosity, I started collecting their work, with mixed results.
For starters, this band's early years is easily compared to the very early Pink Floyd days with Syd Barrett. Hawkwind first formed in 1969. Their 1992 release, Out & Intake, has 13 songs that were "Intakes and Outtakes" that didn't make make it on their original albums. And after listening to this album, I can easily see why.
"Turner Point" is a disgrace, where all it is, is just a lot of noise. "Waiting For Tomorrow" has some potential - it's progressive rock with a slight psychedlic taste, and it also has a touch of today's alternative, in a darker sense. "Cajun Jinx" is an instrumental. The beginning of it is almost like U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name," so right away, you would think this would be another song with potential. But, the song changes its beat, and quite frankly, it throws you off. And after awhile, the song does get a bit boring. I think the song would of been a lot better if it had kept the "U2" effect.
"Solitary Mind Games" is very eerie. It catches your attention in the beginning. It could pass as a good song, except for the vocals. The vocals here are mediocre. I think this song could of been better off as an eerie instrumental.
The beginning of "Starflight" is similar to material found in
Pink Floyd's
Wish You Were Here or
Meddle. It's spacey, it's psychedelic, it has spoken words
as if you were watching a space-type movie. It also makes you keep
listening. But then, it takes a 180 turn into a rocking song called
"Ejection". The vocals are faint. I kind of wished that
"Starflight" had a better ending, instead of merging into the next
available song. The space/psychedelic effects in "Starflight" were
interesting.
"Assassins of Allah" is more of a hardcore rock song, as in Motorhead/Metallica. This song can be appreciated by the die-hard fans of hardcore rock. (Note that the material on this album does NOT feature former Hawkwind member Lemmy, who would quit Hawkwind to form Motorhead.)
"Flight To Maputo" is another unusual tune, where this song has an African beat, as it mixes in with rock music. It's an instrumental, and this song has to be the only one worth listening to. This song could be used as part of a soundtrack for a movie. (Somehow the movie Congo comes to mind, or some other movie with a jungle-type atmosphere...) "Confrontation" has music (hardcore) and spoken words throughout, and it is another song you would like to forget.
"5/4" starts out eerie like "Solitary Mind Games," but then it merges into another hardcore rock song, as in "Assassins of Allah" and "Confrontation." It is mostly instrumental, with very little vocals.
"Ghost Dance" is for those musicians who are drummers. That's all it is, pretty much continuous drumming with sound effects and weird vocals. This is a song that you wouldn't want to keep the "repeat" button on. It is pretty bad, no, I take that back: It's real bad. And again, we have another hardcore song, "Coded Languages." It's hardcore rock with a punk rock touch. It's Weird. It's Strange. It's Bad.
And lastly, "Warrior On The Edge Of Time" must of been an outtake from the original album of the same name. (I don't know where the rest of these songs came from which time period.) The vocals (actually it's spoken words) are shouts and screams regarding "The Warrior." Again, the music here is eerie, and should of been an instrumental instead of including vocals.
After listening to this album, you can see why these songs are outtakes. As different and unique Hawkwind was with their albums, they recorded these songs and realized that they couldn't fit for an upcoming album. Yet for the Hawkwind fan, or anyone, it's curiosity in hearing material that was left on the shelves, and that there could be a possibility that this material could of been included. (The Beatles' Anthology albums come to mind here.) Another good "outtake" album was The Who's Odds And Sods, in which all of the songs on that album could of easily been included on any Who album that was currently in the works. Why they weren't, I'll never know. But in Hawkwind's case, the songs on Out & Intake can easily be revealed that this material should of been kept on the shelf where it belongs.
Hawkwind's work is progressive rock, and is solely for those who enjoy progressive rock. It's different music as compared to your standard rock talent favorites. Out & Intake are outtakes, and most outtake albums are just a bunch of songs slapped together that were leftovers that didn't appear on original releases.
Hawkwind's music can be easily liked or disliked, depending on your tastes in this area of music. But for those who are curious in which albums that would be worth listening to (or at least try to), I suggest their debut album Hawkwind, Warrior On The Edge Of Time, and/or Hall Of The Mountain Grill.
Even some of their original albums may have mixed reviews, but Hawkwind is an experience. An Experience that is very different compared to other types of music.