Audio CD review:
Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill

Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill

Band: Hawkwind Title: Hall of the Mountain Grill Rating: Release Date: 2001-08-27 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) - Hawkwind, Brock, David 2: Wind of Change - Hawkwind, Brock, Dave 3: D-Rider - Hawkwind, Turner, Nik 4: Web Weavers - Hawkwind, Brock, Dave 5: You'd Better Believe It - Hawkwind, Brock, Dave 6: Hall of the Mountain Grill - Hawkwind, House, Simon 7: Lost Johnny - Hawkwind, Farren, Mick 8: Goat Willow - Hawkwind, Dettmar, Del 9: Paradox - Hawkwind, Brock, David 10: You'd Better Believe It - Hawkwind, Brock, Dave 11: The Pyschedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) - Hawkwind, Brock, Dave 12: Paradox - Hawkwind, Brock, Dave 13: It's So Easy - Hawkwind, Brock, David

Hawkwind - The Psychadelic Warlords Return To The Studio S. "Mountain Grill" would prove to be the band's highest charting album in the U. coming after the now legendary live album "Space Ritual" that propelled Hawkwind from a cult band into the charts. The album also features one of the coolest album covers of the 70's in my opinion. Long before I ever delved into Hawkwind I had seen this album cover in record bins for years and always thought about picking it up just for the cover alone. Many Hawkwind fans consider this their best studio album and I would agree that it ranks right up there. The band are in fine form and continue their space rock explorations here. This album would go on to influence bands like Blue Oyster Cult and even glam bands like Mott The Hoople. Highlights include "The Psychedelic Warlords", the live "You Better Believe It", "Hall Of The Mountain Grill", and Lemmy's straight forward rocker "Lost Johnny". This is a very good Hawkwind album and a great example of top notch space / psyche / stoner rock. different from the earlier albums, but very good anyway The one thing that immediately caught my attention is how Hawkwind chose to make Hall of the Mountain Grill more about solid vocal melodies. The strange space rock instrumental jams of the earlier Hawkwind albums are noticeably absent on this release, and now we have a more straight forward, but still very creative and diverse, hard rock album from the mid 70's. This album is a classic in the same way Black Sabbath's Sabotage and Nazareth's Hair of the Dog are classics- every single song is catchy, interesting, and holds up very well through repeated listens. Those are VERY important things for a rock band to have, and this Hawkwind album has that and more. Call me crazy, but songs like "You'd Better Believe" and "D-Rider" remind me of the Talking Heads. I don't know if the Heads were around yet, in this point in time. My favorite song on here is probably the opener "The Psychedelic Warlords" with a VERY good verse melody, catchy chorus, and creative arrangements. "Wind of Change", not related to the Scorpions song, is another fantastic song with a focus on build-up of classical elements and instrumental melody. Solid effort. . Had the album, wanted the DVD I have enjoyed Hawkwind over for about 25 years and are currently replacing my vinyl records with CD's . A good start Lost Johnny is the standout track for me,with vocals lent from Lemmy(later of Motorhead fame). This is definitely the most "musical" of the earlier Hawkwind catalog. it's more of a song structured album as opposed to the earlier spacey 13 minute dabblings of previous recordings. A great introduction to any interested party. Definitely a must have for any rock collection. HAWKWIND LIVES!! A REAL WINNER . A MUST FOR TEMPORAL AGENTS OR ANY METAPHYSICAL TRAVELERS. You can see a complete list of all Hawkwind discography, or go back to the Hawkwind tabs