Happy Anniversary: Hawkwind, HAWKWIND

47 years ago today, Hawkwind released an LP which is generally considered to be one of the first-ever space-rock albums, and the world of music – okay, well, certainly the world of space-rock, anyway – hasn’t been the same since.

Recorded at Trident Studios and co-produced by Dick Taylor and the band themselves, HAWKWIND is, for the most part, composed of an instrumental entitled “Sunshine Special” that was split into a number of different tracks. Taylor – who, as you may know, was best known at the time for being the guitarist of The Pretty Things – had a bit of a struggle when it came to capturing the Hawkwind sound in the studio, a problem which he solved to the best of his ability by just having the band play live, at which point he recorded it. Easy peasy.

Although HAWKWIND didn’t set the charts on fire, it raised the band’s profile considerably within the UK underground scene and beyond. By the time they released their sophomore effort, 1971’s IN SEARCH OF SPACE, they’d developed enough of a following to find themselves in the top 20 of the UK Albums chart. Not bad for a band who’d only been around for a few years…and who, believe it or not (in case you haven’t been following their career), are still around today.