I WANDERED FAR IN LANDS UNKNOWN
'TIl I CAME TO MY EARTHLY HOME
FAR AWAY I FOUND LIFE'S DREAMS
DRIFTING ON A SILVER BEAM
Hall of the Mountain Grill
is the
fourth
studio album
by space rock band
released in 1974.
It is regarded by
many critics
as a career highlight.
Overview
The group's
fourth studio album,
it was the first by
a new line-up
that included
Simon House
on synthesizer,
Mellotron
and
electric violin;
absent were
Robert Calvert,
who had previously
contributed lyrics,
vocals and
spoken word interludes,
and
Dik Mik,
who provided
electronic effects.
The album's title
was a nod to
Edvard Grieg's
"In the Hall of the Mountain King"
and to a
Portobello Road cafe
called
The Mountain Grill
(now closed),
frequented by
the band
and their contemporaries
from the
Ladbroke Grove scene
in the early 1970s.
Hawkwind's
frequent solo support act
and occasional
live guest musician
Steve Peregrin Took
had a song
"The Ballad of the Mountain Grill,"
released in 1995
on a
Cleopatra Records CD
under alternative title
"Flophouse Blues (in the Mountain Grill)".
At one point,
underground newspaper
International Times
had its printworks in
the upstairs of the Grill.
The cover of a
derelict spaceship
in the mists of an
alien lagoon
was painted by
the band's regular
artistic collaborator,
Barney Bubbles.
The rear cover
was by
David A. Hardy.
The record featured
hard rockers like
"The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)"
and
"Lost Johnny"
subsequently recorded by
bassist
Lemmy's
post-Hawkwind band
Motörhead
and also by
co-writer
Mick Farren
with his band
The Deviants
psychedelia such as
the heavily phased
"D-Rider"
and
"Web Weaver",
as well as
quieter atmospheric numbers
like the instrumentals
"Goat Willow",
"Wind of Change"
and the title track.
Side two
of the original vinyl LP
was bookended by
"You'd Better Believe It"
and
"Paradox",
live tracks
recorded at
the Edmonton Sundown
in January 1974,
which recalled the
'space jams'
of earlier releases.
In the wake of
Robert Calvert's departure,
lead vocals
for the album were
performed by
Dave Brock,
along with
Lemmy on
"Lost Johnny"
and
Nik Turner on
"D-Rider".
The band's line-up
would continue to shift
during the year.
Del Dettmar
left prior to
the release of
Hall of the Mountain Grill
to live in Canada,
and
Alan Powell
joined as an
additional drummer.
Science fiction author
and friend of the group
Michael Moorcock
stepped in
to read poetry
at their concerts.
Jonathan Smeeton
(Liquid Len)
has stated that
Brock specifically wrote
"Wind of Change"
for a particular slide sequence
he had on
the Space Ritual tour
a tree being engulfed by a city,
then the city collapsing
with the tree remaining
At the time of the album's release,
Simon King
stated
"The Doremi album lacked production.
I wasn't really happy with the
Space Ritual either.
But the new one
I'm quite pleased with it.
I like side one
because I think it's
something we haven't
done before.
Yeah I'm pleased with
half of the new album."
Lemmy later commented that
"For me, this was when
the band were at their height.
Oh, and I was in
the band at the time."
(Classic Rock, April 2006),
listing it as No. 3
in
"My Top British Rock Albums".
No comments:
Post a Comment