Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music

Robert Calvert returned full-time to Hawkwind, following a guest spot with the band at the Reading Festival the previous August. Now consisting of guitarist Dave Brock, saxophonist Nik Turner, drummers Simon King and Alan Powell (the so-called "drum empire"), bassist Paul Rudolph and Simon House on keyboards and violin, Calvert now fronted Hawkwind. With new management in place, they signed to Charisma Records and released their eighth studio album, Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music, in August 1976. True to its title, the album features a more refined and contemporary sound. With a nod to the 1936 film of the same name, "Reefer Madness" reintroduces Calvert like a man reborn! Both his vocal delivery and lyrical wit reveal a talent previously unheard. Equally telling is the redundancy of Turner's sax solo, especially when contrasted with House's sleek synthesizer lines. "Steppenwolf" follows, a nod to Hermann Hesse's epic novel. Another of Brock's big-chord rockers, it features his deliciously phased guitar, and House on organ. The Rudolph/Powell/King rhythm section also renders a musicality never before revealed in Hawkwind history. Though veritable enough, the instrumentals "City of Lagoons," "The Aubergine That Ate Rangoon" and "Chronoglide Skyway" from Powell, Rudolph and House, respectively, are for the most part, surprisingly un-Hawkwind like, and ultimately led to Calvert and Brock's displeasure with the album. Featuring a remix from David Gilmour, "Kerb Crawler" b/w "Honk Dorky" failed as a single, though the album reached No. 33 on the UK charts (it did not see release in the US), as did the live compilation Roadhawks, issued to shore up the band's commitments to United Artists. Following their Atomhenge tour of the UK in the fall, the band would again undergo further changes.