Following his departure from Hawkwind in 1976, Nik Turner decamped to Egypt, only to find his host was being deported. But through some twist of fate, he secured recording time in the Great Pyramid (Chepos) of Giza. There, he recorded hours of flute improvisations, all of which would form the basis of his first solo album, Xitintoday. Upon returning to England, he enlisted Steve ("Stiv") Hillage to produce an album from the tapes. Most of the Gong crew (including Mike Howlett, Miquette Giraudy, Tim Blake and Harry Williamson) appeared, along with Alan Powell from Hawkwind.

South African-born Robert Calvert’s time in Hawkwind had, up until this point, been tentative; his documented mental instabilities kept him from having a permanent position with the band. Following his departure after the Space Ritual tour, Calvert teamed up with producer Roy Thomas Baker for his first solo album. The first, Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters, presented the true story of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a plane with a dubious safety record. A mix of spoken word passages and songs, the album is every bit as good as a Hawkwind release.