“When in 1973 Pink Floyd said ‘I’ll see you on the dark side of the Moon’, they didn’t realise that Hawkwind had been there, done that and bought the spacesuit a full two years previously. Released in October 1971, “In Search Of Space” the second studio album from Hawkwind, touched down a little over a year after the Hawks’ self-titled debut, and it’s light years ahead of that fledgling far-out fandango.
“This three-disc set includes the original album mix remastered, new stereo mixes, and a Blu-ray disc in 5.1 surround sound. (The big bonus is the inclusion of pamphlet The Hawkwind Log, available only with the earliest vinyl copies.)”
Bass player John A Harrison left just after recording the first album, replaced by Thomas Crimble who in turn was replaced by Dave Anderson from Amon Düül II for this album, and who in turn would be gone before its release. Electronics player Dik Mik Davies had also temporarily left so the band’s live sound engineer Del Dettmar was pulled in as a replacement, whilst Huw Lloyd-Langton had departed after a bad LSD experience at the Isle of Wight Festival.
Recorded in 1971, the album was Hawkwind’s first true masterwork, featuring such classic tracks as ‘You Shouldn’t Do That’, ‘Master of the Universe’ and ‘We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago’. “You Shouldn’t Do That” is an extended piece they had been playing live from Crimble’s time in the band and he asserts he should have received a writer’s credit for the central bass line on which this is based. It was recorded for a BBC Maida Vale session on 19 May 1971 for the Sounds of the 70s show, a bootleg version of the session can be found on The Text of Festival. It was the encore for the “Space Ritual” show but omitted from that album, later appearing in 1976 on the compilation album “Roadhawks”. It has been part of the live set at various times throughout their career,
“We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago” is a twelve string guitar number with a band jam in the middle section and its lyrics bemoan the direction of society. A new acoustic version of “We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago” was included on “The Road to Utopia” produced and arranged by Mike Batt with additional orchestrations.
“Adjust Me” is a band improvisation. “Children of the Sun” is an acoustic guitar number, although after the vocal passage the repeated heavy riff is augmented by electric guitars and bass. The bonus track “Seven by Seven”, originally the b-side to “Silver Machine”, uses the riff from late 1960s English psychedelic band Leviathan’s “Flames”.
‘In Search Of Space’ saw Hawkwind fully realise their unique brand of Space Rock and was greeted with acclaim upon its release in October 1971 and was the band’s first Top 20 hit. The record was subsequently and deservedly hailed as one of the Greatest Hundred British Rock albums of all time by Classic Rock magazine.
The Fat Angel Sings 