Hawkwind: Days of the Underground: Radical Escapism in the Age of Paranoia (Strange Attractor Press)

This is a great book about one of those bands that many these days have either forgotten or don't even know. For some, they may only know them as "Lemmy's old band' (especially Americans as Hawkwind were never as big in the US as they were in the UK). While this is true about Lemmy, it isn't necessarily fair about Hawkwind. The band existed before and after Lemmy's tenure. Freaks amongst freaks, Hawkwind were spacier than their counterparts The Deviants, Pink Fairies and Edgar Broughton Band (although the latter are pretty freaky themselves!). Even legendary underground Pretty Things guitarist, Dick Taylor, was sold on the merits of the band as upon leaving the Pretties he produced Hawkwind's 1st LP.Having lived in England for 14 years and also having seen the Grateful Dead many times, I can also testify to the comparisons between the two bands - not musically, but in the sense of how fanatical their fanbase were/are and both bands were more about the live experience than they were studio. As with fans of The Grateful Dead, Hawkwind fans would travel all over Great Britain to see their legendary tripped out shows and they often had a mystical sense of awe about them (as they would play all night psychedelic rave ups with bands like Ozric Tentacles and other natty traveller style space rock warriors and they also once did annual shows at Stonehenge for the Solstice. Those were the days!). Live is also where Hawkwind & The Grateful Dead came to life. The studio restrictions, as well as LP length, never allowed either band to truly travel into the cosmos in search of space, thus the live shows became the stuff of legend.What I enjoyed about the book was how easy it was to read, I was completely captivated from start to finish. I liked that he discussed their primary inspiration with Krautrock (Can, Amon Duul, Neu, space rock and the cosmic free jazz of Sun Ra). The author clearly loves the band, but at the same time gives honest constructive criticism where needed (the impact of getting rid of Lemmy, Nik and Allen Powell as well as subpar material on certain records). As others have stated, the author also has an excellent, brilliantly colorful and downright poetic use of language when it comes to describing the sounds this incredibly unique and downright trippy and spaced out band were capable of creating.Well written, amazing photos and clearly a true labor of love to the band. Recommended to fans of Hawkwind as well as all fans of underground rock & roll.Good read!

Probably the best informative book out there on 70's era Hawkwind. Covering the formation and life of Hawkwind we also get a complete chapter for each album, interviews with various band members and crew (including Stacia and Michael Moorcock) and numerous endnotes. At the end we get the discography (1970-1980), BBC Sessions in the 70's, a miscellany of 70's songs released post-1980, a 70's filmography, further listening, and a selected bibliography/further reading.This is a book you can read from front to back or use as a reference for all your 70's Hawkwind related questions and trivia.

Excellent read for any Hawkwind fan. A clear, and largely objective, overview of the band, the vision and the songs of the first decade. I found myself playing each of the albums along with the books chronological sequence. There's several essays that break-up the chron. These essays largely focus on the musical vision of Hawkwind or the respective visions respective important band members. Joe Banks ability to find the exact perfect words and phrases to describe the music and its connectivity and importance to the underground is often brilliant. Every punk rocker that discounts spacerock should read this to get a better understanding that a band like Hawkwind can be every bit as counter-culture and also bring insightful socio-political criticism through both direct lyrics and SF mythology. Great book

Joe Banks' "Hawkwind: Days of the Underground" is one of the best "music books" I've ever read, and I've read a lot!If you're already a Hawkwind fan, this book is essential, but if you have never heard of them, know of them only vaguely, or if you have any interest at all in the music and cultural scene of the late 1960's and early 1970's, this book is STILL essential. Banks takes us through what was happening in the area in which the band formed, gives us reviews of each album of their major '70s period, excellent essays and interviews, and lots of photos. I learned a ton, and the book sparked a new interest in the music of Hawkwind that I'm still up to my ears in! Highest possible rating.

I'm a prog rock fan but new to Hawkwind and this is a nice deep dive.

As a HUGE fan of Hawkwind's first decade and of Strange Attractor Press- who you should really be ordering this book from, irony of leaving an Amazon review aside- I was predisposed to like this book. Five stars , all the way. I want to echo the other reviewer who notes that the author uses the absolute most perfect descriptors in the album rundown sections.. some of the best music writing I've ever read. I bought my special edition through SAP, but you're still doing yourself a favor if you order it here.

Long overdue look at UK space rockers Hawkwind, Days of the Underground is a cultural as much as a musical history of the band's impact and influence. Author Joe Banks is a sharp writer and an astute social critic of, to quote the Dead C, England's harsh 70's reality. He knows the music too, but refreshingly, this isn't a fanboy book. Rather Banks centers Hawkwind as one of the prime movers of the prepunk Ladbroke Grove scene who took the underground to the provinces. Full of great yarns, good/bad trips and uncanny surprises, Days of the Underground stands as a corrective to the prevailing hippie-phobic critical consensus that the band was little more than the puchline to a 40-year-old joke. Really well-done. One of the best rock books, I've read in years.

What a phenomenal book! So much detail! So much information! Almost an information overload!Hawkwind are the undoubted masters of psychedelic space rock, and Banks does a totally outstanding job taking us into their world of the '70s, describing the attitudes and influences of the age that drove the underground music of the time! Hawkwind were an unlikely coterie of musicians, poets and supporting friends that somehow succeeded in developing a genre of their own that has been subsequently assumed and imitated by so many others.Banks does an amazing job describing the genesis of this behemoth out of the "Ladbroke Grove scene" of the late '60s, and their trials, tribulations and continuous machinations in producing some of the wildest, heaviest, and certainly the trippiest music ever to be heard! His album reviews are actually beautiful, and his interviews both revealing and heart-warming. His overall treatment of his subject is a delight to read, and left me verklempft with memories time after time! I can't recommend this book highly enough!

Such an informative book. You can jump in anywhere and start reading with ease. Well written with so much information.

Possibly more detail than one really wants to know about every Hawkwind recording, especially from the "classic" period. But the author succeeds in putting into words what attracted so many fans to the Hawkwind sound. The attempt to position Hawkwind as a significant socio-cultural force seems a bit contrived at times but it does provide an interesting perspective on the impact that Hawkwind had. I especially liked the depiction of Hawkwind as a band that created and occupied a relatively unique musical subgenre whilst also having a significant influence on many other musicians and bands. All in all, the book makes for an absorbing read.

A detailed read through the heyday of Hawkwind, interesting interviews, although it’s rather sad that there isn’t one with Dave Brock. Great pictures and images of music journalism from the time, it’s nicely illustrated between the informative chapters. Highly recommended for any Hawkwind fan.

Very well put together, incredibly detailed!