Hawkwind was at a difficult transitional point in 1976 when the band
recorded Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music. Bassist Lemmy Kilmister had
been fired after a drug bust the year before, and the band had been forced
to scramble for a replacement, eventually hiring ex-Pink Fairies member
Paul Rudolph. What's more, the band had just released a series of successful,
landmark proto-heavy metal albums with Kilmister, and the pressure to
follow them up was sizable. It was fairly predictable, then, that Astounding
Sounds was significantly lighter and less focused than previous records.
Unfortunately, that also meant it was less interesting as well. Most of
the album consists of moderately forceful hard rock, dense by most standards
but nowhere near as corrosive as earlier Hawkwind albums. "Kerb Crawler,"
frontman Dave Brock's ode to his car, is a rollicking party tune, and
the closing instrumental, "Chronoglide Skyway," is a lush, beautiful
epic, but these are the only standouts. The remaining tracks are pleasant
enough, but tend to blend into one another. Lyrically, the album is far
quirkier, thanks to wordsmith Bob Calvert's idiosyncrasies. Whether saluting
a certain cash crop in "Reefer Madness" or claiming to be a
werewolf in "Steppenwolf," Calvert tries hard to keep the album
alive. Unfortunately, the music lacks the necessary punch to make these
songs more than mildly amusing. Astounding Sounds is a nice complement
to the early, groundbreaking Hawkwind oeuvre, but it's not essential.
(by Victor W. Valdivia, AMG)
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