craigb

Rain
...at the time when I could have gained an interest in them, their record sleeves kind of put me off ...

Heh, exactly why it took me a lot of years to finally get into Iron Maiden!  I've always preferred completely safe album covers (take pretty much anything from Yes for example).  

I was 11 the first time I bought a record, and I bought it based on the artwork/cover.
 
I narrowed my options to two choices and went from one to the other, picking one up, examining it in detail, moving to the other, doing the same, and starting again. For what seemed an eternity.
 
I knew 3 Iron Maiden songs and this picture disc really spoke to me, especially this side. 


 
I only knew Ozzy's reputation as the most deranged man in rock - I'd never actually heard him or Sabbath. But this one had everything - flipped crosses, blood, dead birds, candles, a guy that looked possessed and the whole gothic imagery. So it became my first record. 
 

 
Little did I know that the guitar player on that record would change my life... Though I admit that, at first, it really didn't sound as outrageously heavy as I was expecting.

That's the one Saxon album I remember from those days.
 

 
Furthermore, I had a tough time trying to imagine how I could try and emulate those fellows. For someone with an eye for all things aesthetic, and a preference for things that had an inner harmony and a sense of unity, this was a bit hard to come to terms with.
 

 
 
 Dave Holland and Ian Hill of Judas Priest looked hip by comparison.
Heck, even Klaus Mein...

joakes
Wow ! The review makes entertaining reading, you can really believe it ........ Hmmm, no.

Sorry, they should have given up many years ago.

Just my 2 cents, others may differ.

Jerry

But it's how they earn their living..
 
I'm no big fan of metal (although Steve's introduced me to some good stuff over the years), but I listened to a couple of tracks and they sound pretty good to me.
 
If a band can sell music and draw crowds, why would they want to give up, and what would they do then if they did?

jamesg1213

joakes
Wow ! The review makes entertaining reading, you can really believe it ........ Hmmm, no.

Sorry, they should have given up many years ago.

Just my 2 cents, others may differ.

Jerry

But it's how they earn their living..
 
I'm no big fan of metal (although Steve's introduced me to some good stuff over the years), but I listened to a couple of tracks and they sound pretty good to me.
 
If a band can sell music and draw crowds, why would they want to give up, and what would they do then if they did?

r

Yes there is some good stuff around, but i can't get my head around old guys doing the pouty look.

They could sign on the dole, retire, huddle in a corner of the pub muttering those were the days ... Etc

But i do admire (a little) their tenacity. I got stuch in the late 60's and early 70's (my avatar reflects this).

Cheers,
Jerry

Rain
I only knew Ozzy's reputation as the most deranged man in rock - I'd never actually heard him or Sabbath. But this one had everything - flipped crosses, blood, dead birds, candles, a guy that looked possessed and the whole gothic imagery. So it became my first record. 
 

 
 

And a black cat too! 

craigb
"Worship" Metal? 

Indeed, 'worship' does seem a strange choice...
 
Mind you, at least 'metal' isn't imaginary, ya?

I've been known to fall into tube worship every once in a while... 
 

Rain
...
their record sleeves kind of put me off (I know, silly - but I was a kid, and to this day, I still have a natural reluctance towards knights and swords and all things medieval in heavy metal).
...

I had the same thought when Hawkwind did this on their second album and then 3rd. ("In Search of Space" and then "DoReMi"), but I lightened up some when I found so much of this stuff written by Sci-Fi writer Michael Moorcock, which I felt made it more interesting. Hawkwind, went away from that, but they kept the hard edge in some pieces, and finally did a massive blowout in "Electric Tepee" that no one could handle ... it was ambient, techno, acid rock, Hawkwind, and hard ... as in assault ... and wouldn't you know it, if I had to define one album by Hawkwind that I love the most ... that's the one!

"Worship" may be too strong a word, but metal is very important to me.
 
I don't know where I'd be today without aluminum and copper, and I'd hate to drive around in a wooden car. I even carried around gold in my teeth for many years. But my favorite, I think, is titanium. It conducts electricity, is immune to most corrosive chemicals and polishes up real nice. 

Ah, Hawkwind.

"In Search of Space" and especially "Doremi Fasol Latido" have to be seen in the context of the developing vision and plans for the "Space Ritual" tour and subsequent double LP. One of the best live LPs of the period I think. Not for pristine recording quality but for capturing the moment.

Having said that, I was 13 in 73/4 when "The Space Ritual" was toured and I first saw Hawkwind in 1979. It's a huge pity Space Ritual wasn't filmed :-( . Seen them rather a lot since then, including the only performance of the Space Ritual by Hawkwind since 1974, done as a one off, never again gig for animal charities in 2014 and this time videoed as well as recorded. Not just a recreation of the original either, but

The current line-up is seriously good live and releases some good recordings as well, new stuff and rearrangements and retakes on the older material, and is yet another of the many shades of Hawkwind there's been over the last 45 or so years (and well over 60 long or short term members, but always with Dave Brock at the helm). They still record, tour and run some very nice mini-festivals with interesting line-ups and no concept of "backstage" if you know what I mean. Good people.

If you've not head it, "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" is worth a listen, quite a gear change from the heavier stuff that preceded it.

Some bands find a style that works for them and then stick with it for their entire careers, some are more willing to experiment and develop over time. Both approaches can work (or fail). Personally I feel a little sorry for those who had two or three hit singles in the 50s and early 60s then by the late 80s found themselves on revival/nostalgia tours with other similar bands, each doomed forever to repeat its 15 or 20 minutes of fame. That strikes me as the opposite of a fun way to make a living.

To get back to somewhere near the topic, on the subject of bands booked by Hawkwind, Prime Sinister, a French (metal)ish band are worth having a listen to if you've not come across them. I think they were resident in LA for a while, so they may be better known in the US than UK.