Warrior on the Edge of Time

Warrior on the Edge of Time
Studio album by Hawkwind
Released	9 May 1975
Recorded	March 1975
Genre	Space Rock
Length	47:44
Label	United Artists Records
Producer	Hawkwind
Hawkwind chronology
Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974) Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975) Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (1976)
Singles from Warrior on the Edge of Time
"Kings of Speed" b/w "Motorhead" Released: 1975

Warrior on the Edge of Time is Hawkwind's fifth studio album. It reached #13 on the UK album charts and was their third and last album to make the US Billboard chart, where it peaked at #150. Many of the lyrics are by Michael Moorcock and the album is loosely based on the concept of Moorcock's Eternal Champion.

Having recruited a second drummer, Alan Powell, this album's line-up was short-lived. Soon after the album's release, bassist Lemmy was sacked and vocalist Robert Calvert rejoined by the end of the year.

Songs

See also the article "Kings of Speed".

"Assault and Battery" lyrics quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Psalm Of Life". The song is a popular live number, being performed occasionally over the years, and has appeared on numerous live albums, sometimes under the title "Lives of Great Men". It was included as part of the live show for The Chronicle of the Black Sword concept, appearing on the album Live Chronicles.

"The Golden Void" segues from "Assault and Battery", and the two songs are often performed live as a pair as on the albums Palace Springs (1991) and Canterbury Fayre 2001. The song is a popular live number, being performed occasionally over the years, and has appeared on numerous live albums, sometimes under the title "Void of Golden Light", as on 1994's The Business Trip.

"The Wizard Blew His Horn", "Standing at the Edge" and "Warriors" are Michael Moorcock poems based on his Eternal Champion literary figure. The poems are recited to atmospheric soundscapes provided by Simon House, and the percussionists Simon King and Alan Powell. The band had been performing them on stage during 1974, versions appearing on the The 1999 Party live album.

"Opa-Loka" is an instrumental that features a motorik rhythm and is strongly influenced by the music of Neu!, the title possibly being a reference to Opa-locka, Florida. It was performed live, but when Robert Calvert joined the band at the beginning of 1976, he would recite the poem "Vikings on Mars" over the top of it, the song evolving into "Uncle Sam's on Mars" on the 1979 album PXR5.

"The Demented Man" is a Brock acoustic number. (Also listed as 'The Demented King')

The lyrics of "Magnu" are based upon Percy Shelley's poem "Hymn of Apollo". The song is a popular live number, being performed occasionally over the years, versions on the albums Choose Your Masques: Collectors Series Volume 2 (1982), The Friday Rock Show Sessions (1986) and Canterbury Fayre 2001.

"Spiral Galaxy 28948" is a Simon House instrumental, the title being his date of birth (28 September 1948). It was performed live in 1975 after the release of the album, and again during 2001 when House had temporarily rejoined the band, a version appearing on the album Canterbury Fayre 2001.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Allan Jones in Melody Maker (10 May 1975) was critical in his review of the album despite it being "probably Hawkwind's most professional record" due to the advance in their "technical proficiency", specifically the contributions of Simon House. The compositions are in the "standard Hawkwind traditions of sweeping synthesiser passages contrasting ethereal space with the violence of monotonous bass and rhythm guitar", and of the poems he says "If Moorcock feels qualified to describe any of these pieces as poetry, then that's his problem" and that they are delivered "with all the emotion of Davros being exterminated by renegade Daleks".^[2]

Band reaction

Michael Moorcock: "Warrior On The Edge Of Time was a concept of mine. What Dave tends to do is he says 'Do us a concept' or 'I've got this rough concept, can you work it out?' I do it, then Dave has a different idea and the whole thing shifts away, so that's the way it works. It's a perfectly good way of working - it tends to give Dave a bit of a start or whatever. I was doing a lot of my 'Eternal Champion' stuff on stage, so it seemed automatic to do that because there were so many numbers I could fit into that. I was only in the studio about an hour to do the stuff I did, and it was one of those weird things I didn't get the session fee either."^[3]

Lemmy: "The album was a fuck-up from start to finish. That "Opa-Loka" was a lot of fucking rubbish. I wasn't even on that. That was the drummer's thing, that track... We were kind of complacent anyway. If you have a hit album, you're complacent, and if you have two you really are in trouble. With them, they had four, 'cos they had In Search of Space before me... There's great stuff on all them albums. "The Golden Void" was a beautiful track, but by then I was well out of favour."^[4]

Dave Brock: "There was some good stuff on that album. I think we peaked then, in 1974/75."^[4]

Simon King: "I suppose I’m two-thirds happy with this one. For me that’s not bad as I was only half happy with the last one! Warriors is a different musical thing because it’s Simon House’s first real contribution: on Mountain Grill he was too new to be able to have that much influence, and now, of course we’ve got Alan as a second drummer, which has meant a lot of changes."^[5]

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Assault and Battery (Part 1)" (Dave Brock) – 5:36
2. "The Golden Void (Part 2)" (Brock) – 4:33
3. "The Wizard Blew His Horn" (Michael Moorcock, Simon House, Alan Powell, Simon King) – 2:00
4. "Opa-Loka" (Powell, King) – 5:40
5. "The Demented Man" (Brock) – 4:20

Side 2

6. "Magnu" (Brock) – 8:40
7. "Standing at the Edge" (Moorcock, House, Powell, King) – 2:45
8. "Spiral Galaxy 28948" (House) – 3:55
9. "Warriors" (Moorcock, House, Powell, King) – 2:05
10. "Dying Seas" (Nik Turner) – 3:05
11. "Kings of Speed" (Moorcock, Brock) – 3:25

CD bonus track

12. "Motorhead" (Ian Kilmister) – 3:02

Musicians

• Michael Moorcock – vocals ("The Wizard Blew His Horn" and "Warriors")
• Dave Brock – guitar, keyboards, vocals, bass guitar ("Opa-Loka")
• Nik Turner – saxophone, flute, vocals ("Standing at the Edge", "Dying Seas")
• Lemmy (Ian Kilmister) – bass guitar, vocals ("Motorhead" )
• Simon House – violin, keyboards
• Simon King – drums
• Alan Powell – drums

Credits

• Recorded Rockfield Studios, Mar-1975. Produced by Hawkwind, engineerd by Dave Charles. Mixed at Olympic Studios, engineered by Phil Chapman and Steve Owen.
• "Kings of Speed" and "Motorhead" recorded at Olympic Studios, Jan-1975.
• Sleeve designed by Comte Pierre D'Auvergne. The original album sleeve unfolds into a large shield-shape, revealing that the silhouetted Warrior is standing at the edge of an apparently bottomless chasm. The landscape on the other side of the chasm is a mirror image, with another setting sun. The reverse of the cover depicts a bronze shield bearing the 8-rayed emblem of Chaos^{[disambiguation needed ]}, as described in Moorcock's books.

Release history

• May 1975: United Artists Records, UAG29766, UK vinyl - original copies came in gatefold foldout sleeve with inner sleeve. Later pressings retained the inner sleeve but had a normal single LP sleeve based on the outer part of the gatefold.
• May 1975: Atco Records, SD36-115, USA vinyl
• Jan 1981: Liberty Records, UAG29766, UK vinyl
• Oct 1992: Dojo Records, DOJOCD84, UK CD
• May 1993: Griffin Music, 55421 3931-2, USA CD

CD Masters

The original UK master tape for the album was apparently lost or destroyed some time after the original release. The album was eventually released on CD in Britain on the Dojo label as a vinyl dub. A second version was later released on the Canadian label Griffin Music, apparently taken from a first-generation copy of the original master. This master was the Atco tape used for the 1975 US vinyl release and included the single mix of Kings of Speed. The Dojo CD's booklet does not reproduce the fold-out cover design; the Griffin CD does, but with the shield on the reverse in black and white. The Dojo booklet replicates the original LP cover rear credits, with the additional "Special thanks to John Chase and Guy Thomas". Incidentally John Chase supplied a mint unplayed copy of the LP, from which the Dojo CD was mastered. Guy Thomas supplied the King's of Speed single, from which the "Motorhead" track was mastered. Guy Thomas also did the custom paint-job on Dave Brock's Westone Paduak-1 guitar, replicating the LP cover.

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Melody Maker, 10 May 1975, Allan Jones
3. ^ Orbit 6
4. ^ ^{a b} The Saga of Hawkwind, Carol Clerk
5. ^ Beat Instrumental, July 1975

External links

• Collectable Records - Original foldout cover and inner sleeve