Hawkwind – Quark Strangeness And Charm

The passage of time has also revealed hitherto hidden depths to the Flintlock sound. Perhaps I was too hasty in my assessment. I still have the record, which I kept mainly as a warning, but for the benefit of research I played it again for the first time in decades. 'Sea Of Flames' is more palatable than I remembered, it has an almost gothic subtext and was written by Mike Batt the creative force behind The Wombles. As Jungian synchronicity would have it, one time collaborator with space rock titans Hawkwind. I recently saw him conduct an orchestra accompanying the Hawks on a version of their 1977 masterpiece Quark, Strangeness and Charm.

I went from Flintlock to heavy rock via Elvis Costello, the Ruts and the Jam. Despite having a solid selection of new wave chart hits in my burgeoning collection, I ended up favouring 1970's dinosaur rockers like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Rush I think it was the patches that swung it for me, plus my hair was lank and stringy, no good for French crew cuts, but perfect for headbanging. I was a bit of an anachronism, like a weird, stranded time traveller. I took to wandering the streets of High Wycombe barefoot as a counter cultural statement of defiance. My musical tastes became more elongated and cosmic too. Denim cut offs gave way to beads. Hawkwind were my favourites, especially the proto new wave Bob Calvert era. He had a mercurial energy with a Bowie like eye for theatricality that lifted them above the standard long-haired dirge. The music was dystopian and hypnotic but with a demented playfulness to it. I was in a band, who, without wishing to sound too presumptuous, were Chalfont's premier space rock combo. We played a lot of Hawkwind covers mainly in our friends’ living rooms. We were called The Amazing Wobbly Jelly Band. I wasn't even doing drugs at this point so have no excuses beyond my young age and naivety. But we did have a famous patron. Roy Castle's occasionally lent me his guitar and amp. The desire to make noise had been awoken.