It's not an easy task, paring down to make a list of just 10 classic Space Rock albums from the hundreds that I own. For example, it's painful to leave off Nektar's debut masterpiece 'Journey to the Centre of the Eye' and the entire Ozric Tentacles catalogue, and to represent the whole 35-year history of Hawkwind [Space rock's eternal champions] with just one selection. I wanted the list in some way to not only encompass those 'must have' albums that would make up the beginnings of a respectable collection for any newbie, but also to represent the various eras, movements, and subgenres of space rock. However, I've kept to a fairly narrow definition of space rock, deciding that peripheral music like 'Zeuhl' [eg., Magma], 'Motorik Krautrock' [eg., Can, Neu!], Electronic / Ambient music [eg., Cluster], 'Stoner Rock" [eg., Orange Goblin], 'Post-Rock" [eg., Mogwai, GYBE!) and 'shoegazer' bands [eg., Levitation / Dark Star] should largely be excluded here, despite their influence and wonders they have to offer. But as an addendum to this article, I've included a list of an additional 75+ discs that would make up a more comprehensive and more widely-defined collection of Space rock, so if there are readers out there who are not newbies, maybe there will be some unfamiliar titles in the longer list to seek out. Having lived for significant periods on both sides of the Atlantic, I'm fortunate to have had the opportunity to see seven of the 10 bands that are represented here in my list [only missing out on ISP, Eloy, and Ship of Fools]. And I'm privileged to have also had the opportunity to personally meet the members of all but one of those seven as well [Gilmour and Waters aren't taking my calls]. Though lest you think that I'm playing favorites by choosing the bands to which I have this personal connection, I also know many of the other bands that I didn't choose. This article is dedicated to the memory of all those musicnauts that we have sadly lost in just the last five years, including Syd Barrett, Pierre Moerlen, Doug Walker, Michael Karoli, Danny Taylor, Florian Fricke, Jim Anders, Doug Ferguson, and Larry Boyd. PINK FLOYD | "A Saucerful of Secrets" London UK - 1968 - Capitol [CDP 7 46383] Despite the daunting challenge of losing their dynamic frontman and creative leader [Syd Barrett, of course], Pink Floyd missed nary a beat in presenting their sophomore studio effort just a year later. Two Barrett tracks from Floyd's debut album 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' ["Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive"] foreshadowed the birth of space rock as a new musical genre [not coincidentally just as the Apollo missions were heading to eventual touchdown on the lunar surface]. However, I have always contended that these tracks still belong to the 'psychedelic era', and that Space rock proper was not truly born until the cosmic sounds, themes, and rhythms were fully integrated into the whole... that is to say, until 'A Saucerful of Secrets.' 
Roger Waters not only took over lead vocal duties, but also became the band's main composer, as they
continued on unabated toward the combination of mass popularity, creative achievement and longevity that
few other rock bands have been able to match. Although that level of success was not to be
reached until half a decade later, the massive influence that Pink Floyd's seminal early
works had on the evolution of progressive rock music around the world should not be overlooked.The haunting and ethereal "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is perhaps the quintessential space anthem of all time. Oft imitated, rarely equaled. The lengthy title track, on the other hand, is an edgier experimental work, the kind of thing Floyd became notorious for in the years to come [eg., at Pompeii, various soundtrack recordings, 'Meddle' and 'Atom Heart Mother']. But for the oddball and nerve-grating "Corporal Clegg" and "Jugband Blues," a leftover Syd composition, 'A Saucerful of Secrets' is a coherent assemblage of transcendent [and transitionary] works which laid the foundation for those artists [below] that carried the torch forward -even as Waters, Gilmour and company went on to bigger and better [?] things. Well, in bigger arenas anyway. Here IMHO is the beginning of space rock, and as such, 'ASoS' is an essential part of any self-respecting music fan's collection. AMON DUUL II | "Wolf City" Munich GR - 1972 - Telefunken/Captain Trip [CTCD-034] West Germany seemed an odd place for a major rock movement in the early 1970s, but the decades-long American troop presence during the Cold War had an influence on the younger generation who were born too late to feel any responsibility or shame for the misdeeds of [some of] their elders. So they were introduced to the whole gamut of American and British music of the day via Armed Services radio, including psychedelic music. Seeming to emulate most closely the sounds of Pink Floyd and Velvet Underground, the talented German youths soon tired of mimicry and went off in a few new directions, and oddly enough, found a large fanbase back in England where the term Krautrock was inevitably applied. 
Noteworthy Krautrock bands were found throughout the land, and showed regional variations
as distinct as the overall culture remains to this day. The Rheinland [Cologne, Düsseldorf] was a
hotbed of so-called Motorik music [including the surprise worldwide hit "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk], Berlin
had its 'kosmische' movement [Tangerine Dream, Agitation Free, Ash Ra Tempel], whereas the
southern [non-Prussian] states were home to a more worldly [and peculiar] mix of psychedelia, jazz, folk, blues, and
Middle-Eastern music. Bands like Embryo, Kraan, Out of Focus, and Holderlin got noticed, but Munich's
Amon Duul II were recognized as the movement's champions.In the late 60s, Amon Duul was a large commune of artists, musicians, and political activists, loosely connected with the famous Kommune 1 in Berlin. The group quickly split into two separate factions, both of which released albums. Amon Duul II were the more serious musicians, and became a professional recording and touring band, eventually splitting from the more political wing and moving out into the Bavarian countryside. While their earlier works always housed huge, sprawling free-form improvisations, 'Wolf City' saw them begin to concentrate on fully-composed pieces. And while I differ from some fans of the band on this point, I find this song-oriented material to be their strongest. Virtually the entire six- or seven-piece band contributed to the writing, and none of them did anything even remotely conventional. The songs of Amon Duul II [before 1976] are not just 'quirky,' they are downright peculiar. The opening tracks to both LP sides, "Surrounded by the Stars" and "Wolf City," are the songs that make this album primarily a space-rock classic, both romping numbers with harder guitar riffing. "Green-bubble-raincoated Man" is the prime example of the bizarre Amon Duul II song composition, this strange tune being a pastiche of loud, soft, fast, and slow bits that wouldn't seem to all belong in the same song. Yet there they are. Vocalist Renate Knaup does her usual mix of ultra-feminine falsetto here and there, mixed in with a much more aggressive singing voice during the rock passages. "Wie der Wind am Ende einer Strasse" shows off the more folk- and world-music side of Amon Duul II, raga-like yet cosmically-tinged and featuring the multi-talented Chris Karrer on violin as well as producer Olaf Kubler on soprano sax. The demonic-sounding "Deutsch Nepal" is the semi-autobiographical story of Lothar Meid, whose father, a German officer during the war, was looking down upon his newborn son fantasizing about him growing up to be a governor of an imagined occupied state, assuming of course a 'successful' end to the country's imperialistic endeavors. We all know how that turned out. Luckily, Germany recovered from these sins and began to export its culture once more, albeit more benevolently, and 'Wolf City' is the truest and absolute best of Krautrock. GONG | "You" FR/UK/AU - 1974 - Virgin/Caroline [CAROL 1664] Australian native Daevid Allen had been in Canterbury, England at just the right time to participate in the founding of the Soft Machine, one of many world-famous progressive rock outfits to come from that particular city. His membership in the band was short-lived though, as he was exiled to France, where he and his companion Gilli Smyth [London-born, but of Welsh descent] rounded up another group of talented musicians and hence was born the enigmatic Planet Gong. Part musical troupe, part pseudo-Buddhist philosophy, and part hippie commune, Gong made a name for themselves [and their fledgling label, Virgin Records, just having stricken it rich with Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'] with their 'Radio Gnome Invisible' trilogy, some of the strangest music you'll ever have the pleasure to hear. Parts I and II ['Flying Teapot' and 'Angel's Egg,' respectively] are both essential to own, but it was the final segment, 'You,' that provided most of the highlights in the realm of space-rock grooves. 
Guitarist extraordinaire Steve Hillage, later to become a successful solo artist, producer, and
techno personality, joined Allen in France down from the Canterbury scene, along with
fellow Briton Tim Blake [synth guru] and Fiji native Mike Howlett on bass.
Drummer Pierre Moerlen and the inimitable Didier Malherbe on sax / flute joined the Family Gong in
the Camembert region of their native France, and filled out the classic 'Trilogy' line up that remain
active together [on occasion] to this day.'You' is made up of eight tracks in total: exactly four of the short, goofy, jazz-rock numbers that allow Allen to tell zany stories about his alter-ego hero 'Zero,' and all about his bizarre philosophical creations [flying teapots, pothead pixies, octave doctors, etc.], and exactly four extended space-jams of the highest quality. Included in these is Hillage's signature 'Om Riff,' the underlying basis for sublime "Master Builder." All of these amazing songs feature the wonders of Smyth's 'space whisper' vocals, Allen's shimmering 'glissando guitar' technique [a space-rock staple to this day], Blake's bubbling and pinging synth noises, and Malherbe's tasty jazz-flavored soloing. Allen was sent packing again from France to the island of Mallorca, but Gong continued on for an album with Hillage in charge, and eventually to become Pierre Moerlen's Gong, which drifted completely away from Allen's philosophies and cosmic stylings to become a pure jazz-fusion band. However, a number of Allen-fronted bands have come and gone over the last 15 years reviving the Trilogy Gong music, and now even Hillage himself is returning to the fold [at least for a one-off at the 2006 Gong Unconvention in Amsterdam] after decades of swearing off his earlier 'hippie past.' After completing the Gong Trilogy in your collection, you'll also want to go back a few years to the 'Camembert Electrique' album, which features Gong's all-time top cosmic anthem "Fohat Digs Holes in Space." Have-a-cuppa-tea. HAWKWIND | "Warrior on the Edge of Time" London UK - 1975 - United Artists/EMI/Griffin [55421 3931] Dave Brock spent his formative years in the Ladbroke Grove area of West London, playing and singing the blues in various bands as well as a busker in the London Underground. Inspired in part by Pink Floyd and the psychedelic era in total, he and a bunch of other freaks and noisemakers [including Nik Turner on sax] got together with the Pretty Things' Dick Taylor to make their self-titled debut album in 1970. What it lacked in musicianship it made up for in acid-tinged freakishness, a recipe for success that Hawkwind quickly parlayed into the creation of what most call the quintessential space-rock of all time. With Lemmy Kilmister [later to form Motorhead upon his dismissal from the band] coming in on bass / vocals, Del Dettmar and DikMik on synths / oscillators of all kinds, plus lanky drummer Simon King and poet / resident loony Robert Calvert [RIP], Hawkwind quickly reached their prime with a string of inspired albums between 1972 and 1975. 
Titled 'Warrior on the Edge of Time,' and sporting cover art that strikingly depicts said
temporal warrior preparing to be swept out into the unforgiving seas of space-time, Hawkwind's fifth
studio work is a concept album involving the so-called 'multiverse' created in the imagination
of sci-fi author Michael Moorcock. A long-time friend and lyric-writer for the band, Moorcock
himself appears on the album [and has joined the band on-stage numerous times over the years] reciting
his poetry on a few cuts sprinkled amongst the rock tracks.The classic Hawkwind line up appearing here had already perfected the rumbling, repetitive style of space-rock known as 'blanga,' with the Brock / Lemmy / King machine driving in metronomic fashion through the cosmos at warp speed. Their live double LP 'Space Ritual' is the prime aural d ocument of this ethic, with tracks like "Born to Go" offered in extended length, its lockstep 4/4 rhythm chugging along with a 2/4 feel. Pure blanga in all its glory. The 'Warrior' album, however, showed an additional step forward in song-writing and versatility, including relative newcomer Simon House [violin, keyboards] adding his signature tune in [previously unblanga-like] 6/8 time, the appropriately-titled "Spiral Galaxy 28948" [thus revealing House's birthdate 28/9/48]. Brock's solemn acoustic piece "The Demented Man" is another high note, and "Magnu" is another blanga-fest of nearly unparalleled brilliance. Yet it is the first 10 minutes of the album, the one-two punch of "Assault & Battery" segued directly into "The Golden Void" that is too excellent for words. In fact, the transition phase between the two songs nearly upstages the music on either side. But eventually, it's Brock's lumbering and thundering power chords that take over for the piercing synths, and we lurch on slowly through that Golden Void in deeeeep, deeeeep space. The album wraps up on another high note with the rollicking rock anthem "Kings of Speed", and then the CD version tacks on Lemmy's tune "Motorhead" [originally a 7" single] that went on shortly thereafter to have elevated significance. 'Warrior on the Edge of Time' is my pick for the best album ever, so needless to say, it is the pinnacle of Space Rock. Sadly, it was left out of the EMI reissues [sometimes called the "Remasters of the Universe"] that brought the first five Hawkwind albums back to the marketplace in a big way, so that CD copies of either the original UK release or the Griffin box-set in the US / Canada are now hot items in the second-hand market. I'd call this 'criminal negligence,' but apparently the band has little control over its out-of-print status. Listen to the on-demand webcast of Hawkwind live at the 11th Roadburn Festival. Listen to the on-demand webcast of SpaceRitual [Pt.I | Pt.II] live at the 10th Roadburn Festival. IGRA STAKLENIH PERLI | "Soft Explosion" Belgrade JU - 1978/1991 - Kalemegdan Disk [LP] KD 001 Igra Staklenih Perli is Serbian for "The Glass Bead Game," a novel by Hermann Hesse. Shrouded behind the Iron Curtain in Tito's Jugoslavia, ISP still managed to find the resources, inspiration, and [barely] studio / label support to make their amazing music and find an audience, even if very limited by circumstances. Their first self-titled LP was recorded and released in 1978, but was a mere 28 minutes long -the state-run studio workers were so incompetent and indifferent to the band's fortunes that they simply lost [LOST!] the brand-new master tapes to two of the intended tracks. So, although a brilliant piece of work, it is effectively incomplete, and besides, it has never been given an official release on CD [a pirate label, probably Germanofon [Luxembourg], issued it with a phony catalog number of HF9546]. 
So instead of their debut, I've decided to recommend one of the three vintage live recordings that were
issued simultaneously on vinyl in 1991 [reprinted again in 1993] by Thomas Werner's Kalemegdan Disk label
in Nuremburg, Germany. All things considered, the archive release now known
as 'Soft Explosion' is an excellent live document of the band around the time of their first
studio recording, and includes versions of the songs lost by the studio as well as
the brilliant title track [exclusive to this release] as opener.ISP were a five-piece outfit, with guitarist Vojislav Rakic [aka Joshua N'Goma] and keyboardist Zoran Lakic teaming up to elevate the spaciness and spookiness factor to high levels with all sorts of echo / delay tactics and the like [Actually, on 'Quadrant G,' it's the bass guitar that's subjected to the eerie echo technique... it's really OUT THERE, man]. Despite long instrumental passages, some songs were formally composed pieces with lyrics [sung in English], such as the frenetic rocker "Gusterov Trg" [Lyzzard (sic) Square by translation]. Another notable piece is their peculiar 'cover' version of Can's "Mushroom," titled here in Serbian form "Pechurka." It really sounds nothing like the Can original -much slower and downright scary. ISP continued on only another couple of years before disbanding, with only two studio efforts to their ] discography. The 1980 follow-up, entitled 'Vrt Svetlosti,' is yet harder to find than the original and is nowhere on CD even as a bootleg [as far as I know]. However, those who have heard it say it lacks the quality of the other ISP works. The bottom line is, nothing by ISP is easy to find in the official marketplace, but the three archive LPs [being more recent, and released in the "West") are probably the best bet. In any case, the search will be worth it. Igra Staklenih Perli was probably the very best band nobody ever heard of. That they existed at all, in such a time and in such a place, is remarkable. But I'm recommending them solely because, well, their music is some of the best space rock ever made. |
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