Hawkwind In Your Area - Tracks & References

The view according to Richard Chadwick: 

“Just a collection of songs we had floating around that various people in the band had clubbed together… it was made on the cheap! They were hard times…”

What they said then:

Keith Henderson, for Aural Innovations, contrasted the live cuts from 1997 included on this album, with the ‘Passport Holders’ CD from the same year (HW’97): “the sound is more subdued and takes a lot of the energy out of the tunes.” Conceding that in other circumstances this “smoother mix might have been preferable,” Henderson favoured “the rawer and punchier sound on HW’97.” Also on Aural Innovations, Paul Ward was disappointed with the CD’s studio material, though he singled out ‘Hippy’ for praise (“a slow, yet powerful, track”) comparing it to “early PIL… both the vocals and bass line could have come off one of Lydon’s better creations.” The editor of Aural Innovations, Jerry Kranitz, used In Your Area to benchmark the current state of Hawkwind: “I can confidently say that the creative spirit is alive and well … a solid release by a tight band that still rocks straight into the cosmos.” 

What they say now:

Err, where is it???

Tracks & References:

Brainstorm

See ‘Tracks & References’ Doremifasolatido

Hawkwind in Your Area

‘In Your Area’ a Madchester phrase, much used in a live context by bands such as The Happy Mondays, circa 1990.

Alchemy

See ‘Tracks & References’ Distant Horizons

Love in Space

Hawkwind had already recorded an instrumental called ‘Love in Space’, written by Alan Davey for the White Zone CD. “I was trying to think of a title, so Dave said ‘call it ‘Love in Space’’. Then he wrote his own song and took it back – that’s okay.” (Alan Davey)

Rat Race

Though “Rat Race” is given to embody the relentless pressure to succeed (particularly in the cities), the expression originally referred to a form of jazz dancing practised by American teenagers in the 1930s.   

Aerospace-Age Inferno

References are made to ‘Silver Machine’ (‘…worth more than you’re worth’), the Human Torch from Marvel’s Fantastic Four (‘Flame On…’) and Pink Floyd’s ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ (‘Set the controls for the heart of the Earth…’).

First Landing on Medusa

In Greek mythology, the visage of the Gorgon, Medusa, was so terrible that anyone who looked upon it was turned to stone. 

I am the Reptoid

“They’re here now taking women up there and impregnating them with alien sperm to generate the next race… The planet’s going through a cycle, everything changes every so often and we’ve gone as far as we can, we have to evolve into the next stage… a combination between alien and human. That’s why people get abducted, they’re just experimenting.” (Ron Tree, VH-1)

Ron Tree

(Andreas Stuwe)

The Nazca

In 1926, the first over-flight of Nazca Pampa, in Peru, created a stir by revealing a landscape covered with ancient man-made outlines of people and animals. Debunking the fantastical claims of UFO mythologists, Nigel Davies (The Incas) concedes that “Probably we shall never reach a precise conclusion as to their meaning.” 

Hippy

According to the website Common Errors in English, ‘Hippy’ is an adjective describing someone with wide hips. ‘Hippie’ was coined by ‘older, more sophisticated hipsters looking down on the new kids as mere “hippies”… confusing these two is definitely unhip.’ You’d think this band would have got it right.

Prairie

A treeless, grassy plain in central US and southern Canada, home to the prairie dog. 

Your Fantasy

Luxotica

Canadian-based Luxotica is a company that supplies fire spinning/dancing equipment – “Luxotica is about sharing the joy and empowerment and belief in yourself,” says their advertising. 

Diana Park

There is a Diana Park Hotel, in Estepona, Spain. There’s also a Diana Park who goes to La Canada High School (according to her website, in 2004). Brock notes this track as a reference to Princess Diana.