j o n f

I had to buy six Hawkwind albums before I found one that had both good sound and compositions; the first five I picked up had either one or the other, but never both. Hall of the Mountain Grill is fairly interesting in terms of composition and performance, but I can't pretend that I'm wild about this album by any means. Hawkwind play in a standard hard rock/70's metal style with the unusual addition of heavy synthesizers and sound effects. Notable musicians include bassist Lemmy Kilminster, who would eventually leave Hawkwind in order to form Mötorhead (and, not surprisingly, plays in a rather heavy manner here) and lead guitarist Dave Brock, the only continuous member in the band's career. The songs are average-length space-oriented rock pieces that often sound very much alike, though admittedly not as much as on other Hawkwind albums that I've heard. A surprising track is "Hall of the Mountain Grill" itself, which consists mainly of a repeating piano part with otherworldly synthesizer parts over it; this is my favorite track, as it adds a very somber, accomplished tone to an album that is, in my parts, little more than over-the-top, fun hard rock. My last comment on this album is that Hawkwind may have the very worst vocals of any band I've ever heard, but yet in some strange way, they somehow work for this band. If you're going to pick up a Hawkwind disc, you might as well start here, but I can't go as far as to call this an essential prog album or band. review by Jon Fry — 8-16-00 —