Warrior on the Edge of Time
| Warrior on the Edge of Time | ||||
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| Studio album by Hawkwind | ||||
| Released | 9 May 1975 | |||
| Recorded | March 1975 at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth & Mixed at Olympic Studios | |||
| Genre | Space rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 47:44 | |||
| Label |
United Artists (UK & Europe) Atco (US) Liberty (Japan) |
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| Producer | Hawkwind | |||
| Hawkwind chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Warrior on the Edge of Time | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Warrior on the Edge of Time is Hawkwind's fifth studio album. It reached number 13 on the U.K. album charts and was their third and last album to make the U.S. Billboard chart, where it peaked at number 150. Many of the lyrics are by Michael Moorcock and the album is loosely based on the concept of Moorcock's 'Eternal Champion'. Reviews have been mixed, with Melody Maker panning the album and particularly criticizing the vocal work while the All Music Guide has praised the album for features such as the songwriting.
Throughout 1974, Hawkwind heavily toured the UK, Europe and North America with their set being composed predominantly from that year's Hall of the Mountain Grill album. Unusually for them, no new material had been introduced with the exception of some Michael Moorcock poems based on his Elric fictional character, which appeared on the 1974 live album The 1999 Party. In December through to February, the group embarked upon a series of UK dates known as "A Dead Singer" tour after the Moorcock story published in the accompanying tour programme, with support from Dr Feelgood (Wilko Johnson: "Us and Hawkwind were a great bill. We had just been signed by United Artists, Hawkwind's label. UA wanted to give us a little experience in the larger venues. That was where I first met and made friends with Lemmy, who turned out to be a good pal."). As the band owed one final single to United Artists to conclude their recording contract, during a mid-tour break they entered Olympic Studios on 5 and 6 January where they recorded Brock's "Kings of Speed" which featured lyrics written by Moorcock originally intended for inclusion on his New Worlds Fair album, Lemmy's "Motorhead" and House's "Spiral Galaxy". The first two were selected for the A and B side respectively, and the single was released on 7 March.
On resuming their UK tour, Brock expressed disillusionment with the band's popularity commenting that "it's getting to be like a war", preferring his life with his wife Sylvie and their two children on their ten-acre Devon farm, trading under an alias in a community which knew nothing of his association with rock music. He revealed the growing disharmony within the band, "you wouldn't believe some of the scenes that go on backstage. All the fucking rows, people losing their temper." He was particularly critical of Turner on both a musical level ("Some nights I've unplugged my guitar and marched across the stage to sort Nik out. He keeps playing the saxophone when I'm singing and I've told him a thousand times not to do that") and personal level ("Nik's really gullible, you know. He knows so many people and they always used to take him for a ride. It's so easy because he's not very sussed out"). He was also critical of Lemmy listing a catalogue of on-stage problems with him, and he "lives that [Hells Angels] fantasy. It's what he'd like to be, but he can't", but he's "quite a good front man, though". Of the forthcoming Eternal Champion project, Brock revealed that he wanted Arthur Brown for the title role, and it would be "a complete fantasy trip on every level... and if we did it, that would be the end [of Hawkwind]".
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