Five Hawks Doing Their Own Thing

Dave Brock & The Agents Of Chaos - 'Agents Of Chaos' (1987)

This is Dave Brocks second solo album and is an interesting little find as it seams to lay out the foundations for the electronica path the Hawks were to follow following the departure of Huw Lloydd Langton and Harvey Bainbridge. Tracks like Hi-Tech Cities are deliciously bleak soundscapes and a couple of numbers, Heads and Wastelands of Sleep were later to surface on the Hawks Xenon Codex album, but here they are sparser stripped down versions that make for enlightening if somewhat uneasy listening. However this is still a good record and is a good insight into Mr Brocks songwriting genius. 

Robert Calvert - 'Hype' (1981)

The third solo album from Robert Calvert isn't his best known, but it is arguably the most rounded and musically complete. Released to tie in with Calvert's novel of the same name, Hype is devoid of all the standard Hawkwind-u-like psychedelia, instead exploring a dark almost new wave direction. Featuring, amongst others, tracks like the dark and paranoid Flight 105, the strangely touching The Green Fly And The Rose, the delightfully atmospheric The Luminous Green Glow Of The Dials Of The Dashboard (At Night) and the jagged riffing of the almost hit single Lord Of The Hornets; this is the album that showcases Calverts incredible songwriting skills and distinctive vocal talent best. Take in some tasty guest performances from fellow Hawk Nik Turner and novelist Michael Moorcock and you have a real classic that everyone should check out.

Huw Lloyd Langton Group - 'Time Space and LLG' (1988)

This is the third official album from the Huw Lloyd Langton Group, and the first since Mr Langtons departure from Hawkwind. Featuring a rich blend of blues, hard rock and psyche rock - all delivered with a striped down punk style and attitude this is in my mind perhaps the strongest of the early LLG albums. High points include the driving grind of Work of Art, the shiver inducing Market of Death, and the Hawkesque City Of The Future. This album is also noteworthy for it's deep and challenging lyrics penned by Huws wife Marion.

Steve Swindles - 'Fresh Blood' (1980)

Ipswich born, but Bristol bred, Steve Swindles wasn't a hawk for that long, only appearing on the 25 Years On album (although he does contribute to several retrospective archive releases - most noticeably The Weird Tapes series), but in that time he did pen one of their best loved tracks, Shot Down in The Night. After leaving the band he released this, his second and surprisingly final solo album (although several 'lost' albums are due to be re-issued). Featuring fellow hawks Huw Lloyd Langton and Simon King along with Van der Graaf Generator bass man Nic Potter this album is a bit of a gem. Blending the late 70's Hawks sound with a harder more punk/new wave edge, it contains not only a striped down and raw to the bone version of Shot Down In The Night, and a couple of corkers Bitter And Twisted and Don't Wait On The Stairs which would later turn up covered on Roger Daltry albums, but a host of other rather groovy cuts like the deliciously dark Low Life Joe and the edgy and angry Figures of Authority. Definitely an album that should be better known.

Harvey Bainbridge - 'Red Shift' (1996)

After leaving the Hawks, and doing a stint in the Alman Mulo Band, Harvey Bainbridge issued a couple of interesting solo records of which this in my mind is the stand out. Featuring tracks like the wonderfully titled And He Smoked His Pipe and Talked to Them Till the Last Whiff and Then his Head Disappeared in a Cloud, this is a wonderful adventure into very trippy, instrumental psyche prog. Sounding not unlike Tangerine Dream or maybe Church of Hed  this is a classic and well laid back album, Highlights include the epic Long Lines At The Double Helix Bar, the spacey Blue Giant and drifting Solar Drive Down.