FEATURED CD - Hawkwind : Electric Teepee:

[Duncan Glenday]

Per Allmusic:

Electric Teepee was the first album to show Hawkwind's interest in trance/ambient/techno sounds, but those elements do not pervade the album like they do on It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous. In fact, the disc opens with the fast-paced, hard-edged rocker "LSD." That cut is pure modern Hawkwind space rock energy. Another smoking rocker included in this set is the Alan Davey-penned piece "The Secret Agent." It is one of the stronger cuts ever done by the modern Hawkwind, and it alone is worth getting this album. This disc will certainly be perceived as an inconsistent one, but the shining moments more than make up for that problem.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/electr...e-mw0000181293

[GuitarGeek]

A great album.One of my favorites. Always loved LSD, Blue Shift, The Right To Decide, Secret Agent Man and The Sadness Runs Deep.

[Rune Blackwings]

One of my favorite albums! Very dark-especially "Death of War"! I love the transition from "LSD' to "Blue Shift" to "Death of war". The only song that does not seem to fit is "Secret agent", but the rest is really beautiful.

[GuitarGeek]

This is the last Hawkwind album I like. After this, I didn't dig the techno experiments of It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous or The Business Trip, and after that, the one record store in my area that regular stocked the new Hawkwind albums (as they became available Stateside) closed up shop. So I kind of lost track of what the new albums after that.

[Rand Kelly]

My favorite Hawkwind album.

[arturs]

One of my favorite albums! Very dark-especially "Death of War"! I love the transition from "LSD' to "Blue Shift" to "Death of war". The only song that does not seem to fit is "Secret agent", but the rest is really beautiful.

I totally agree. It is funny that the reviewer in the OP highlights Secret Agent as a great track--it's not bad and I suppose it is the most traditional Hawkwind thing on Tepee--but it just doesn't fit. The rest is a great seamless whole.

[mellotron storm]

They really contrast well the heavy with the spacey on this one. A trio at this point and they recorded it at Brock's studio instead of the usual studio.

[revporl]

I think that this is the last truly great HW album (although Onward was v v good)
It works brilliantly as an album from start to finish, and segues from jarring instrumental to floaty bit to space rock singalong without missing a beat. One of my favourites ever and I remember my mate Andi listening to it on repeat in hospital after he fallen down a man hole following a HW gig.

[spacefreak]

This and the follow up "It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous" were surprisingly good abums in comparison to the few ones that came before. And the last great HAWKWIND albums i.m.o.

Have also seen them touring "Electric Teepee" as a trio. Killer gigs.

[Rune Blackwings]

I totally agree. It is funny that the reviewer in the OP highlights Secret Agent as a great track--it's not bad and I suppose it is the most traditional Hawkwind thing on Tepee--but it just doesn't fit. The rest is a great seamless whole.

I put "Secret Agent" in with songs such as "Needle Gun" in being more of a novelty song than a serious effort. Hawkwind can be very uneven in their output-when they are absolutely serious, they put out some of the most astounding music and when they want to screw around, they crap out the biggest bunch of studio fuckery. "Secret Agent" is not a bad song, mind you, but it belongs to another album sound wise. Electric Tepee is this sonic dreamscape and right in the middle is this goofy thing.

[GuitarGeek]

This and the follow up "It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous" were surprisingly good abums in comparison to the few ones that came before.

I beg to differ. I think Hawkind remained pretty strong all through the 70's and the 80's, with Electric Tepee being the last great one (of what I've heard).

It Is The Business Of The Future... I still think was a misstep. It came off sounding to my ears like they were trying to prove they weren't just "a bunch of old men" and that they could "Keep up with the kids", and they chose to do so by making a boring techno record.

Have also seen them touring "Electric Teepee" as a trio. Killer gigs.

Hawkwind toured Stateside around the time Palace Springs came out, playing as a trio, in the spring of 91. I thought they played a great set, given that they'd apparently been only working as a trio for a few weeks at that point.

[strawberrybrick]

I prefer the Palace Springs/Space Bandits that just preceded it... my two cents,

[Harbottle]

I beg to differ. I think Hawkind remained pretty strong all through the 70's and the 80's, with Electric Tepee being the last great one (of what I've heard).

It Is The Business Of The Future... I still think was a misstep. It came off sounding to my ears like they were trying to prove they weren't just "a bunch of old men" and that they could "Keep up with the kids", and they chose to do so by making a boring techno record.

Business... a techno record? I don't think so, it's instrumental, but there's no 'techno' on it at all. It sounds no different in places to the weird instrumental stuff Hawkwind had done before like 'Douglas in the Jungle.' except there's a lot more of it. It's probably closer to the ambient stuff The Orb were doing or typical 'Hawkwind' instrumental passages stretched out.

[spacefreak]

It Is The Business Of The Future... I still think was a misstep. It came off sounding to my ears like they were trying to prove they weren't just "a bunch of old men" and that they could "Keep up with the kids", and they chose to do so by making a boring techno record.

Well, I'm with the minority who thinks that "It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous" is a great album. And I will agree with Harbottle that there is no psy-trance on it; bands like Ozric Tentacles displayed at the times a stronger affinity with that type of dance music. It's rather influenced by the space/ambient "chill out room" stuff of the era (Orb, Irresistible Force, Alien Mutation, Global Communication & F.S.O.L.), and by adding their hypnotic space rock twist they cemented a good period of Hawkwind material. In the mid 80's Hawkind had misstepped into turning to an average semi-metal rock band, from "Palace Springs" onwards they returned to a modern version of their spacerock roots and the formula worked for a series of albums. And I always liked the fact that there are no actual songs on it, they were always good when stretching-out (but it is a personal approach as I'm rather a sucker for that type of stuff).

[GuitarGeek]

It's rather influenced by the space/ambient "chill out room" stuff of the era (Orb, Irresistible Force, Alien Mutation, Global Communication & F.S.O.L.),

OK, so it's the "chill out room" thing I don't like. It still sounds to my ears like a bunch old farts trying and failing to prove they aren't old farts.

In the mid 80's Hawkind had misstepped into turning to an average semi-metal rock band, from "Palace Springs" onwards they returned to a modern version of their spacerock roots and the formula worked for a series of albums.

I guess it's my turn to say I'm in the minority, because I liked the "semi-metal" sound of records Choose Your Masques, Sonic Attack, This Is Hawkwind Do Not Panic, Chronicle Of The Black Sword, Live Chronicles, and The Xenon Codex. I always dug that hard rock sound they had on those records, particularly Huw Lloyd Langton's guitar work.

And I always liked the fact that there are no actual songs on it, they were always good when stretching-out (but it is a personal approach as I'm rather a sucker for that type of stuff).

I think that's one of the things I Don't like about The Business..., that being the lack of actual songs. You've got that reggae-ish thing with Brock singing the verse sections of Living On A Knife Edge (I much prefer the version they did on Sonic Attack) and a great cover of Gimme Shelter (the one track I actually like on the record), and the rest of it just them futzing around in the studio.

[Valen]

I went to see the band on the Electric Teepee tour, but was hugely disappointed. the band were now a three piece, and struggled to perform any of the material adequately. I had really enjoyed the previous tour with Simon House and the girl singer, so this was a huge comedown for me and none of the new material hit the mark.

But a few years back I bought the Cherry Red box sets and found myself enjoying the ET tracks more than what came after, or in some cases before.

I only saw the band live once more, and it was a disaster. Simon House decided not to get on the plane with the band, so when they played Amsterdam that night they were a shambles, having to stop at the end of each song so Brock could pull out a pen-light and programme the synths for the next track. It was around the time that Arjen Lucassen had put out his Star One album with the Hawkwind medley, and he and I chatted at the bar while the band were on. They'd asked him to come onstage for the encore, but the main set was so embarrassingly bad, that he quietly left before the end....

[spacefreak]

and the girl singer,

Bridget Wishart her name. Yes the 1989-1990 tour; I have seen them as well, and they were great. But they also had Harvey Bainbridge, Simon House, Alan Davey etc...

I only saw the band live once more, and it was a disaster. Simon House decided not to get on the plane with the band, so when they played Amsterdam that night they were a shambles, having to stop at the end of each song so Brock could pull out a pen-light and programme the synths for the next track.

The three piece band on "Electric Teepee" tour I've seen in Brussels was fine tuned and sounded great. Unfortunately can't say the same for the next two gigs I've been. "Alien 4" tour with Ron Tree in 1996 was OK but a very short performance, around 65-70 minutes and the 2005 "Take Me to Your Leader" tour a disaster. Exactly as you describe.