Hawkwind-Quark Strangeness and Charm

Quark Strangeness and Charm

After the somewhat disappointing--and disjointed--Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music, Hawkwind streamlined its bridge crew and refitted the nuclear drive for one of its most daring interstellar voyages. The result, Quark, Strangeness and Charm (a sly reference to quantum physics), is a triumph in every way: ingenius lyrics, tight, well-crafted songs and a wealth of musical invention. Commencing with Calvert's brilliant ode to faster-than-light space travel, "Spirit of the Age" immediately assaults the listener with its nightmarish sci-fried white noise overture, slowly building to a crashing momentum on Dave Brock's simple but effective phase-shifted guitar progression. Calvert's poignant lyrics detail the plight of a lone and lonely star voyager who wrestles with the grim knowledge that upon his return to earth all he has ever known will be long dead. The Roger Zelazny-inspired "Damnation Alley" features more of Brock's phased guitar (though here with a decidely psychedelic edge) but it's really Simon House's excellent synth/keyboard/violin work that gives the track its propulsive fire. Calvert's appropriately post-apocalyptic lyrics ("Thank you, Dr. Strangelove, for giving me ashes and post-atomic dust...the sky is raining fishes, it's a mutation zoo...") are sung with both verve and humorous conviction. The droll irony of the title track (which explains that Einstein could never make it with the ladies because he never understood the random flucuations of sub-atomic particles, i.e., quark, strangeness and charm) plays well against the song's amphetamine-fueled pace in much the same way as a typical Buzzcocks or XTC track from roughly the same time period. The prophetic "Hassan I Sahba" melds middle eastern scales and thunderous hard rock to produce one of the most timeless--and terrifying--visions of global terrorism ever committed to vinyl. Other tracks of note include the album's two instrumentals: Simon House's wholly electronic "The Forge of Vulcan," which features a hammering anvil, and the brief, doom-laden "Iron Dream." The packaging is well-executed (much superior to the original Virgin/Charisma CD release from the early 90's) and the additional tracks are of course nice to have but in no way add anything of importance to the original QSC. As several other reviewers have noted, there are a few slight problems with the mastering, including some frequency quashing, but the overcompression as a general rule doesn't interfere with one's overall enjoyment of the songs themselves. We can just be thankful that an album as prescient and as potent as Quark, Strangeness and Charm is available at all in our increasingly sanitized and dehumanized world.

Preferred Trendy Chemical Amusement aid for this Album:Weed,Alcohol, Uppers