review by thomas

This is the perfect example of space rock. Lyrics about space or fantasy themes, the music not that complex, sometimes monotonous and with loads of strange effects and electronic gadgets.
In Hawkwind’s case the guitars are “bone-saw” heavy, there are two guys on electronic things and Nik Turner on saxophone and flute; of course drums and bass are also present. The quintessence space rock song “You Shouldn’t Do That” is like an anthem to things stated above. It’s fifteen minutes long and with the singing kept to a minimum. In fact almost everything that’s sung are the title-phrase like some sort of mantra. It features some great saxophone playing and lots of strange sounds coming directly from outer space. You can hear some Eastern sounding bits and the whole song really works; you can almost see and feel that spaceship heading toward disaster. Or as the album sleeve puts it:

“Technicians of space ship Earth.
This is your captain speaking –
Your captain is dead”

Hawkwind usually had a acoustic folk inspired song or two on their albums and “In Search of Space” are no exception since we find the great “Children of the Sun” and the not so great “We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago”. The latter with an aggressive raga like middle-section. The other space rock anthem on the album is “Master of the Universe” with extreme bone-sawing riffs that must be heard to be believed! I didn’t thought you could produce such a riff before I heard it with my own ears. One song are more dreamy in nature – suitable named “You Know You’re Only Dreaming” – floating rather quietly; but in fact this could also be called some sort of anthem since it’s demonstrates the other side of space rock that’s very common; the dreamy and floating side that is. “Adjust Me” are instrumental (well, almost) and doesn’t say that much to me. A good album and a really good example of space rock.