''25 Years On'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

, released in 1978. The band released it under the name "

Hawklords Hawklords were an English music group active between 1978 and 1979. Members were from Hawkwind, who were inactive during that period, (Robert Calvert – vocals, Dave Brock – guitar and Simon King (musician), Simon King – drums) and a loca ...

" for legal reasons, as there was a dispute over ownership of the name "Hawkwind" at the time. It reached No. 48 on the UK album charts. It was originally titled ''25 Years On'' and the first 25000 were pressed as this until the band decided to simply call it ''Hawklords''. Subsequent re-releases have reverted to the name ''25 Years On'' and the band also now use this name on their website. A new remix and surround mix of the album by

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...

was released in 2023 by Atomhenge records as part of the ''Days Of The Underground'' boxed set.

Background and recording

Hawkwind had self-imploded on a US tour earlier in the year leaving only

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African-United Kingdom, British writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist, performance poet and lead vocalist of the space rock band Hawkwind ...

, Dave Brock and Simon King to embark on this project. They were joined by Harvey Bainbridge who had played bass in Devon group Ark who in turn had performed with Calvert and Brock as the Sonic Assassins, and by keyboardist Steve Swindells who had been in

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. During the Devon recording session King returned home to London and was replaced by Martin Griffin (also from Ark), but King subsequently returned giving the band two drummers. Simon House had left the earlier band to join

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

but contributed violin to the sessions, as did noted British jazz trumpeter Henry Lowther. Road manager Les McClure also has a cameo. The music is perhaps as far removed from

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

as the band would ever get, these tracks being tightly arranged pieces more in tune with New Wave of the time rather than the band's history. Lyrically this is Calvert's most diverse dealing with themes such as telepathy ("Psi Power"), skydiving ("Free Fall"), Australian drug misuse ("Flying Doctor"), heroic bravery ("The Only Ones") and espionage ("The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid"). There is a light-hearted playfulness to these tracks, with only the lyrics of "The Age of the Micro Man" hinting at the bleak cold futuristic factory workers concept that Calvert and

Barney Bubbles Barney Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher; 30 July 1942 – 14 November 1983) was an English graphic artist whose work encompassed graphic design and music video direction. Bubbles, who also sketched and painted privately, is best known for his distin ...

put together for the stage show of the album. link no longer works The programme was reproduced in the CD booklet of the ''Atomhenge'' re-release. " Psi Power" and " 25 Years" were released as singles but are slightly different versions than those that appeared on the album. New acoustic versions of "Flying Doctor", "Psi Power" and "The Age of the Micro Man" were included on '' The Road to Utopia'' (2018), produced and arranged by Mike Batt with additional orchestrations. On 31 March 2023, Atomhenge Records (via Cherry Red) issued a new

mix and surround mix of the album as part of ''Days Of The Underground (The Studio & Live Recordings 1977-1979)'' 8 CD/2 BR boxed set. This set also included the Hawklords live album and previously unissued video recordings of "PSI Power" and "25 Years".

Track listing

Side 1

Side 2

Atomhenge bonus tracks

Atomhenge bonus CD: "The Sonic Assassins"

#"Over the Top" (Calvert, Brock, Bainbridge, Paul Hayles, Martin Griffin) – 7:50 #"Magnu" (Brock) – 3:12 #"Angels of Life" (Brock) – 1:12 #"Freefall" (Calvert, Bainbridge) – 7:56 #"Death Trap" (Calvert, Brock) – 4:30 #"The Only Ones" coustic demo(Calvert, Brock) – 4:38 #"(Only) The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid"

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

(Calvert) – 3:31 #"Flying Doctor" ive studio rehearsal version(Calvert, Brock) – 5:37 #"25 Years" ake one(Brock) – 8:00 #"Assassination" – 3:56 #"Freefall" ake two(Calvert, Bainbridge) – 5:28 #"Only the Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid" ake two(Calvert, Brock) – 3:16 #"The Age of the Micro Man" ake one(Calvert, Brock) – 5:44 #"Automoton" ull extended version(Calvert, Brock) – 2:33 #"Digger Jam" – 2:38

Personnel

;Hawklords *

– lead vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

(track 7) * Dave Brock – acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, backing vocals * Harvey Bainbridge – bass guitar, backing vocals, synthesizers * Steve Swindells – keyboards * Simon King – drums (tracks 4,7,8),

Congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

(track 6) *Martin Griffin – drums (tracks 1,2,5,6) ;with * Simon House – violin (tracks 6,7,8) * Henry Lowther – trumpet (track 1) *Les McClure – whisper voice (track 4)

Credits

*Recorded: Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio at Langley Farm, Devon. *Produced: Robert Calvert and Dave Brock. Engineered by Dennis Smith, Neil Fawcus and Neil Mount. *Mixed at Wessex Studios, London. Engineered by

Tim Friese-Greene Timothy Alan Friese-Greene is an English musician and record producer, producer. He worked with the band Talk Talk from 1983 to their breakup in 1991. He currently releases solo albums under the name Heligoland. He is the grandson of filmmaker Cl ...

and Mike Shipley. *Sleeve by

and

Brian Griffin Brian Griffin is a fictional character from the American animated sitcom ''Family Guy''. He is one of the main characters of the series and a member of the Griffin family. Created, designed, and voiced by Seth MacFarlane, he is an anthrop ...

. *CD 1 tracks 9–10: A & B sides of "Psi Power" single, released as Charisma CB323 in October 1978 *CD 1 track 11: A-side of " 25 Years" single, released as Charisma CB332 in May 1979 *CD 2 tracks 1–5: Sonic Assassins: Recorded at the Queens Hall,

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

on 23 December 1977 *CD 2 tracks 6–15: Unreleased session tapes: Recorded at Langley Farm, Devon between June and August 1978

Charts

Release history

*October 1978: Charisma, CDS4014, UK vinyl. Initial copies came with an inner sleeve. *August 1982: Charisma, CHC10, UK vinyl *April 1989: Virgin, CDSCD4014, UK CD *January 2009: Atomhenge ( Cherry Red) Records, ATOMCD2006, UK 2CD *31 March 2023: Atomhenge ( Cherry Red) Records, ATOMCD101050, UK 8 CD/2 BR

References

External links

Atomhenge Records
– reviews, October 1978 {{Authority control 1978 albums Hawkwind albums Charisma Records albums