Quark, Strangeness and Charm

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Quark, Strangeness and Charm

Studio album by Hawkwind
Released	June 1977
Recorded	February 1977
Genre	Space rock
Label	Charisma Records
Producer(s)	Hawkwind
All Music Guide link Prog Archives link (17 ratings)
Hawkwind chronology
Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (1976)	Quark, Strangeness and Charm (1977)	25 Years On (1978)

Quark, Strangeness And Charm is a 1977 studio album by Hawkwind. It reached #30 on the UK album charts.

This is Hawkwind's seventh studio album, hence "The Hawkwind Part 7" title on the inner sleeve. It is the band's first album without co-founding member Nik Turner, and drummer Alan Powell had also departed. In addition, Adrian "Ade" Shaw from Magic Muscle replaced Paul Rudolph during the recording session.

Robert Calvert starts to dominate proceedings with his science fiction inspired lyrics, whereas the music is lighter and more commercial than previous offerings.

1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 Credits
4 Notes
5 Release History
6 External Links

[edit] Track listing

Side 1

"Spirit of the Age" (Calvert/Brock) – 7:20
"Damnation Alley" (Calvert/Brock/House) – 9:06
"Fable of a Failed Race" (Calvert/Brock) – 3:15

Side 2

"Quark, Strangeness and Charm" (Calvert/Brock) – 3:41
"Hassan-i-Sabah" (Calvert/Rudolph) – 5:21
"The Forge of Vulcan" (House) – 3:05
"The Days of the Underground" (Calvert/Brock) – 3:13
"The Iron Dream" (King) – 1:53

[edit] Personnel

Robert Calvert - vocals, percussion, morse and strangeness
Dave Brock - guitar, synthesisers, sound FX, vocals and quark
Simon House - keyboards, violin, anvil, vocals and charm
Adrian Shaw - bass guitar, vocals and hand-claps
Simon King - drums, percussion and no-vocal

[edit] Credits

Recorded at Rockfield Studios, February 1977. Produced by Hawkwind, engineered by Dave Charles.
Cover by Hipgnosis and Geoff Haplin. The photograph is of the control room at Battersea Power Station.

[edit] Notes

"Spirit Of The Age" uses two science fiction poems published in Robert Calvert's Centigrade 232 book. The Android poem is an SF take on the boy loses girl theme, while the Clone poem sees the protagonist lamenting his lack of individuality.
"Damnation Alley" lyrics are inspired by Roger Zelazny's book.
"Quark, Strangeness And Charm" - Quarks are sub-atomic particles; "strange" and "charm" are playful terms used by physicists to define characteristics of quarks. This song is a humorous look at astronomers and their ladies.
"Hassan-i-Sabah" (spelt Hassan I Sahba on the cover) is a Middle Eastern flavoured song, mixing the legend of Hassan-i-Sabah (assassins and hashish) with contemporary issues (oil and Palestinian terrorism).
"The Days Of The Underground" is a self-reflective song covering the halcyon days of the band.
"The Iron Dream" is a take on Gustav Holst's "Mars" which the band played live as a climax to "Uncle Sam's On Mars". The title comes from a book by Norman Spinrad.

[edit] Release History

Jun-1977: Charisma, CDS4008, UK vinyl - original release contained an inner sleeve with typed lyrics on graphic paper.
Jun-1977: Sire, SRK6047, USA vinyl
Jun-1977: Charisma, 9124012, Germany/Italy - contained 6 slides of Calvert/Brock/Rudolph/House/King performing Atomhenge
Oct-1986: Charisma, CHC50, UK vinyl
Apr-1989: Virgin, CDSCD4008, UK CD
Jun-1995: Griffin, GCD370-0, USA CD; GCDHA162-2, USA CD with the Michael Butterworth Queens of Deleria book.