rowdydriver2
Member
18 messages
joined Apr 2021
Suggestion:
Robert Calvert "Captain Lockheed and The Starfighters" (1974)
Robert Calvert was a poet and musician from South Africa—guy had this childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot in the Air Force, but when that didn't pan out, he pivoted to poetry instead. His worldview was pretty fiercely anti-nationalist, atheist, and anti-racist... much like most of the Hawkwind crew and the surrounding scene, including the Pink Fairies, whom he met through those circles. Before all that, he was performing with a street theater troupe called Street Dada Nihilism.
He started out writing for Frendz, which was one of the big underground mags back then. During that era, he crossed paths with the fairly well-known American writer Michael Moorcock (I’ll introduce his album featuring the Hawkwind guys and producer Vic Mail—who, by the way, produced Ace of Spades by Motörhead—at another time. Also, check out the interview with Moorcock over at Perun; it was done exclusively for them!) and it was Moorcock who introduced him to the Hawkwind gang, the Pink Fairies, Mick Farren, and The Deviants (keep in mind that the Pink Fairies basically emerged from the ashes of The Deviants after '69).
Calvert eventually started guesting with Hawkwind, and from 1976 to 1979, he actually stepped up as their main vocalist rather than Dave Brock. He’s also one of the minds behind the track "Silver Machine."
Before taking the mic as Hawkwind's frontman, he cut two solo albums. I’m presenting the first one here, and the second one—which he worked on with half the guys from the first album plus Moorcock and Brian Eno—will come in a future post.
This album is essentially a concept piece, blending music with spoken word. In a style reminiscent of Monty Python, he crafted this album/performance hybrid—a work of fiction about post-WWII Germany trying to modernize its aviation industry. It plays out through an American arms dealer character who spends the whole time trolling a German aviation minister. He mocks the German pilots as cowards—even shouting "I wish to resign" toward the end of the record—and pokes fun at their sexuality, all while weaving in historical facts. For instance, the plane colloquially dubbed the 'widowmaker' was involved in 262 crashes, 91 of which were caused by the Germans themselves. There's this bit where the German minister insists on a real aircraft rather than some weather plane, and the American just trolls him by agreeing, saying he can make "some modifications"...
Honestly, this album is an artistic masterpiece on so many levels!
Lineup:
Robert Calvert (vocals)
Lemmy (bass, Hawkwind)
Simon King (drums, Hawkwind)
Adrian Wagner (keyboards, nephew of the real Wagner Classic)
Paul Rudolph (guitar, Pink Fairies)
Arthur Brown (from Crazy World of Arthur Brown; provides music on two tracks and vocals)
Dave Brock (Hawkwind; music on one track)
Nik Turner (Hawkwind; saxophone)
Del Dettmar (Hawkwind; Synthesizer)
Brian Eno (Synthesizer)
Vivian Stanshal (vocals during discussions; from Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
Jim Capaldi (vocals during discussions; from Traffic)
Twink (drums; Pink Fairies, Tomorrow, Pretty Things, Syd Barrett's Stars, The Rings)
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