Hall of the Mountain Grill is the fourth studio album by space rock band Hawkwind, released in 1974. It is regarded by many critics as a career highlight.
Overview
The group's fourth studio album, it was the first by a new line-up that included Simon House on synthesizer, Mellotron and electric violin; absent were Robert Calvert, who had previously contributed lyrics, vocals and spoken word interludes, and Dik Mik, who provided electronic effects.
The album's title was a nod to Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and to a Portobello Road cafe called The Mountain Grill (now closed), frequented by the band and their contemporaries from the Ladbroke Grove scene in the early 1970s. Hawkwind's frequent solo support act and occasional live guest musician Steve Peregrin Took had a song "The Ballad of the Mountain Grill," released in 1995 on a Cleopatra Records CD under alternative title "Flophouse Blues (in the Mountain Grill)". At one point, underground newspaper International Times had its printworks in the upstairs of the Grill.
The cover of a derelict spaceship in the mists of an alien lagoon was painted by the band's regular artistic collaborator, Barney Bubbles. The rear cover was by David A. Hardy.
The record featured hard rockers like "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" and "Lost Johnny" (subsequently recorded by bassist Lemmy's post-Hawkwind band Motörhead and also by co-writer Mick Farren with his band The Deviants), psychedelia such as the heavily phased "D-Rider" and "Web Weaver", as well as quieter atmospheric numbers like the instrumentals "Goat Willow", "Wind of Change" and the title track. Side two of the original vinyl LP was bookended by "You'd Better Believe It" and "Paradox", live tracks recorded at the Edmonton Sundown in January 1974, that recalled the 'space jams' of earlier releases.
In the wake of Robert Calvert's departure, lead vocals for the album were performed by Dave Brock, along with Lemmy on "Lost Johnny" and Nik Turner on "D-Rider". The band's line-up would continue to shift during the year. Del Dettmar left prior to the release of Hall of the Mountain Grill to live in Canada, and Alan Powell joined as an additional drummer. Science fiction author and friend of the group Michael Moorcock stepped in to read poetry at their concerts.
Jonathan Smeeton (Liquid Len) has stated that Brock specifically wrote "Wind of Change" for a particular slide sequence he had on the Space Ritual tour (a tree being engulfed by a city, then the city collapsing with the tree remaining).
At the time of the album's release, Simon King stated "The Doremi album lacked production. I wasn't really happy with the Space Ritual either. But the new one – I'm quite pleased with it. I like side one because I think it's something we haven't done before. Yeah – I'm pleased with half of the new album." Lemmy later commented that "For me, this was when the band were at their height. Oh, and I was in the band at the time." (Classic Rock, April 2006), listing it as No. 3 in "My Top British Rock Albums".
Live performances and recording
After the release of the successful live album Space Ritual and single "Urban Guerrilla" in 1973, vocalist Robert Calvert and electronics player Dik Mik Davies left, leaving the group as a five-piece. In November and December 1973, Hawkwind undertook their first live tour of North America taking in ten dates. During this time, Del Dettmar bought land near Calgary in Canada and signalled to the group his intent that he and his pregnant wife were to emigrate.
The group continued touring heavily around Britain and Ireland from December into February under the banner "The Ridiculous Roadshow with the Silly Hawkwind Brothers". By this time, their live set had been revamped and contained what would become the bulk of this album. Two dates on 25 and 26 January at the Edmonton Sundown were used as an opportunity to audition Simon House as Dettmar's replacement, House having been known to the group via his time with High Tide, who had shared the same management company of Douglas Smith's Clearwater Productions. These dates were professionally recorded, with the performances of "You'd Better Believe It", "Paradox" and "It's So Easy" appearing on the album and singles, albeit with studio overdubs.