Spirit of the Age
"Spirit of the Age" | ||||
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Single by Hawkwind | ||||
from the album Take Me to Your Leader | ||||
B-side | "Angela Android; Assassins of Allah; Paradox 2005" | |||
Released | August 2004 | |||
Recorded | 2004 | |||
Genre | Space rock | |||
Label | Voiceprint Records - HAWKVP55CD | |||
Songwriter(s) | Robert Calvert/Dave Brock | |||
Producer(s) | Hawkwind | |||
Hawkwind singles chronology | ||||
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Spirit of the Age is a 1977 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally recorded and issued on the album Quark, Strangeness and Charm.[citation needed]
The lyrics of the song are composed of two of Robert Calvert's science fiction poems, the first verse being "The Starfarer's Despatch", which he had recited at shows whilst being the "resident poet" in the band in 1971, and the second being "The Clone's Poem". Both of these poems were published amongst a collection of his poetry issued as Centigrade 232, published by Quasar in 1978. Throughout the song is a rhythmic electronic pulse. This repeated sound is the Morse Code for SOS (dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot).[citation needed]
The song was a popular addition to the band's live set and even remained after Calvert's departure from the band in 1979. A more aggressive version of the song with vocals by Brock was issued on the Live Seventy Nine album in 1980.[citation needed]
On 14 November 2019, the group recorded a session for Marc Riley's BBC Radio 6 Music show, playing "65 Million Years Ago", "Last Man on Earth", "Spirit of the Age" and "Silver Machine".[1]
1993 Mixes
The song was subject to various remixes and issued as the Spirit of the Age - Solstice Mixes EP in June 1993 on 4-Real Records (4R1). Mixes were by Astralasia (Marc Swordfish, Nosmo) and produced by Salt Tank (David Gates & Malcolm Stanners).
12"
- "Spirit of the Age" Full Vocal Mix (Calvert/Brock) – 9:56
- "Spirit of the Age" Hard Trance Mix (Calvert/Brock) – 8:43
- "Spirit of the Age" Cyber Trance Mix (Calvert/Brock) – 9:52
- "Spirit of the Age" Flesh To Phantasy Mix (Calvert/Brock) – 12:06
CD
- "Spirit of the Age" Radio Edit (Calvert/Brock)
- "Spirit of the Age" Full Vocal Mix (Calvert/Brock)
- "Spirit of the Age" Cyber Trance Mix (Calvert/Brock)
- "Spirit of the Age" Flesh to Phantasy Ambient Remix (Calvert/Brock)
Note: The band performed a very rare second encore at the 1993 Brixton Academy gig, where they mimed along to "The Full Vocal Mix", with both members of Salt Tank on stage.
2004 single
In 2004 the band recorded a new studio version of the song which was issued as a single in two different formats. The first verse featured a vocal by tabloid journalist Matthew Wright who, while interviewing the band on a London radio show, had revealed that he was a big fan of the band. This version was included on their Take Me to Your Leader album.
CD1
- "Spirit of the Age" (Calvert/Brock) – Radio Edit
- "Angela Android" (Chadwick) – Live Version
- "Assassins of Allah" [aka "Hassan-i Sabbah"/"Space is Their (Palestine)"] (Calvert/Rudolph/Brock) – Live Version
CD2
- "Spirit of the Age" (Calvert/Brock) – Live Version
- "Paradox" (Brock) – New studio version
Cover versions
Banco de Gaia released a cover of the song on his 2009 album Memories Dreams Reflections, with the lyrics spoken by newsreader and continuity announcer Neil Sleat.
References
- v
- t
- e
- Dave Brock
- Richard Chadwick
- Magnus Martin
- Thighpaulsandra
- Doug MacKinnon
- Nik Turner
- Dik Mik
- Huw Lloyd-Langton
- Thomas Crimble
- Del Dettmar
- Simon King
- Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister
- Robert Calvert
- Simon House
- Alan Powell
- Paul Rudolph
- Adrian Shaw
- Harvey Bainbridge
- Steve Swindells
- Keith Hale
- Ginger Baker
- Andy Anderson
- Robert Heaton
- Alan Davey
- Clive Deamer
- Bridget Wishart
- Ron Tree
- Mr Dibs
- Tim Blake
- Niall Hone
- Hawkwind
- In Search of Space
- Doremi Fasol Latido
- Hall of the Mountain Grill
- Warrior on the Edge of Time
- Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music
- Quark, Strangeness and Charm
- 25 Years On (as Hawklords)
- PXR5
- Levitation
- Sonic Attack
- Church of Hawkwind
- Choose Your Masques
- The Chronicle of the Black Sword
- The Xenon Codex
- Space Bandits
- Electric Tepee
- It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous
- White Zone (as Psychedelic Warriors)
- Alien 4
- Distant Horizons
- In Your Area
- Spacebrock
- Take Me to Your Leader
- Take Me to Your Future
- Blood of the Earth
- Onward
- The Machine Stops
- Into the Woods
- Road to Utopia
- All Aboard the Skylark
- Carnivorous (as Hawkwind Light Orchestra)
- Somnia
- The Future Never Waits
- Stories from Time and Space
- The Weird Tapes
- Hawkwind, Friends and Relations
- The Text of Festival
- Zones
- Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin
- Space Ritual Volume 2
- Hawkwind Anthology
- Out & Intake
- BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert
- The Friday Rock Show Sessions
- Hawklords Live
- California Brainstorm
- Undisclosed Files Addendum
- The 1999 Party
- Glastonbury 90
- Choose Your Masques: Collectors Series Volume 2
- Complete '79: Collector Series Volume 1
- Atomhenge 76
- Live 1990
- Roadhawks
- Masters of the Universe
- Repeat Performance
- Angels of Death
- Spirit of the Age
- Stasis (The UA Years 1971–1975)
- Tales from Atom Henge
- Epocheclipse
- Future Reconstructions – Ritual of the Solstice
- Masters of Rock
- Spirit of the Age Anthology
- The Dream Goes On
- Hawkwind Zoo EP
- Sonic Assassins EP
- The Earth Ritual Preview
- Quark, Strangeness and Charm
- "Hurry On Sundown"
- "Silver Machine"
- "Urban Guerrilla"
- "Kings of Speed"
- "Kerb Crawler"
- "Back on the Streets"
- "Quark, Strangeness and Charm"
- "Psi Power"
- "25 Years"
- "Shot Down in the Night"
- "Who's Gonna Win the War?"
- "Spirit of the Age"
- Sonic Assassins
- Hawklords
- Space Ritual
- Hawklords (2008)