100% agree, a seminal book for me too

A weekend back in my home town visiting friends means too much drinking followed by the watching of various obscure SF/horror... Really not impressed overall with Nigel Kneale's Beasts, but finally seeing 1954's Devil Girl From Mars was a treat! Serious Servalan vibes...

It's great to see that (at the age of 76) Peter Hammill is gigging solo again. The man is a complete legend. Apparently there's a box set coming of his 35/36 solo albums and a new book by @joebankswriter.bsky.social - which is already on my Xmas list.

New/old Hawkwind poster, not seen this one before - 29 January 1970, foot of an Alexis Korner gig!

Always loved this illustration for Robert Calvert's 'Ejection' single from 1973, and quite different from most of Rodney Matthews' other work... #hawkwind www.rodneymatthewsstudios.com/products/cap...

This is an incredible piece of musical/cultural archaeology from Jim Christopulos. When the pictures of VdGG on stage suddenly come to life, brilliantly synched with the show recording, it's completely magical. And Hammill is in full-on Rock God mode! www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gPT... 1/2

Whoa, and as predicted - this looks like it's going to be amazing! #VdGG www.loudersound.com/bands-artist...

Latest track to be released from the upcoming Peter Hammill boxset is the excellent Porton Down (Stephen W Tayler remix) from pH7, a song that remains frighteningly relevant today... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofMg... Peter was hit between the eyes: www.facebook.com/share/r/16wC...

Jim Christopulos, who runs the unofficial Van der Graaf Generator/Peter Hammill FB page, is teasing something for tomorrow - footage from the NY Beacon Theatre show from 1976?? www.facebook.com/share/v/1DBx... (that's NY DJ Alison Steele ahead of interviewing VdGG in 1976 on the audio...)

Just dropped - ahead of the upcoming boxset, Peter Hammill conducts a video chat with David Hepworth and Mark Ellen (for Word In Your Ear) about his long, long career... www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eG4...

Last night I started re-reading Fritz Leiber's first Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser book, and found an echo of Moorcock/Hawkwind that I'd either missed in the past or forgotten about. cc @joebankswriter.bsky.social

Love this promo shot of H.G. Wells visiting the set of Things To Come (1936), as Raymond Massey and Pearl Argyle model what we'll all be wearing in 2036. A film guaranteed to have world government-fearing anti-rationalists foaming at the mouth...

Re-watched the entertainingly loopy Q, The Winged Serpent (1982) @thenickelcinema.bsky.social last night, an odd cross between a 50s monster movie and a cops & robbers drama - David Carradine stars as one of the former, looking like the keys player in a second-tier prog band, while... 1/2

Not exactly a Proustian moment, but just saw on FB the March 1982 Kerrang article that first alerted me to Marillion. Read all about it in this piece for tQ www.daysoftheunderground.com/post/neo-pro..., as quoted from by Andrew Wild in his recent neo-prog books: kingmakerpublishing.com/books/

Sounds review of the Cardiff Castle concert on 24 July 1976 headlined by Quo and featuring Hawkwind - unfortunately, it's one of those pieces where you can't tell if the writer liked it or not... A fabulous selection of unseen HW pics from the show here: www.daysoftheunderground.com/post/hawkwin...

Saw The Collector (1965) for the first time last night at the venerable @tpfilmclub.bsky.social, starring Terrence Stamp and Samantha Eggar. It's a little slow and most of the beats are predictable, but it looks fantastic and Stamp's performance is sublimely creepy in its blankness 1/3

There's a new issue of Prog magazine out, and guess what? They kindly asked me to write about Hawkwind again 😊, a relatively short but hopefully interesting piece about Hall Of The Mountain Grill ahead of the upcoming box, inc some words from remix king Stephen W Tayler... 1/2

'The Cut', the latest taster from the upcoming Peter Hammill boxset is also the first song released from the Stephen W Tayler remix of The Future Now - still trippy but somehow makes more sense now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCTw... PH makes an interesting comment: www.facebook.com/share/r/18fc...

Caught the last episode this morning of Stewart Lee's Radio 4 doc series 'What Happened To The Counterculture?' An interesting and thoughtful listen - catching up on some of the previous episodes, and sure enough, Hawkwind get a mention in this one... www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Latest remastered taster from the upcoming Peter Hammill boxset is the gloriously wonky 'The Institute Of Mental Health, Burning' from Nadir's Big Chance - it really brings out the detail in the mix: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVHs... PH remembers: www.facebook.com/share/r/169n...

Thanks Prog! www.loudersound.com/bands-artist...

[News] Kingmaker Publishing to release "Rock and Role: The Visionary Songs of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator" @burningshed.com @joebankswriter.bsky.social progrockjournal.com/news-kingmak... #PRJ #JoeBanks #PeterHammill #VanDerGraafGenerator #Kingmaker #Book #ProgressiveRock #Prog #Music

Couple of pics of Nik Turner looking very, err, green. Taken by Howard A. Laurie in Toronto, 1974, I think... #hawkwind

Announcement! And cover reveal! Pre-orders for Rock and Role, my biography of Peter Hammill & Van der Graaf Generator, are now open. Over 500 pages and 400 images. Details here: kingmakerpublishing.com

To mark the great man's birthday, here's my interview with Nik Turner from 2017... #hawkwind www.loudersound.com/features/nik...

There's only one review from me in the (still) current @ProgMagazineUK, but it's an important one: Geoff Mann's In One Era, a re-issue of his 2nd & 3rd albums, plus extras, after leaving Twelfth Night. They're terrific. Listen and buy here: twelfthnightuk.bandcamp.com/track/green-...

Hawkwind/Lennon... Sounds, 2 September 1972

Calvert cameo in the new Motorhead graphic novel! @joebankswriter.bsky.social @hawkworld.bsky.social

Love this pic of Robert Calvert and his future wife Jill Riches, taken from his far-sighted musical play The Kid From Silicon Gulch (1981)... (pic by Sandy Cameron, stolen from the excellent Robert Calvert FB group) #hawkwind

Latest preview from the upcoming Peter Hammill boxset is a very spacey sounding 'Red Shift', from 1974's The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxLC... Here's Peter talking about the concept behind it: www.facebook.com/share/r/1AvZ...

Baron Brock is 84 today and still going strong! Here's an interview I did with him around his memories of the Roundhouse: www.daysoftheunderground.com/post/shindig..., a version of which is reproduced in the new edition of Sideways Through Time www.daysoftheunderground.com/sideways-thr... #hawkwind

This is an interesting list, but rather than just try to flog DVDs, it'd be great if the BFI actually showed some of these films... www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-gre... (though does anybody else think that Stalker is overrated, particularly given the excellence of Roadside Picnic?)

From an auction site, some unseen pictures of Peter Hammill from, I think, 1974. Great tank top!

Latest remastered song from the upcoming Peter Hammill box is the tremendous 'Tapeworm' from In Camera. A PH track that genuinely rocks - just listen to Guy Evans' drums! www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_d8... Peter's take: "the narrator is desperately unreliable..." www.facebook.com/share/r/1DwS...

Quick work...

Oh, Prog has reposted my article about Robert Calvert on the anniversary of this untimely death... #Hawkwind www.loudersound.com/features/rob...

Great news for Hawkfans and for, err, Hawkfan! Every issue of Brian Tawn's legendary Hawkwind fanzine - stretching back to 1977 - is now available to read online. An amazing history of the band. Go here for the link: www.daysoftheunderground.com/links

Upcoming university band poster auction alert... For 70s prog/rock fans, it's an absolute rabbit hole of groovy designs and great gigs: bid.horners.co.uk/auctions/936... Here's some I pulled out earlier...

Stolen from FB... Who knew that Mr Benn's neighbour was in fact Mike Ratledge from Soft Machine...?

The next track released from the upcoming Peter Hammill boxset is 'Easy To Slip Away' from Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night - great song, though I'm missing the Mellotron a little in this remastered version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mRA... PH's thoughts: www.facebook.com/share/r/1AiN...

Hawkwind playing a "peace festival" at Aldermaston, 3 April 1972 - a time when you were allowed to protest against something without being arrested for thought crime...

Much excitement (from me at least) when I came across this on YT the other day - a kind person has posted a high quality version of VdGG's December 1971 Top Gear session, with only Refugees having previously been available. Inc a great version of Lemmings! www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mtn...

The first taste of the upcoming Peter Hammill boxset was released a few days ago, this remastered version of 'Solitude' from Fool's Mate - very nice sounding indeed: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBIz... And here's a short clip of Peter talking about it! www.facebook.com/share/r/16nx...

Just saw this in WH Smith, published a week or so ago. Kind of predictable, but an interesting list nonetheless, particularly having VdGG's Godbluff at no.9 - hooray! Plus a 6-page piece on the band. Warrior and ASAM also represent lower down for Hawkwind www.uncut.co.uk/publications...

Charisma Records often seemed to have trouble knowing how to promote its artists, none more so than Peter Hammill. There'd been some peculiar strategies before, but this ad for Nadir's Big Chance - alongside Clifford T. Ward - is particularly perplexing, for both artists...

In this week's @thequietus.com Digest... I've only seen bits and pieces of his stuff, but this is such a great interview. It's what happens when an interesting person with actual opinions is asked some decent questions... thequietus.com/interviews/j...

A sobering, and I think entirely accurate, assessment of the current state of the world. Plus an author photo that made me laugh out loud ;-) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ooh, @thequietus.com kindly reposted my Sabotage article from 10 years ago...

Taking a short break from classic SF (although it does feature 'aliens', albeit disguised as alpacas), I've read Tom Cox's novel-cum-memoir 1983. Set in the working-class outskirts of Nottingham, I wanted to read this because I grew up around the same time in nearby Newark 1/2

Saw Hardcore last night at the excellent @thenickelcinema.bsky.social, the third part of an unholy Paul Schrader trilogy that includes Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder. Very much the same vibe: Angry Man In Pain Unravels In A World He Doesn't Understand... www.youtube.com/watch?v=boKe... 1/2