NOSTALGIA TRIP-THE MOUNTAIN GRILL
NOSTALGIA TRIP-THE MOUNTAIN GRILL
This is somewhat a departure from our usual/former Nostalgia trips to the locations of former Record Shops with the album purchased there many years ago. This 'trip' sees me taking a personal copy of the Hawkwind album 'Hall of the Mountain Grill' to the place that inspired its album title, nothing cosmic about this it was a Cafe on the Portobello Road in London and is now a 'hip' (not hippie!) juice bar.The Mountain Grill was a working man’s café frequented by all the sections of society. Dave Brock always used to go and eat there along with other members of the early Hawkwind line up. It was a kind of Left Bank meeting place for Notting Hill hippies and a true artists’ hangout,it never became chic, even though Marc Bolan, David Bowie often went there to eat lunch. So, the Hall Of The Mountain Grill (1974) a superb piece of space rock was named after very mundane café . This humour is compounded by Barney Bubbles’ cover design which for the title uses the kind of italic script (Bickham?) that you see on menus, on the inner sleeve there’s a photo of the fabled restaurant flanked by a pair of Barney’s futuristic towers. The verse beneath the photo (“from the Legend of Beenzon Toste”) refers to nearby Ladbroke Grove, and, of course, to Notting Hill Gate which in 1974 was still a haven for counterculture freaks.The album's title was also a nod to Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King", The record itself featured hard rockers like "The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke)" and "Lost Johnny" , 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. Lemmy was quoted as saying this was Hawkwind at their height.
The Hawkwind name supposedly is also far from mystical,the recently departed late great saxophonist Nik Turner, giving Hawkwind its name. It was said that Turner had the habit to hawk and at the same time let out thundering farts (too much information!).
This is definately to date our furthest Nostalgia trip and it was interesting standing outside trying to imagine what went on in the building at 275 Portobello Road all those years ago, the current staff didnt quite understand what i was up to but kindly let me prop the album up against the window. We will also put a few pictures from this visit on our Instagram and Facebook pages.