The Chronicle of the Black Sword

1985's "Chronicle of the Black Sword" is based on fantasy author (and part-time Hawk member) Michael Moorcock's Elric series. The album is notable for the arrival of new bassist, Alan Davies, and for the shift of Harvey Bainbridge to keyboards. the tracks sport a somewhat under-produced sound and is probably the result of the move to indie label Flicknife. Hawkwind toured this album heavily utilizing a variety of actors and dancers to act out the parts. The music has a sort of stripped down sound focusing more on the guitar/bass/drums aspect of the band, with a more subdued emphasis on keyboards this time around. The following live album "Live Chronicles" finds them tearing through these tracks with even more ferosity and contains several tracks that didnt fit on the studio version.

While musically it's all over the place, it tells a good story, based on Michael Moorcock's Elric saga.