Church of Hawkwind is the twelfth studio album by Hawkwind, released under the band name Church of Hawkwind in 1982. The name change reflects the fact that this was a musical departure for the band, being a more experimental electronic offering rather than the usual heavy rock that the band were known for at the time.
Dave Brock resurrects the "Dr Technical" alias which he had previously used for production of the band's 1972 hit single "Silver Machine". This is almost a Dave Brock solo album considering the heavy bias towards his work, and none of these tracks were performed live by the band, save "Looking in the Future" which was re-recorded as "Letting in the Past" on It is the Business of the Future to be Dangerous.
"The Phenomenon of Luminosity" features a sample of John Glenn on the Friendship Seven spacecraft during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission on 20 February 1962. An alternative version of "Experiment With Destiny" had appeared on the preceding year's Sonic Attack album as "Virgin of the World".
Although credited to Dave Brock, the track "Some People Never Die" borrows much of its material from the track "They Call Me Gun" on an obscure LP by "On The Seventh Day" (US Mercury Records 61248, 1970), right down to the Robert F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald shooting commentaries. Alternative versions of "Some People Never Die" appear on Spacebrock and the Dave Brock solo album Earthed to the Ground (as "Assassination").
The CD bonus tracks on the 1994 Griffin release were recorded in the 1990s and seem at odds with the overall feel of the album, and they were placed in the middle of a resequenced side 2 by Dave Brock, disrupting the flow of the album, for example the rowing that linked "Some People Never Die" with "Light Specific Data" now has 5 tracks in between.[3] The 2010 Atomhenge CD restores the original running order and provides a different set of bonus material.[4][5][6]
