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47-411: Nicholas Robert Turner (26 August 1940 – 10 November 2022) was an English musician best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind . Turner played saxophone and flute , as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylisations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt -inspired costumes. Turner

94-569: A "cosmic" sound. Similar sounds were pursued in the early 1970s' West German kosmische Musik ("cosmic music") scene. Later, the style was taken up in the mid-1980s by Spacemen 3 , whose " drone -heavy" sound was avowedly inspired by and intended to accommodate drug use. By the 1990s, space rock developed into shoegaze and post-rock with bands such as the Verve and Flying Saucer Attack . Humanity's entry into outer space provided ample subject matter for rock and roll and R&B songs from

141-528: A folk rock project released in 2012. After a chance meeting with Mr H, a Welsh jazz/blues singer-songwriter, at Brecon Jazz Festival in 2012, where Turner and Mr H performed a free improvised jazz session, Mr H invited Turner to feature on his fourth album, Poets, Balladeers and Cheats . In October 2012, Turner entered Berryhill Studios in Monmouthshire, and performed an improvised alto saxophone session on seven of Mr H's compositions, which were released in

188-532: A new distribution deal in the UK with Polydor that lasted until 1980. In Canada, many Charisma releases were distributed by GRT and PolyGram Canada. Between 1980 and 1982, Charisma operated a subsidiary called Pre Records, who were devoted to new wave and reggae acts. Pre's roster included Scars , Prince Far I , Delta 5 , Gregory Isaacs , The Monochrome Set and Congo Ashanti Roy , amongst others. Pre also licensed albums by The Residents and Tuxedomoon from

235-529: A number of bands built on the space rock styles of Hawkwind and Gong appeared in America. Some of these bands were signed to Cleopatra Records , which then proceeded to release numerous space rock compilations. Starting in 1997, Daevid Allen of Gong, along with members of Hawkwind, Clearlight, and Blue Öyster Cult , started to perform with Spirits Burning , a studio project created to celebrate space rock. The Strange Daze festivals from 1997 to 2001 showcased

282-654: The Bohemian Love-In . The Horns were managed by Tony Landau, a friend of Turner's since adolescence, and were fronted by former Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist Steve Peregrin Took , who would later make guest lead vocal appearances with ICU alongside his former Horns bandmates. Inner City Unit recorded the albums Pass Out and Maximum Effect before collapsing due to certain members drug problems. Turner and Dead Fred had stints in Hawkwind before regrouping to release

329-632: The Great Pyramid of Giza he was given three hours inside the King's Chamber to record some flute music. On returning to England, Steve Hillage cleaned up the tapes and assembled the Sphynx band featuring Hawkwind's Alan Powell , Gong's Mike Howlett and Tim Blake , and Harry Williamson to record music augmenting the original flute tracks while Turner adapted lyrics from the Egyptian Book of

376-497: The Kennedy Space Center . In 2018, British rock band Arctic Monkeys released their sixth studio album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino , based on frontman Alex Turner 's concept of a luxury resort on the moon for rockstars. The album centres around topics of interstellar travel, consumerism , science fiction and technology, and features several characters such as an unnamed retired rockstar who serves as

423-663: The Mad Hatter (sometimes combined with a montage of other images from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ) made the label instantly recognizable. Much of the early distinctive artwork used by the label was created by Paul Whitehead . Whitehead's original illustrations for three Genesis albums were stolen from the Charisma archives when it was sold to Virgin Records in 1983. Whitehead claimed that Charisma staff got wind of

470-697: The American label Ralph Records . In Europe, Pre's releases were issued on the Charisma label. Most Charisma artists were relatively unknown early on, so original pressings have become quite rare and sought after by collectors. The "pink scroll" label was first used in the UK from 1969 until mid-1972. This was replaced by the Mad Hatter label, designed by Paul Whitehead. In the US, the pink scroll labels were used in late 1973 and early 1974 on releases distributed by Buddah. Releases distributed by Atlantic Records used

517-556: The American space rock scene in three-day outdoor festivals. A Michigan -based space rock scene included Burnt Hair Records , Darla Records , and bands such as Windy & Carl , Mahogany , Sweet Trip , Füxa and Auburn Lull . This was a modern movement of the traditional "space rock" sound and was pinned Detroit Space Rock. In 2005, Tom DeLonge formed the rock supergroup Angels & Airwaves , who are known for having space rock influences in both its music and lyrics, in addition to having space-themed imagery and artwork. In 2006

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564-642: The B&;C label, when it concentrated on marketing instead. In early 1972, B&C brokered a deal with Precision Tapes to manufacture and distribute Charisma's albums in tape format. From early 1970, Charisma's European distribution was handled by Phonogram Inc. In the United States and Canada, Charisma recordings were initially licensed to other labels. These included ABC Records , along with subsidiaries, Impulse , Probe and Dunhill . Artists included Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis. Elektra Records in

611-587: The British rock band Muse released the song " Knights of Cydonia " which is heavily inspired by the song " Telstar " from the Tornados , a band that frontman Matt Bellamy 's father was a member of. In 2009 an off-duty NASA worker from the shuttle program synchronised footage of a Discovery launch with the Flowers of Hell 's "Sympathy for Vengeance" in an online video which became popular amongst staff at

658-576: The Centre of the Eye in 1971. The 1990s space rock revival extended from shoegaze , dream pop and related indie genres, as well as the first wave of post-rock . In the United Kingdom and the United States, it included bands such as Spacemen 3 , Spectrum , Spiritualized , the Verve , My Bloody Valentine , Flying Saucer Attack , Magic Mushroom Band, and Ozric Tentacles . In the mid-1990s,

705-557: The Controls for the Heart of the Sun " with explicit science fiction themes , and their third, More (1969) had " Cirrus Minor ". In the early 1970s, West Germany's kosmische Musik ("cosmic music") scene developed among artists who explored "spacy", ambient instrumental soundscapes. The term is frequently used as a synonym of krautrock , but may also be used as a German analogue to

752-510: The Dead . The album was released as Xitintoday on Charisma Records in 1978 and the band toured, played festivals including Deeply Vale Festivals (later released as a CD), Glastonbury Festival (part of which was broadcast on BBC television) and his own themed Bohemian Love-In all day festival at the Roundhouse. With Williamson he conceived the "Nuclear Waste" single featuring many of

799-475: The EMI label. In the UK, the label was revived by EMI's Angel Records in 2007. With most of EMI's purchase by Universal Music Group , Charisma returned to Virgin Records . Charisma was initially manufactured and distributed in the United Kingdom via a licensing deal with Lee Gopthal's B&C Records , sharing the B&C catalogue series for both singles and albums, prior to B&C ceasing to release records on

846-583: The English term "space rock". These artists often explored electronic music , synthesizers , and themes related to space or otherworldliness. Examples included artists like Ash Ra Tempel , Tangerine Dream , Popol Vuh , and Klaus Schulze . In early 1971, Pink Floyd began writing the song that would become known as " Echoes ", from the 1971 album Meddle . The song was performed from April until September 1971, with an alternative set of lyrics, written about two planets meeting in space. A major album in

893-717: The Laugharne Weekend 2019, Damo Suzuki played the Fountain Inn with his all-star Sound Carriers which included Euros Childs and New Order drummer Stephen Morris . Nik Turner joined them at the end of their set. Turner died on 10 November 2022, at the age of 82. There are five biographies of Hawkwind which contain extensive contributions from and sections about Nik Turner. https://nikturnermusic.bandcamp.com/ Space rock The genre emerged in late 1960s psychedelia and progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd , Hawkwind , and Gong who explored

940-720: The Merchant Navy. He then set about travelling around Europe picking up menial jobs, and it was during a stint as a roustabout in a travelling music circus in 1967 that he made the acquaintance of Dave Brock in Haarlem , the Netherlands. Turner had two years of clarinet and saxophone lessons in the early 1960s but never considered himself good enough to pursue them seriously. Whilst travelling around Europe he encountered some free jazz players in Berlin who impressed upon him

987-669: The Space and Rock Festival – Rocksjon, Jönköping , Sweden in 1998 with the Finnish space rock group Dark Sun, they moved to play at Tavastia Club, Helsinki, Finland. This resulted in the live album, Ice Ritual , which was released in 2000. In 2008 Nik Turner was invited to Space Mirrors collective as a guest member. Since that time he recorded flute and saxophone on three Space Mirrors releases: Majestic-12: A Hidden Presence (2009), Dreams of Area 51 (2011) and In Darkness They Whisper (2012). Turner also provided flute for Dodson and Fogg ,

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1034-459: The Sphynx musicians and a lead vocal by Sting . He then guested on the album Fairy Tales by Williamson and Gilli Smyth 's project Mother Gong, and out of this he, Mo Vicarage and Ermanno Ghisio-Erba (a.k.a. Dino Ferari ) formed Inner City Unit (ICU) with Trev Thoms and Dead Fred . Thoms and Ghisio-Erba had previously played together in Steve Took's Horns who had played their only gig at

1081-479: The US released records by Charisma artists Atomic Rooster, Audience, Lindisfarne and Jack the Lad. In 1971, Charisma entered into a distribution agreement with Buddah Records and began to release albums on the Charisma label in the US. These included Pawn Hearts by Van der Graaf Generator and Nursery Cryme , Foxtrot and Genesis Live by Genesis. Atlantic Records also later released Charisma recordings in

1128-475: The United States from 1973 to 1974 including many Genesis titles. In 1973, Atlantic stopped distributing Charisma in America; as a result, in the US Charisma's bands signed to various labels such as Mercury Records (Van der Graaf Generator) and Arista Records (Monty Python). Genesis records were released in the US under Atlantic's subsidiary label Atco Records from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, Charisma signed

1175-513: The albums New Anatomy , The President Tapes and the EP Blood and Bone . Turner's next project was Nik Turner's Fantastic All Stars, a saxophone and Hammond organ driven jazz and rhythm and blues band. They gigged for several years, eventually releasing the album Kubanno Kickasso! . Turner and Twink got together for some impromptu live performances under the name Pinkwind, two CDs of which were released on Twink's own record label without

1222-460: The band despite numerous requests to modify his behaviour eventually led to his dismissal in November 1976. In 1982 during the recording of Choose Your Masques , Brock invited Turner to the recording sessions and he was asked to front the band for the album's tour. Turner's second stint in the band lasted just over 2 years and although the band did not undertake any studio recording together, he

1269-534: The chagrin of the others. We wanted to play the Windsor Sex Olympics but only half the band turned up. NME – September 1972 Turner was a member of the band during their most commercially successful and critically acclaimed period, writing or co-writing some of their most popular songs such as "Brainstorm" and "Master of the Universe". However, complaints about his playing over other members of

1316-589: The event being unlikely, but Turner did stage a further event under the banner The Greasy Truckers Party featuring members of the Hawkestra' on 21 October 2001 at the London Astoria . Out of this a loose band formed, performing further gigs and eventually using the name xhawkwind.com. An appearance at Guilfest in 2002 led to confusion as to whether this actually was Hawkwind, sufficiently irking Brock into taking legal action to prohibit Turner from trading under

1363-545: The genre, with such tracks as " Third Stone from the Sun ", " 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) " and " The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice ". Pink Floyd 's early albums contain pioneering examples of space rock: " Astronomy Domine ", " Pow R. Toc H. " and " Interstellar Overdrive " from their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn are examples. Their second album A Saucerful of Secrets contained further examples: " Let There Be More Light " and " Set

1410-561: The history of space rock was Hawkwind 's Space Ritual (1973), a two-disc live album advertised as "88 minutes of brain-damage" documenting Hawkwind's 1972 tour that included a liquid light show and lasers, nude dancers (notably the earth-mother figure Stacia ), wild costumes and psychedelic imagery. This hard-edged concert experience attracted a motley but dedicated collection of psychedelic drug users, science-fiction fans and motorcycle riders. The science fiction author Michael Moorcock collaborated with Hawkwind on many occasions and wrote

1457-485: The imminent sale and proceeded to loot its office. The label also released material by The Nice , Robert John Godfrey , Lindisfarne and Alan Hull , Hawkwind , The Alan Parsons Project , Clifford T. Ward , String Driven Thing , Jack The Lad , Audience , Vivian Stanshall , Brand X , Sir John Betjeman , Malcolm McLaren and Afraid of Mice . 1970s solo albums of Peter Hammill , Tony Banks and Steve Hackett were also on Charisma. Gail Colson left Charisma in

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1504-448: The importance of expression over technical proficiency, and it was then that he decided that what he "wanted to do was play free jazz in a rock band". Turner, owning a van, had originally offered his services as a roadie to the newly formed Hawkwind. However, when the band discovered his passion for the saxophone he was offered a position in the band to add to the overall weirdness of their sound. Of his playing, Turner admitted that "it's

1551-525: The late 1970s to form her own management company, Gailforce. In 1983, Charisma Records was acquired by Virgin Records and continued to operate until 1986, when Virgin absorbed the label. Virgin's purchase by EMI , then known as Thorn EMI , occurred in 1992. A new version of Charisma, with no connection to the original label other than the name, operated between 1990 and 1992, with a street-oriented and independently distributed subsidiary called Cardiac Records. Some Charisma Records recordings were re-issued on

1598-414: The lyrics for many of the spoken-word sections on Space Ritual . In Europe, Hungarian band Omega was the biggest space rock band with albums Time Robber (1976), Skyrover (1978), and Gammapolis (1979). Other European bands include the progressive rock groups Eloy and Nektar . Nektar, who were known for having a rhythmic liquid/slide light show at their concerts, released their album Journey to

1645-452: The mid-1950s through the early 1960s. It also inspired new sounds and sound effects to be used in the music itself. A prominent early example of space rock is the 1959 concept album I Hear a New World by British producer and songwriter Joe Meek . The album was inspired by the space race and concerned human's first close encounter with alien life forms. Meek then went on to have a UK and US No 1 success in 1961 with " Telstar ", named after

1692-581: The name Hawkwind, a case which Turner lost. The band settled on the name Space Ritual and are still currently active. Nik also made an impromptu appearance during the first Reggae Festival of Wales in 2003, joining the Goldmaster Allstars and Jamaican vocalist Alton Ellis . Turner resurrected another version of Inner City Unit with Thoms, performing irregular gigs. He also fronted the "psychedelic latino-funk" band Galaktikos. He continued to attend festivals playing and guesting whenever possible and

1739-545: The narrator for several tracks, "Mark", the titular hotel's receptionist, and the fictional "Martini Police" mentioned in the track "Star Treatment". In 2021, Coldplay released the single " Coloratura ", a song that pays homage to space rock and has been compared to the works of Pink Floyd , drawing particular comparisons to The Dark Side of the Moon and " Shine on You Crazy Diamond ". Charisma Records Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label )

1786-424: The newly launched communications satellite and thus intended to commemorate the new space age. Its main instrument was a clavioline , an electronic forerunner of the synthesizers . The Beatles ' song " Flying " (1967), originally titled "Aerial Tour Instrumental", was a psychedelic instrumental about the sensation of flying, whether in a craft or in your own head space. Jimi Hendrix is also an early innovator of

1833-399: The overall feel rather than the individual parts of the music that we're interested in. I don't have any illusions about my technical ability. I tend to use it as an electronic medium rather than an instrument". He became an active and vocal member of the band, pulling in friends such as Dik Mik, Calvert and Barney Bubbles , and involving the band in community and charity projects, sometimes to

1880-478: The permission of Turner. In 1993 Turner was approached by Pressurehed and Helios Creed to record another version of his Sphynx project using the original flute tracks, resulting in the album Sphynx . This partnership then developed further, regularly touring in the US performing a set of Hawkwind-centred material sometimes featuring Genesis P-Orridge , Jello Biafra and former Hawkwind members Simon House , Del Dettmar and Powell. One studio album Prophets of Time

1927-715: The spring of 2013. In March 2013 Turner turned up at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas playing an official SXSW gig at Rebels Honky Tonk bar billed as Nik Turner (ex-Hawkwind) playing predominantly Space Ritual songs. He also guested on stage with The Soft Moon at Hotel Vegas the previous night. Turner also played saxophone and narrated "Brainstorm" on the Warfare album (2017 High Roller Records). In March 2019 he appeared in Austin, Texas, with ex-Hawkwind members Alan Powell and Michael Moorcock in an event called Hawkfest, At

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1974-599: Was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton Smith . He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice , the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator . Gail Colson was label manager and joint managing director. The label's most successful acts were Genesis , Peter Gabriel , Julian Lennon , and Monty Python . The first release was an LP by Rare Bird, in (probably) November 1969, and this group gave Charisma its first hit single, Sympathy, in early 1970. (Sympathy

2021-500: Was a reworking of Giazotto's 'reconstruction' of Albinoni's Adagio.) Charisma's first UK label was a distinctive magenta scroll design (though it is generally referred to in record collecting circles as "pink scroll") – magenta was the colour that Stratton Smith chose to represent the label, and this was reflected in his later horseracing colours, red for Manchester United, green for Brazil, and magenta for Charisma. Its second logo (used beginning in 1972) of Sir John Tenniel 's drawing of

2068-575: Was an eager contributor to other band's projects, such as recording an album and touring with US space rockers Spaceseed in 2004, and live appearances with UK dance outfit Akahum at BGG Shareholders Party & HEADS Haiti Benefit show. Living in Carmarthen , he often busked playing his saxophone in Cardiff city centre during weekend nights. After playing at "Hawkfan Festival" in Hamburg in 1997 and

2115-627: Was born in Oxford in August 1940 to a theatrical family, although his father was working in a munitions factory. At the age of 13 his family moved to the Kent seaside resort of Margate where he worked at the local funfair during the summer holiday season, befriending another seasonal worker Robert Calvert . His first influences were rock and roll and the films of James Dean . Turner went on to complete an engineering course and then undertook one voyage in

2162-620: Was featured on live albums including Zones , This Is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic and the band’s first released concert video, Night of the Hawks. Although some live albums and videos were released, the band did not undertake any studio recording. At the end of 1984 while preparing material for The Chronicle of the Black Sword album, he was sacked once again. After his first departure from Hawkwind, Turner holidayed in Egypt and while visiting

2209-607: Was released in 1994 followed by the live CD and DVD Space Ritual 1994 Live and another live CD Past or Future? in 1996. Out of this set of musicians formed the band Anubian Lights, centred on Len Del Rio and Tommy Greñas from Pressurehed with contributions from Turner, Dettmar and House, as did the band Spiral Realms centred on House and Rio. On 21 October 2000, at the Brixton Academy , a 'Hawkestra' event took place, featuring nearly all past members of Hawkwind. Disagreements between various participants led to any restaging of

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