In the Winter of 1979, Hawkwind reformed without Calvert; with a post-punk metal sound. This lineup included Brock, Bainbridge and King, joined by
Huw Lloyd-Langton, who had been missing in action since their debut LP)) and
Tim Blake, previously of
Gong. They embarked upon a UK tour despite not having any product to promote. Some shows were recorded and a deal was made with
Bronze Records resulting in the
Live Seventy Nine, which nevertheless became the first
Hawkwind album to crack the UK top 10 since
Space Ritual. Similarly successful was the studio album
Levitation. However, during its recording King quit and
Ginger Baker was drafted in for the sessions, to the bemusement of the music press at the time. Nevertheless, the album reached #9 in the UK, making it Hawkwind's most successful studio album in their home country at the time of its release. Baker chose to stay with the band for the tour, during which
Tim Blake left to be replaced by
Keith Hale.
In 1981 Baker and Hale left after their insistence that Bainbridge should be sacked was declined, and Brock and Bainbridge elected to handle synthesizers and sequencers themselves with drummer Griffin from the Hawklords rejoining. Three albums, which again saw Michael Moorcock contributing lyrics and vocals, were recorded for
RCA/Active: Sonic Attack, the electronic
Church of Hawkwind and
Choose Your Masques. This band headlined the 1981
Glastonbury Festival and made an appearance at the 1982
Donnington Monsters of Rock Festival, as well as continuing to play the summer
solstice at
Stonehenge Free Festival.
Nik Turner had returned as a guest for the 1982
Choose Your Masques tour and was invited back permanently. Further tours ensued with Dead Fred Reeves augmenting the line-up on keyboards and violin, but neither Turner nor Reeves would appear on the only recording of 1983/84,
The Earth Ritual Preview, but there was a guest spot for Lemmy. The
Earth Ritual tour was filmed for Hawkwind's first ever video release,
Night of the Hawk. Alan Davey was a young fan of the band who had sent a tape of his playing to Brock, and Brock chose to oust Reeves moving Bainbridge from bass to keyboards in order to accommodate Davey. This experimental line-up played at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1984, which was filmed and release as
Stonehenge 84. Subsequent personal and professional tensions between Brock and Turner led to the latter's expulsion at the beginning of 1985.
Brock had started using drum machines for his home demos and became increasingly frustrated at the inability of drummers to keep perfect time, leading to a succession of drummers coming and going. First, Griffin was ousted and the band tried Simon King again, but unhappy with his playing at that time, he was rejected.
Andy Anderson filled in while he was also playing for
The Cure, as did
Robert Heaton prior to the rise of
New Model Army. Lloyd Langton Group drummer John Clark did some recording sessions,
Rik Martinez started the
Earth Ritual tour but failed to end it, being replaced by
Clive Deamer, who was deemed "too professional" for the band. Eventually in 1985
Danny Thompson Jr, a friend of bassist Alan Davey, was drafted in and remained almost to the end of the decade.
Hawkwind's association with Moorcock climaxed in their most ambitious project,
The Chronicle of the Black Sword, based loosely around the
Elric series of books and theatrically staged with
Tony Crerar as the central character. Moorcock contributed lyrics, but only performed some spoken pieces on some live dates. The tour was recorded and issued as an album
Live Chronicles and video
The Chronicle of the Black Sword. A headline appearance at the 1986
Reading Festival was followed by a UK tour to promote the
Live Chronicles album which was filmed and released as
Chaos. In 1988 the band recorded the album
The Xenon Codex with Guy Bidmead, but all was not well in the band and soon after, both Lloyd-Langton and Thompson departed.
