Space Daze: The History and Mystery of Electronic Ambient Space Rock

by Dave Thompson

Cover and pages do not show signs of wear.

Genres: Music

165 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

English author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.

However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”

Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.

Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.

Reviews

[Jason Joachim]

A history of electronic ambient space rock.
From Hawkwind to Alien Sex Fiend and everything in between.
I’ve discovered several bands reading this.

Recommended listening: Space Daze (The History & Mystery Of Electronic Ambient Space Rock), Space Daze 2000 (A Mind Journey Of Electronic Ambient Space Rock) and Space Box - 1970 & Beyond (Space, Krautrock & Acid Trips)

[Andy]

The writing is mostly abysmal and the flow is terribly sporadic. I don't necessarily need to have a biography/history book in chronological order, but Thompson's stories and focus often didn't even seem to fit within the titles of what his chapters would lead one to believe. Everything comes back to Hawkwind, yada yada. It's nice that there is a book out there at all that mentions many of my favorite rock bands, even if it isn't very good. The discography in the back and a few of the anecdotes are great, but mostly it's just uninspiring (strange considering how excited his "acknowledgement" section makes him see) and just poorly written.

Not worth checking out unless you are familiar with the various genres that can be called Space Rock and you just want to kill a little time. I don't know if there are better books out there (surely there are likely hugely detailed Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd and Brian Eno books) but whatever.

[Andrew]

Some useful info and anecdotes on some of my favourite bands. However, it's a it of a chore reading this as the writing is all over the place, and it's very difficult to get what the author's meaning is in some passages. A bit sporadic as someone else has said here. Also, I think the the text may have been scanned for Optical Character Recognition as there are a few instances where 'that' should be 'what' I think. Also, the title of Pink Floyd's first album 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' was inspired by the book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, not CS Lewis as the author states. Plus there was no Discography despite being referenced in the text. So, if the author is planning on doing an updated edition, please, please, don't cut corners on the proof reading! However, I will definitely be checking out some of the bands and music he recommends as there is a few I had never heard of and they sound cool.

[Erik]

I bought this book from a record store in Hampton Roads, VA not long after it was published. Because I had yet to discover or use the Internet, it was a well spring of information for me and I loved every moment of it. This book educated me greatly on musicians like Hawkwind, Brian Eno, CAN, Amon Duul, Faust, etc. I also remember being fascinated with all of the information about (the) Pink Floyd during the Syd-era. I've seen a lot of reviews on here ripping this book apart, but I suspect these are were written by people who discovered these bands post-information age. In my case? I was a young, pre-Internet suburban kid from Virginia, who was interested in expanding his musical universe. This book was like a supernova for me.

[Diane Dunham]

Good if you're a Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett and other underground fan.