HW: NiXtar - Nikwind

[Keith A Henderson]

Paul sayz...

> Which one is Hawkwind?  You decide.  But I suspect that decision is based
> more upon whether you like their output more than whether they have
> "legitimate" claim to the title.  It could be argued (especially by the
> Swedish Hawkfans on this list) that Nik Turner is playing more in the
> "Hawkwind style" of old than Hawkwind are today.  By all accounts, the
> NiXtar show was a blinder...

Yeah, after listening to quite a bit of DarXtar lately (thanks, Chuck), I'd say
that stylistically-speaking, DarXtar + Nik is closer to Hawkwind than the
Pressurehed-Nikwind I saw two years ago....I haven't yet gotten PoF, so can't
say 'bout that show (looked a lot better, from the tracklist alone).  But I say
this about NiXtar mainly because of the 'Xtar' part...so maybe we should have
called that gig Darkwind or something, leaving Nik out of it entirely. :)

Despite being a founding member, and a songwriter for a half-dozen or so
classic HW tracks, I don't see Nik's musical contribution as being much more
than an 'effect', ie., a single extra layer of sound over top of the basic
rhythms below...in that context, his sax/flute plays no more role in the sound
as Simon House's violin or Blake's/Harvey's synth lines or Moorcock's/Calvert's
'over the top' ranting (vocals other than standard verses, that is).  (Could
there then, also be a legitimate 'Housewind' or 'Blakewind' -I don't think so.)
Meanwhile, the "core" of Brock/Lemmy or Davey/King or Chadwick is really
playing the song underneath.  Of course, both elements are important to the
overall HW sound, it's just that I only see the latter as being something that
you can build a band on, and call it Hawkwind.  And none of these guys are
playing with Nik....he's only got the 'top' parts of classic HW, ie. the synth,
violin, sax, flute, and (God forbid)....his singing.  Then Pressurehed plays
the role of the bottom part...not really Hawkwind IMHO.

So, in this context, the 'style' argument from Paul is no longer applicable.
Just because he played old HW standards for a length of time similar to that
which HW played them years ago doesn't mean squat to me.  The bottom line is,
Nikwind couldn't pull them off IMHO....they were just rather dull and boring as
opposed to brilliant and lively (with Brock, Lem, etc. the reason...see SR for
details).

> To me, _Space Ritual '94_ Nikwind sounds a bit like the 80s heavy metal
> Hawkwind.

Not to me....the early 80's HW played standard verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar
solo/verse/chorus/end songs more than any other version of Hawkwind - with the
exception of Church of Hawkwind, which doesn't really fit in with the others of
the same time (could really be more of a Brock solo work I think).  I don't
hear this in the Nikwind material.  And Huwy's solos and Helios' work aren't
really very similar either I don't think.  But it was pretty heavy & driving
though...maybe that's what you were referring to....

Well, that's all I'm going to say about this thread....one of these days, it'll
become a dead horse, and we'll all get on with it...but not yet. :)

Keith H.