HW: Emperors New Clothes

[chris bates]

andy davis <pxr5 at HOTMAIL.COM> writes:
Hi Andy,

> I thought that i would take the chance to voice my opinions:

 That's what we're here for!

> I don't have any HF / PF "official" material, but had a couple of
> pinkwind board tapes and a rather shaky video too! suffice it to say,
> that they all were re-cycled as blank tapes!

I've only seen PinkWind the once. I was drunk. They were top
fun. Musically, though, I'll bet it was a pile of steaming rocking
horse droppings. But then I often felt that about ICU so what do
I know?

> but I can't help thinking that the direction in which the mighty hawks
> are moving is the same kind of "emperor's new clothes" deal. I don't

I'd rather disagree here. HW change style _a lot_. Far more than
just about any other band and it always used to work for me. Now
I'm less convinced and it has something to do with the live
experience. Back 10 or 15 years ago I'd go to HW gigs that were
packed with drunk/stoned people out for a good time. Often that
would be my first exposure to new songs - and in that context they
always worked. Later listening to albums that live experience
would affect how I listened to the songs.

Now I go to HW gigs and the audiences are both sparse and static.
Maybe it's an age thing but HW gigs just aren't as much fun.

> I have only been exposed to the hawks since 1981, but I reminisce very
> fondly of the 10-year-lasting Brock/Bainbridge/Llangton core, being
> enhanced  superbly by Mr. Davey, and with Nik adding a touch of fun for
> a couple of years. Let's not forget Danny T. or Richard either. Even
> with Huw gone, and Simon House augmenting the live sound, this was their
> finest hour in a brilliant 15 year cycle.

Well apart from Danny T who, frankly IMO couldn't play his way
out of a wet paper bag, those HW line-ups were pretty darn talented.
I know that Ginger Baker hated Harvey on bass, but his synth
playing really worked.

> seems too fragmented, just a collection of musical input from the
> various different members in the band, any one style may be fine by
> itself, but when loosly combined, the plot is lost.

Good point. HW music surely comes out of improvisation. If it
can't be improvised (or needs lots of chords :-) then it won't
work as HW.

> know that Hawkwind is a band that thrives on change, and to reminisce in
> the past is fine for some of us, but the band has to develop, but let's
> see it with it's Novadrive repaired and the mothership back on course!!

Too right. Part of the difficulty that HW have is that their core
audience of travellers/hippies/students is now fragmented. Without
an audience they don't have any income so they have to adapt to
find a new audience. Yet in adapting they lose the heart of their
music which is improvised space-rock.

--
Chris Bates
Lecturer
School of Computing and Management Sciences
Sheffield Hallam University
c.d.bates at shu.ac.uk