HW: Nik Turner and friends (Hawkwindwannabes)

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Sun, Oct 14, 2001 at 03:53:46PM -0400, Doug Pearson typed out:
> On Sat, 13 Oct 2001 20:56:46 +0100, Nick Medford <nick at HERMIT0.DEMON.CO.UK>
> wrote:
> >In message <02f801c151d0$2d1542a0$e74d893e at default>, dave hall
> ><dave at PARMA29.FREESERVE.CO.UK> writes
> >>1. there are those who are talented - and there are the rest. The
> >>talented are:
> >>Dave Brock
> >>Huw Lloyd Langton
> >>Simon King
> >>Lemmy
> >>Simon House
> >>Bob Calvert
> >>Adrian Shaw
> >>Tim Blake
> >>Alan Davey
> >>Richard Chadwick
> >>Harvey Bainbridge
> >>Jerry Richards
> >>Captain Black
> >
> >Terry Ollis looked very impressive at the Hawkwestra, I thought. And Paul
> >Rudolph may not have fitted into Hawkwind as a bassist but he's a superb
> >guitarist, indeed on a technical level he's probably a better musician than
> >any of the above, possible exception of Simon House.

        Terry Ollis is bloody good. He always was, you only have to listen
to _In Search of Space_ with an ear to the drum parts to realise this. And
e seems to hev recovered his ability these days. I can well believe he is
part of a Hendrix tribute outfit.

        Paul Rudolph, on the other hand, if latter-day Pink Fairies is
anything to go by, has not retained is ability and though he was a
marvellous guitarist and at least an able bass-player, I don't think he is
either any more.

        I think that Simon House is the most technically able musician
Hawkwind's ever had in its ranks and he's completely unearthly these days
and this must be got into a studio, but anyway, yes, the thread.

> I'd also have a tough time leaving off Dave Anderson ('Yeti'!!!), DikMik,
> Steve Swindells and Ron Tree.

        Dave Anderson certainly has some talent and some of it's even
musical :-) But again ISoS's individual flavour I think can squarely be
attributed to his influence on arrangements making for a happy coincidence
with Dave's busker roots. East London kraut... Ron is mercurial but he;s
had my jaw dropping in awe before now and thus I would agree he has some
talent, if he could only get at it consistently. Also, a good bass-player
no matter what anyone says.

        Steve Swindells I persist in considering, on the basis of his
Hawkwind involvement anyway, to be not even a very good pianist and
certainly someone who should never ever be allowed to think e can work a
synth. But I'm aware that not everyone agrees with me on this.

> However, there is a MAJOR, EGREGIOUS, OUTRAGEOUS omission from this list
> (that I already pointed out to Dave Hall).
>
> HINT:
> Alan Davey : Lemmy
> Richard Chadwick : Simon King
> Ron Tree : Robert Calvert
> Jez Huggett : Nik Turner
> person-on-the-list (you figure out which one!) : person-missing-from-the-
> list

        Both from the clues and the fact that he's not there I think I
know who you mean. But he's a lumberjack so he's OK, or have I got the
wrong one? Of course Fred Reeves is also missing and from ICU it's fairly
clear he was bloody good even if no available HW exists to prove it
(because of coure that would be definitive, natch :-)) I also don't think
you can deny that Ginger Baker's talented, toads and personality
probolems notwitstanding. But even Nik doesn't consider him to have been a
real member of Hawkwind I understand... Andy Anderson also. But yes,
beyond that it starts to get a little difficult to universally acclaim
someone...

        The thing is, the line-up with a bunch of talented people in it is
undeniably great to watch. But it always seems to need some people without
talent in the same way to kick the ship into movement, give it
dynamics. Otherwise we get no records, though I am not in any way
complaining about the tours just now you understand... Yours,
                                                              Jon

n/p Man - _Rhinos Winos and Lunatics_
--
        Jonathan Jarrett                Birkbeck College, London
                 jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
        --------------------------------------------------------
  "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." (Tom Waits)