HW Nearfest etc

[John Majka]

I completely agree with your evaluations of Lightbulb Sun and Deadwing.  I 
think both of those albums are refinements of (respectively) Stupid Dream 
and In Absentia.  Lightbulb Sun is without doubt my favorite, and the 
current one (Fear of a Blank Planet) is perhaps second.  I have felt that 
the more "metal" period of PT (In Absentia to the present) isn't my 
particular cup of tea, although they seem to have actually become more prog 
and less metal on the most recent one, and I think they have now struck a 
happy balance.

On a tangent, I had a delightful time at Nearfest, and when I get around to 
it I will post my photos and impressions.  For some reason the web server 
doesn't seem to be working right and only SOME of my pics are visible (and 
those from Hawkfest 2002... five years after the fact I'm finally getting 
them up).  Most other attendees have similar impressions to my own regarding 
the Nearfest experience.  I was at the signing a few hours beforehand, and 
there were perhaps only a dozen or so people who turned out, but it was 
delightful to see Richard, Jason, and Mr. Dibbs interacting with the fans. 
As for Hawkwind's performance, the band was certainly suffering from an 
abominable mix and from the recent lineup change.  I can appreciate that HW 
will "keep on keeping on" as Richard said at one point during the show, and 
it is nice to see different permutations of the band which are all still 
somehow Hawkwind, but overall the show was probably on the weaker side of 
things.  I think Jill has commented before about the Solar Fire Lightshow 
being lackluster and I'd have to agree.  In fact, I'd say it was rather 
tedious with its endlessly repeated and fairly uninventive imagery.  All the 
slides were of drugs (marijuana plants and mushrooms), or planets, or 
big-eyed aliens... now just repeat the trio ad nauseam.  Jim is a nice 
fellow and all, but I'd like to see more going on with the lightshow, and it 
seems rather stuck in a dreary rut.  Mr. Dibbs actually has a good voice for 
the spoken bits and his singing was no worse than Alan's, but his bass 
playing is definitely at the pedestrian end of things.... Perhaps with time 
he will grow into his role more.  Jason is very competent musically, but I'm 
not sure jhis lounge azz leanings are all that appropriate to the HW sound. 
I'd like to hear him play more modally with less of a lounge phrasing. 
Brock, on the other hand, was a powerhouse onstage when his guitar could be 
heard.  It sounded as if he was perhaps using some sort of amp modelling 
equipment and the clean/distorted levels were not set equivalently, as his 
clean sound on Infinity was loud and clear, but when he kicked on the 
distortion, the volume dropped massively.  His voice at this show struck me 
as exceedingly tuneful, melodious and rich--not something I'm necesssarily 
accustomed to saying about Hawkwind vocals!  He really pulled things 
together and kept the gig from floundering, even though many of the 
transitions were incredibly clumsy (largely due to volume level fluctuations 
between instruments).  There were sequenced bits or pre-recorded files that 
were triggered, and the volumes were not set appropriately to mesh 
seamlessly with the rest of the instruments, so there were huge sound drop 
outs throughout the gig.  Overall though, this was a band coming through 
successfully despite circumstances conspiring against them, and that's what 
Hawkwind does best.  They persevere through all these circumstances and 
still wind up somehow giving a good performance overall.

I did wonder what many of the snobby progsters thought of the show, which 
was of course largely built around 2-chord and 3-chord droning songs. 
Hawkwind was a purgative for all the "my band is more complex than your 
band" and funny time signature leanings of many of the other bands and their 
fans.

John Majka
jmajk at indy.rr.com

> This is mainly because I think _Lightbulb Sun_ is even more
> commercial, but also considerably better; it's as if SW decided that he
> would remake _Stupid Dream_ but this time with the concentration to get
> the best out of it. So you have `Piano Lessons' converted into `How Is
> Your Life', the other singles all drowned in the breakdown of `Last
> Chance to Leave Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled' or `Where We
> Would Be' and the godawful `Stop Swimming' buried under `Russia on Ice'.
> The title track's the only one I don't particularly go for.
>
> I think they did the same thing again with _Deadwing_, FWIW, to
> me _Deadwing_ is very much _In Absentia_ again with slightly better
> material. It's as if the big changes of direction take more time for the
> band to get used to these days, which is probably fair enough when it is
> in fact a band these days and not just SW sitting in his parents'
> basement cackling over 35-minute Floydian soundscapes.
>
>> *  I tend to be very forgiving of artists, especially of Steven's 
>> caliber,
>> because he is so great it is just mindblowing, and if he never did 
>> another
>> thing I'd never forget*
>
> The last PT gig I went was years ago now, and they did two sets,
> the first of which reminded me of exactly that feeling, and the second
> of which was a kind of _Stupid Dream_ singles hour, for a lot of which
> the band weren't joining in, and made me want to go home early.
>
>> *Good god am I glad I still have all my original PT CD's.......it looks 
>> to
>> me like he's not only razor-clever with the music but with the marketing 
>> as
>> well.......it looks downright DANGEROUS to collect them.....you'd need to
>> buy each album in about 6 different versions right???*
>
> In the wise words of Gary Oldman's character in _Leon_, "That's
> why I stopped!"
>
>> *I have only played the new one about 3 times and indeed it may still 
>> impact
>> me, not concerned though....I'll pick up anything by those geniuses so 
>> long
>> as I can afford*
>
> I will have to get this one eventually but as with TMTYF I'm not
> rushing it. Come to that there's a new Clutch out I haven't got yet--who
> am I fussed about, these days? Can it really be only Litmus? I may need
> some new bands.
>
>> *Is the Radioactive Toy promo CD single one of the collecters bombs???  I
>> had 2, but at least "F*ckhead"  Eric Johnson (who _is_ lucky I have not
>> removed his limbs, I'm still debating) left me one*
>
> I believe that one is one to hang on to, yes :-)
>
>> *did the mystery of the name Porcupine Tree ever get "solved"???*
>
> Dunno about `solved', but it was one of the names from a spoof
> psychedelic sixties pastiche band that only existed in fictional form
> until SW began making the music for it. Why he picked that one and what
> it was supposed to mean, if anything, I bet even he doesn't remember...
> Yours,
> Jon (alive, but still moving too fast to disembark from his
> timewarp in safety)
> -- 
> "When fortune wanes, of what assistance are quantities of elephants?"
>     (Juvaini, Afghan Muslim chronicler, c. 1206)
> Jon Jarrett, Fitzwilliam Museum, jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk