HW 40th Anniversary Show - Huw

[Steve Swann]

That's interesting.  I had just been meaning to ask if anyone could identify what components go into that unique guitar sound that Huw had on 80s Hawkwind live records.  Some combination of nonstandard tuning, sound processing, guitar fx?  Anyone?

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Jarrett <jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK>
Date: Friday, Apr 17, 2009 9:02 am
Subject: Re: HW 40th Anniversary Show - Huw
To: Reply-    BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET

On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 08:15:26PM -0400, John Majka typed out:
 As a guitar player myself, I've always been hugely impressed with Huw.  He 
 does indeed have a unique signature style quite unlike that of anyone else 
 I've ever heard.  I am always completely mesmerized listening to his leads 
 in Hawkwind and on his solo albums.  Others may speak of Simon's skills, 
 but for me, Huw is definitely Hawkwind's most musically gifted member.  I'd 
 love for him to join up with the rest of the hawks for another musical 
 journey....

	I once made an ex of mine who didn't care much for the treble 
register listen to one of Huw's breaks, possibly the _Live '79_ 
`Brainstorm' or maybe even live with Litmus once, and she actually paid 
some attention and then said, "he's not even in the same key as the rest 
of them". And I listened and thought, he's not, is he? He's cutting 
across them in a minor key in some way that fits perfectly but sounds 
really affecting. And since I noticed that I've found that this is, for 
me, Huw's big trick, he's really good at playing across the band. This 
is why Jerry Richards, despite being very good too, never really 
replaced Huw as lead for me, because he just sounds like Brock on speed 
and without as chunky an amp set-up. Huw sounds like no-one else (much 
like Dave himself), but I'm not sure that it's particularly because of 
his technical skill, which does vary somewhat in performance these days, 
but because of his ear for the best route across the rest of the music. 
And of course, doing that makes him stand out in a way that Jerry 
doesn't.

	I don't know if that actually has much musical basis, but maybe 
someone who can speak to such things will tell me if I'm wrong. Yours,
									
Jon

-- 
"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