HW: Trip Review & Inspirat

[C.E. Anderson]

> There's an interesting correlation between drugs and musical ability.
> Almost no-one who plays a musical instrument plays as well under
> the influence as they do when *straight*. Technically it's not feasible
> to think creatively, keep time, play with as much control when you're
> out of it. O.K. anyone reading this who's a muso is now up in arms,
> well if it was possible to perform difficult acts really well when
> mentally
> *unfocussed* it'd be compulsory to be drunk whilst driving...... So why
> do so many people think that good music comes from the drug-experience?
> Simple, no critical faculties whilst stoned so they think they've been
> good when really they weren't (and it's not only music that this applies
> to
> For most musicians this is where drugs
> and
> alcohol come in. Not only do they mean you can overcome stage fright but
> they
> relax  inhibitions about what is going on musically.

        I'd say that there's a small somewhat blurry line here.  Obviously
any time mind-altering substances enter into the equation there will be a
break down in motor functions.  However, I would be willing to accept that
for some (if, perhaps, not all people) such substances can open avenues of
inspiration that they might not reach straight, even if we limited such
examples to something like a pint of beer providing sufficient relaxation
that the musician was a bit less restrained than they might have been
straight, thereby giving (subjectively speaking) a better performance.
        Obviously, there would have to be a balance between increased
relaxtion/inspiration and falling to the floor unconcious ;)

        Driving is a task which benefits little, to say the least, from
creative input, and the acceptable level of motor control needs to be
much higher.  One wildly stoned guitar player is rarely as dangerous, at
least in the same way, as a wildly stoned driver--and a mildly stoned
driver is definately a much greater danger than a mildly stoned guitar
player, especially considering it is possible that guitarist _might_
perform better mildly stoned (subjectively speaking, of course).

        This is not to say, that mind-altering substances or acts _will_
"improve" creative output, just that for some people this may be possible.
After all, the use of drugs, fasting, etc. has a long history in many
cultures for the reaching of altered states, often for the purposes of
enhancing some creative purpose.

> Personally I think that the best HW has been the stuff you're calling
> *technical* (it's not BTW - compared to really technical music it's about
> as
> simple as you can get). A lot of this stuff, I'm talking post Space
> Ritual really,
> is the earlier stuff played with more control and better production
> values so
> you can hear everything. I do agree that the sequencers etc they use now
> provide the background and this puts the guitars/drums into some kind of
> sympathetic focus, and it works better every year. When they first
> started doing
> this stuff live it was pretty dire at times :-)

        Well, I've always enjoyed the insane excess and mad power of
things like _Space Ritual_ :)  Better production values, at least in
terms of sound, are always good, but _too_ much control is not always.
Which is not to say I don't enjoy the more "careful" HW albums, but
the don't seem as remarkable as some of the early bits which managed to
be both crazed _and_ good.
        On the other hand, I think they hang now close to the balance
point between control and "creative chaos".  Judging by their work since
Huw left they are _capable_ of turning out some truly stunning things,
but to repeat the mantra, I think the need more human element in the mix,
so to speak, to create the kind of gestalt needed for more consistently
fabulous stuff.  In some ways the difference between some of the
incredible live material from the '89 tour and the meandering ambience
on _IITBOTFTBD_ is small, but in other ways there are miles between it.
        Not that I'm slamming meandering ambience--but there are many
good purveyors of meandering ambience, an it seems a shame to waste an
often unique space-rock band like HW on what other's also do so well.

Whew!

Carl