HW: Breakin' the laws (rules)

[Rudich, Robert A]

Chris, I thank you for your well stated thoughts.  I was referring to the
statements of others that called the post _Space Ritual_ stuff technical and
that they thought it wasn't as good (with Nik and Lemmy fitting less &
less).   I like the post SR era stuff more myself.  It's not complex, but it
does comply more with convention.

WARNING, I GET OFF TOPIC

The easiest thing for me to relate to is martial arts.  To many, a black
belt (1st) is an accomplished person.  There is no doubt that the technical
skills are honed well and that they will be good at forms or sparring.  It
is their ability to execute according to the rules that makes them
accomplished and gives them structure.  But, they are also predictable at
that point.  The raw novice is dangerous for his/her unpredictability as the
early HW is for potential inspirational jamming.  At 1st black a person is
very competent, but to go beyond now requires the ability to regain the
unpredictability of the novice.  Frank Zappa is an excellent example in
music.

The gulf between a 1st black and 2nd black is greater than that between the
raw novice and 1st black.  But the differences become very subtle and it
takes greater knowledge to even recognize them.  At the surface, some might
say that the inspiration is lost and the higher ranks just have greater
mechanical skills that they execute without thinking.  Actually the ability
to no longer have to attend to physical movement frees the mind to do more
strategic thinking and to add personal touches.  I'd imagine the same
applies to music.   Often the more effective and higher level move is
simpler than what somebody with good skill would do and less noticeable.
 Mastery means exerting less effort, not more.

Nik and Lemmy can really exert and do good things.  I just want to point out
that one doesn't have to wail out to the max to be good.   That HW changed
and that these 2 (and Calvert to a lesser degree) no longer fit isn't mean
that the spirit of innovation died.  It takes a while to find and express it
in this new level.

As stated, some amazing bits could pop out of an early HW jam, but it was
hit or miss and couldn't be recaptured at another time.  With refined
skills, this sort of thing can happen more often and the "misses" aren't as
far off.   _Space Ritual_ is a good album, but some of their other early
live stuff is in a far different league.  It seems to me that all the more
recent live stuff (official releases) can be counted on to be at least at
some level and can surprise at the way it exceeds it at times.

Rudy