HW: Trip Review & Inspirat

[C.E. Anderson]

> I'm not saying that using drugs can't have a beneficial
> effect upon some people. A fine example of this was Jerry Garcia who
> went from being an allegedly quite good bluegrass player to the
> gigantic force he was in the Grateful Dead very quickly and at the
> same time that he began to take large quantities of mescaline and LSD.
> Clearly some sort of switch was turned on inside him and his
> improvisational skills came out. This does not happen to MOST people
> - stoned/drunk people are bores in conversation and bores
> when improvising musically.

        True, though clearly (as easily noted in ol' Jer's case) the
long term effects can be detrimental to one's musical abilities--Jer
ceased to be a real firebrand well before he died.

        However, another example might be Clapton: I like his Cream
and Dominoes material just fine, but once he had gone into the no-drugs,
cut-hair, and no Gibson (well, that's just a personal bias, maybe ;)
phase it was snore city for me.
        I'm sure laying off the drugs improved his life greatly, but
I thought his music went downhill--and that may or may not be coincidental.

        (Apologies to Clapton fans! :)

> > 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
> > so to speak, to create the kind of gestalt needed for more consistently
> > fabulous stuff.
>
> I think MORE musicians on stage would help. Have everything played
> live with no sequencers etc. After all the computerised techno stuff
> seems (to me anyway) to be a sad parody of what the 'Wind, Can etc
> were doing 20 years ago anyway! Why use a computer to sound like
> an anoraked nerd trying to sound like YOU used to? (Does that make
> ANY sense?)

        Yes, that is more or less what I meant and it's opinion
shared my many, though not all :), on this list.  But who's going
to convince _Brock_? ;)
        Rock, Brock! [exhortation]

Cheers,
Carl