HW: Oh no, it's Nik versus Dave!

[Stephen Swann]

Rudich, Robert A writes:
>
> >But if you look at the lineup and listen to (Nik)(Hawk)Wind
> >play:  they ARE the real Hawkwind in any sense of the word (except legally)
>
> >Martyn
>
> Only in the way that Pete Best is part of the real Beatles line up.    I'm a
> fan of 79 and 85-90 era HW the most, and Nik and the rest of these guys
> didn't play that much of a role.   For me, Huw, Dave, Harvey, Alan, and
> Richard are HW.   The rest were good tries at the right line up.   I'm still
> shocked to have found out HW toured in 91 without Dave.   That's when FoFP
> should have started a riot.  Nikwind is a whole different critter, but I
> haven't heard the sets from this tour.

Well, people have strong feelings about this, both ways.  So, keeping
in mind that these are just my highly subjective observations...

To me, Nikwind just doesn't sound like Hawkwind.  They sound like
Pressurehed.  I never saw them with Helios Creed on guitar, maybe that
would have made the difference.  But their guitar sound is lacking
something, and to me, the guitar is the core of the Hawkwind sound (the
spine of god?).  ;-) The fact that a lot of ex-Hawkwind members are now in
Nikwind lends credibility to the idea that there are "two" legitimate
contenders to the title of Hawkwind - but the fact is that one sounds like
Hawkwind, while the other sounds like Pressurehed with guest musicians.

Steve