HW: They did what!?!

[Dave Berry]

>         But seriously, I have no problem with floaty ambient stuff.
>         But I simply don't think floaty ambient stuff is what HW is best
> at.  I quite like the combo of spacey synths and blangoid space-rock that
> Hawkwind is _capable_ of producing these days.
>         But I demand chugging guitars and mind-pummeling bass.  I demand
> squalling Brock wah solos.  I demand a band made primarily of live people
> and not sequencers.  From Hawkwind anyway.

Live, I want both.  There has to be a driving rhythm, from whatever
instruments.  It has to have variety (California Brainstorm and Space
Ritual are both excellent at gradually changing riffs).  There also
has to be keyboard work or violin or sax or flute.

If either of these is missing, HW bog down.  The keyboard-only stuff
lacks drive, and the guitar-only stuff is dull and uninspired (especially
if they're playing Coded Languages and Ejection again and again and...).

On disk, I like some of the keyboard-only stuff.  (It's The Biz is good.
But White Zone lacks variety, for me).  The guitar-only stuff I don't like.
So if cries of "Rock, Brock!" produce another California Brainstorm or
Palace Springs, then I'm all for it.  But if it produces another Undisclosed
Files or Chronicles Of The Black Sword, then I'll be disappointed.

On top of that, I like the way that HW adapt to musical innovation
elsewhere.  Having seen Gong play their seventies stuff so well, I
would love to see a one-off Space Ritual reunion tour.  But I would
think it if HW were stuck doing the same old thing over and over
(as they seemed to be in the 80s).

Dave.