All the Aces

[Carl E. Anderson]

> BTW, my friend Janiss reports this time that Lemmy did
> blaspheme - "Hawkwind really went downhill after my departure."
> Could Lemmy be so self-centered?? I'm disappointed, I thought
> Lemmy had more class than that. Sure, this quote doesn't
> exactly indicate that he meant he was the only/major reason,
> but I get that feeling. Sure, his absense was a major factor
> for their change in direction, but there were probably plenty
> of other reasons... (Turner, record label, other line-up
> changes, I'm sure Brock wanted to do something different.)

        Well, it might not be self-centered.  I wouldn't link Lemmy's
departure directly to a perceived decline, but I would agree with him
that HW went downhill after he left.  I mean when its a choice between
Space Ritual, HotMG, and Warrior or ASAM, QS&C, PXR5 .... I'll take the
first, despite there being some excellent and classic tracks on the
latter three.
        I'm one of those who enjoys the CotBS/LC period, so I might
count those as the first post-Lemmy albums that begin to do for me
what the Lemmy-era albums did.  Palace Springs, 14 _years_ after Lemmy
left is the first album that I would unequivocably place among the
hallowed ranks of the Lemmy-era albums (and three of its tracks are
from that era).

        So I would, personally, concur: Hawkwind _did_ go downhill
after Lemmy left.  However I wouldn't attribute this simply to Lemmy's
departure--the man did and does rock utterly, but he was not the
only important ingredient in Hawkwind at the time.  A lot of stuff
contributed to HW's decline post-Lemmy: tensions in the band, the
departure of other key members whose shoes were not filled by performers
of the same caliber ...
        The departure of Lemmy is simply an easy place to point to
on the scale, even for the man himself.

Cheers,
Carl