HW boring ?...

[Alex S. Garcia]

Chris Bates wrote :

>Listen to early Floyd and you'll clearly see that they are coming from
>the same place as HW. Trippy droney stuff that either recreates or
>enhances the drug experience. Hmmm that's also what house music tries
>to do isn't it :-) This kind of stuff is totally different to the
>intellectual exercises of the prog mega-bands (Genesis, Yes, ELP), it's
>much more visceral.

I have "The piper at the Gates of Dawn" and "A saucerful of secrets" and I'm
pretty sure that they *do* "either recreate or enhance the drug experience"
(but is that an argument, anyway ?), but I never thought of these two albums
as bland. In fact, I rather like them - though I must admit I don't listen
to them as much as later material from the band.

>Untold albums over the last 26 years with a vast range of styles. Bland?
>Maybe. My Mum thinks they're rubbish too, but then at least she can
>explain her reasons, and I'm sure she'd never claim that gentle synth
>pieces sound like balls-out rockers. *all sound alike*. Arse.

Hey, calm down, I never said HW was a bad band or that it was rubbish or
whatever. I only said that I heard just a few songs (and only bits of them,
I'll remind you) and I also said that I *want to like them* I realize that
what I've heard is not enough to place a judgement, and that's why I've been
asking for advice of albums I should listen to. Please read my first post
again if you think I was saying that HW is a bad band.
        As for my saying those songs sounded all alike, please remember that
was my *first impression* and after hearing only parts of a few songs. I'm
not saying that they actually ARE all alike, merely that they SEEMED all
alike. There's quite a difference there.

>> like prog bands (like Kansas, King Crimson, Marillion, Dream Theater, Styx)
>> and all kinds of other stuff : Pink Floyd (I don't really call them prog,
>> though I know some people do, but as you say : it is a nebulously defined
>> area in itself !), Supertramp, U2, The Police, Duran Duran (yes, you read
>> well !), Talk Talk, Toto... and tons of other bands, some more obscure as
>
>Oh, THAT kind of prog-rock. Not symphonic rock, not krautrock, not
>Canterbury, no, bland middle-of-the-road radio fair. Why didn't you
>say so earlier? Now I understand why you don't like HW.

Well, I also like symphonic prog-rock, like Yes or Genesis, for instance.
And as I've said above, I never said anywhere that I didn't like HW. I'm not
familiar enough with the band to be able to take a position. Give me a
break, will ya ?
        And as for your comment, I wouldn't call those bands "bland
middle-of-the-road radio fair". I think you are being a bit harsh there, but
that's probably due to your (uncalled-for) edginess.

>Let's take King Crimson as a starting point; do you like their early
>noisy albums *In the Court...*, *Larks Tongues...* etc or the later
>(blander?) jazz-rock stuff such as *Red*? If it's the avant-guard
>things then you might be able to get into HW - try the first album.
>Otherwise it's probably too different to what you're used to. I wouldn't
>advise spending money on things you're gonna hate. Try borrowing a few
>albums, or get a compilation - somebody on boc-l can surely recommend a
>nice diverse one.

Well, King Crimson... It's not my favorite prog band (that would have to be
Kansas). I actually only own a compilation album from them (called "The
Compact King Crimson"), and my favorite songs on it are "The court of the
Crimson King", "Talk to the wind", "Epitaph", "Matte Kudasai" and such...
Well, the more symphonic tunes, I guess. I also like "21st Century schizoid
man" and "Three of a perfect pair" (those two are fine examples of what
prog-rock all means to me !) a lot. OTOH, I don't like "Thela Hun Ginjeet",
"Elephant Talk" and "Discipline" (which I've found a bit too repepetitive
for my taste).
        Oh, and I once listened to another KC album, borrowed from a friend
of mine, and I really loved it. Especially side B (it was on vinyl). I'll
definitely buy that one one day. I don't remember its title, but I'll
recognize the cover when I see it. Oh, I do remember Jon Anderson sung on
some of the tracks...
        And you also say "too different to what you're used to". Well, first
off, as I've said, I listen to all kinds of stuff, I think I'm eclectic
enough (I also listen to The Damned, Xymox, Alan Parsons Project, Faith No
More or Steely Dan, for instance, which all are very different bands) and,
second, I like hearing new things, so I'm not afraid of stuff which is "too
different to what (I'm) used to" (whatever that's supposed to mean)... I'm
always willing to try anything new (by "new" I mean new to me, of course).

>As I suggested before try Levitation, but that's a
>hard rock album so don't play it too loud. Seriously though, why bother?
>Tastes vary, if you don't like something, you don't like it. C'est la vie.

Why bother, you ask ? Because I like discovering new stuff and that I don't
think I've heard enough of HW to say I don't like it. And the band has
always intrigued me, so I want to look further into their music. So I'll
definitely try one of their albums in the near future. And I'll let you know
what comes out of it.



Alex S. Garcia.

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