HW:Recent v Old/Poll

[Doug Pearson]

On Tue, 14 Dec 1999 14:54:11 +0000, Jonathan Jarrett
<jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK> wrote:
>        I have problems with ASAM, and they principally lie in the fact
>that I just find the sound too slick and shallow. When the songs have been
>played with other line-ups, e.g. the CB version of `Reefer Madness', and
>the version of `Steppenwolf' on the '97 tour, they've shone.

Yeah!  Both *great*!

>Only the
>proggy keyboard ones belong in the sound of that album, and I do like
>`Aubergine' and that `Kadu Flyer' is my favourite. But with the songs
>with riffs, I just listen to their music-box sound levels with
>heart-sinking disappointment each time. Though I'm generally singing along
>by halfway through `Steppenwolf'.

That's a very good point I hadn't thought of.  I was thinking primarily of
the songs themselves (and the musicians' performances), but it's moreso the
PRODUCTION that really makes ASAM stand out in a weird way relative to
previous (and many subsequent) HW albums.  In some ways it was the "best"
(as in cleanest and most commercial) production on a HW record to date, but
clean and commercial production just isn't right for them (at least not at
the time ... I think that kind of production works OK on Levitation, but
not ASAM).

>        And Doug, you're entitled to your view of course, but Steve
>Swindells? The man responsible for the *inspired* keyboard parts on
>`Valium 10' and `British Tribal Music'? This must surely be some new use
>of the word "talent" of which I was not previously aware...

I don't think it's really fair to assess someone's talent based on what
were outtakes (there's a reason why that stuff wasn't released at the
time!).  I was thinking more of Swindell's performance on 'Hawklords/25
Years On' (very nicely arranged/orchestrated which made him an acceptable
replacement for Simon House even if he's no Simon) and the Hawklords live
album (great energy and jamming!).  And I think the keyboard playing on
"Valium Ten" is as good as anything Harvey played with the band (and even
the keyboard playing on "British Tribal Music" is still better than
anything Keith Hale did with the band, but that's not saying much).  But
it's tough to judge someone who was in the band for only one studio album ...

>        Is there anything legit. by HW with Fred Reeves on it, anyway?

Not that I'm aware of, although I should check the recording dates for some
of the later Anthology/Acid Daze tracks.  But definitely no studio recordings.

>QEH doesn't exactly leave me jaw-dropped.

Me neither (although I love the songs and Bob's performance), but it's an
intentionally minimal performance (Calvert was always telling the band to
turn down) playing along with a drum machine, which is one of the surest
ways I know of to stifle a musician's creativity; you can't jam out when
you already know exactly how many measures are supposed to be in the song!

I recently heard a recording of the Maximum Effect's (Steve Pond, Fred &
Mick Stupp post-ICU, pre-Krankschaft/Calvert) last show that is incredible.
 The band's playing at breakneck speed, so Fred winds up sounding like
Jerry Lee Lewis playing Simon House's keyboard parts while jacked up on
speed.  He's playing lead keyboard (Steve plays mostly rhythm guitar parts)
AND singing most of the lead vocals.  I wish I could do all that at once.

>I'll rank Tim Blake close behind
>Simon and Harvey not long after till someone convinces me otherwise.

Tim's a great *synth* player (possibly even better than Del Dettmar,
although that's a tough call), but not an exceptional keyboardist IMO.  But
purely as *keyboard* players, I'd put Steve, Harvey, Fred & Tim all at the
same "order of magnitude" below Simon ...

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com