re HW 97

[Stuart A Hamilton]

I first saw HW on the Live 79 tour and was distinctly underwhelmed.  But I
worked my way backwards through the Calvert material, which I loved, into
the Lemmy years, which paled into insignificance.  The RCA stuff was a bit
too metal/sc-fi for me, although there were some excellent moments tucked
away.  My reaction to the RCA material has tempered over the years, but the
point I was making was that I wanted every HW album to sound like
"Astounding...", as that was my favourite era.  Any initial disappointment
was usually eroded after repeated listening.  "Chronicle" remains an all
time favourite, and after my initial scepticism, "It Is the Future...",
"DH" and their ilk have found a place in my heart.

However, the so called golden years of "Space Ritual" remain a mystery.
This may be due to a fundemental distaste for live albums, especially those
recorded with 2 cans and a bit of string.  Hence I like "HW97", I don't
like "Text Of Festival" etc.

For me HW started with about half of "HOTMG" (with Psychedelic Warlords an
all time favourite", bits of "Warrior", then hello "Astounding" and "Quark"!

And if I had to pick desert island discs, they would be;
Chronicles..
Astounding..
Quark..
Night Of The Hawks EP (or anything else with "Dragons & Fables" on it.
Space Bandits
It Is The Business..
PXR5

At the bottom would be
Hawkwind
X In Search Of Space
Space Ritual

with only a huge number of dodgy live albums below.

It just reflects the pantheon of music that HW have offered over the years.

Z


Keith H wrote

"Well, just what Hawkwind *do* you like?!?!? :) You've pretty much blown off
over half of their career!  I guess you're a big fan of late 70's Calvert
era (esp. since Zeitgeist = Spirit of the Age), and perhaps Chronicles era
(which I almost never listen to anymore...Sleep of 1000 Tears was the only
good song from that album, and I'm including Moonglum - which everyone seems
to like except me).  And "can't listen to most of the Lemmy era albums"...
Wow!  I think you're going to be alone on that one.  Everyone's entitled to
their own opinion, but I'm not sure where you're coming from.  I mean...I
really like Electric Tepee, and Choose Your Masques, and Warrior is my
favourite album of all time.  It was the period just after Choose Your
Masques that was their low point."

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