HW: The Lemmy Singles (was: is this thing on? or does space really not care?)

[Doug Pearson]

"Robert C. Mayo" <RMayo19761 at AOL.COM> wrote:
>moving on... i,ve noticed that the 'lemmy-era' singles, when listened to
>together as on a comp tape (thanks lb) almost sound like they came from a
>seperate band, a band that fits in really well between motorhead's 'on
>parole' & chiswick 'debut' and the pink fairies. i realize that on a 45
>there's no room to jam, and perhaps (?) airplay was the goal....any thoughts?
>educate me

I'll chime in here belatedly (work's been pretty hellish the last couple of
weeks - that's why *I* haven't been responding to any posts for a while) by
mentioning that I love the tape (C90) I made with all the Lemmy/UA-era
singles A&B sides ("Silver Machine" through "Kings of Speed") on one side
of the cassette, and all the Charisma-era singles ("Kerb Crawler" through
"25 Years", plus "Who's Gonna Win The War" and "Valium Ten" from the
Hawklords' singles on Flicknife) on the other tape side.  I'd say that for
the most part, your description matches both sides of that tape very well
(although I'd say you're describing more of the "Do It"/"City Kids" side of
the Pink Fairies than the "Uncle Harry's Last Freakout"/"When's The Fun
Begin" side of that band).  And now that you mention it, I think that in
some ways, the two sides of the tape sound less different from one another
(Lemmy-era  vs. Calvert-era singles) than the Lemmy side does compared to
Doremi/Warrior or the Calvert side compared to Astounding Sounds/25 Years On.

That tape does a really good job of showing just how much a proto-punk band
Hawkwind were, when you hear all of their
simple-songs-without-extended-jams songs bunched together.  I've made
variations of that tape for friends who were mostly into punk rock and
despised "hippie shit".  Even those who already admitted to liking a couple
Hawkwind songs were surprised at how much they enjoyed the whole tape.

I have no idea how much of the rationale behind keeping the singles short
was due to airplay/commercial hopes and how much was due to the physical
constraints of the format (you CAN fit about 5 minutes on one side of a
45rpm 7", and at least 8 minutes on a 33rpm 7" side) or just an interest in
crafting a good single.  Certainly "Silver Machine" is an excellent example
of how a rough jam could be crafted into a top-notch single (if you've
heard the Glastonbury Fayre version, then "you gotta know what I mean").
There must have been a reason, for instance, why the middle verse of "Back
on the Streets" was not used on the single.

I also made another C90 with the Huw-era singles on one side ("Shot Down In
The Night" through "Needle Gun") and selections from the Davey-era CD
singles on the other ("Right To Decide" through "Love In Space").  One
interesting thing about that tape is the large number of 'remakes' on it
(side A has "Urban Guerilla" live, "Silver Machine" & "Psychedelic
Warlords"; side B has "Quark, Strangeness & Charm" & "Lord of Light" live,
as well as "Death Trap") - and the tape doesn't even include the remixes of
"Spirit of the Age" and "Uncle Sam's On Mars" that were on those singles.

Email me if you want complete track lists for the two C90s (or if I should
just post 'em).  They both make for *great* listening IMO (and as I said
above, a good intro to Hawkwind, too)!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com

ObFaveNewToy: WIARD modular synthesizer (designed by Grant Richter of F/i
and finally available over two years after the first prototype was demoed
at SD97!); with it, I can sound more like Del Dettmar than I ever have with
any other synth, since I don't own an actual VCS3 Synthi.  I've gotten so
close to the sound of "Electronic No.1" aka "Space" (yes, I'm quite certain
that Larry is correct and these are recordings of the same electronics jam
from the two different Space Ritual shows that were recorded) that it's
scary ...