HW: Weirdos in general

[J D]

Hi,
For me, the Weird tapes/CDs have some of the best HW material ever on them.
I just love 'em to death.
At least 4 or 5 of them would fit into by top 20 HW releases.
The live 76/77/78 material is astounding.
As someone correctly pointed out, the Weirdo tapes were the originals of
much of the stuff that has since appeared of numerous compilations, so it's
a bit unfair to level that critisism at them.
It's just unfortunate that these took so long to see the light of day on CD.
Admittedly there's half a dozen songs that you just don't want to buy again
(Douglas, Over The Top, Valium, Sundown, Do It etc (due to repetition (not
quality))), but these are far outweighed by the other material.
I'm no completest, but these are all musts.
These and Atomhenge/Thrilling are easily the best releases for years (it's
just a shame that the music's 25 years old).
Live 73 & 75 material are realistically the only years not represented on HW
releases now.
Has anyone ever compiled a list of live HW releases (songs and sources) in
chronological order?
Jez





----- Original Message -----
From: Douglas Pearson <ceres at SIRIUS.COM>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 1:37 AM
Subject: Re: HW: Weird #6


> On Thu, 22 Mar 2001 19:28:45 EST, Joe Loehr <JLoehr4299 at AOL.COM> wrote:
> >In a message dated 3/22/01 7:14:29 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
> >mel at MVA.U-NET.COM writes:
> >>
> >> Well..........hardly worth a re-press if you ask me.
> >> What a waste of money for a load of stuff that most
> >> of us 'die hards' have heard before!
> >
> >That's kind of what I was thinking. But then, the Weird Tapes came
> >out in the early 80's, right? Back before the "load of stuff" had
> >been compilated to death.
>
> Exactly.  I always assumed that the Weird tapes were the main source for
> much of the Friends&Relations/Anthology/Acid Daze material that came out
in
> the subsequent 5 years or so.  I posted a lengthy list of
> duplications/similarities/differences, at least for volumes 1-5, to the
> list several months ago; check the archives.  I believe that vol.4
> (Hawklords live) is the ONLY volume with no previously-released-exact-
> duplicates on it (but see below...).
>
> >I mean, how many live versions of Master of
> >the Universe does one really need?
>
> Me?  At least one version by each one of my favorite (pre-79) lineups, and
> at least one by each subsequent *major* lineup change (with Huw vs.
without
> Huw, Dave vocals vs. Nik vocals vs. Ron vocals, etc.).  Or take "Silver
> Machine" as an example - there are different versions sung by Bob, Lemmy,
> Dave, Nik AND Ron (did I miss anyone?  Alan, maybe?).  I need 'em all!
>
> >Especially if they're all the same versions!
>
> I'm with you on that (BUT, for instance, I NEED the Weird Tapes version
> of "Spirit of the Age" even though I already have the same version
> on 'Friends & Relations vol.2' because the Weird version includes the
outro
> that flows into "Sonic Attack").
>
> >If it's a special version, say, that DikMik sang lead on, well,
> >alright. But otherwise, I feel that one live version of a song
> >is pretty much the same as another.
>
> No way!  Take "Quark, Strangeness & Charm" and contrast the Weird/Acid
Daze
> live version with the 'Business Trip' live version.  A *completely*
> differently-arranged song.  Or the chugging version of "Urban Guerilla" on
> (sorry!) 'Yuri Gagarin' vs. the over-the-top-punked-out version on Weird
> vol.4 (even though the *arrangement* of the song done a year later
released
> as the "Shot Down In The Night" B-side is virtually the same, the outcome
> is very different because the vocals are Dave instead of Bob, and Huw's
> lead guitar is added).  Or even the differences between the early version
> of "Psychedelic Warlords" on 'The 1999 Party' and the final studio version
> recorded a few months later for HotMG.  One of the great things about
> Hawkwind is that they're *always* willing to re-invent their own songs
down
> the line, and NOT just turn out carbon copies of the studio version.  The
> Astoria version of "Levitation" with its lengthy solos and breakdowns is
> (IMO) a brilliant example.
>
> I'll freely admit that multiple live versions of the same song *from the
> same tour* usually ARE redundant (which prevents Weird vol.4 'Hawklords
> live' from being completely unique, since there are different recordings
of
> some of the same songs on the Dojo/Griffin 'Hawklords live' CD, but then
> again, the "power cut" version of "Death Trap" on that CD is still pretty
> unique!).  But even a short amount of time can make a big difference -
> witness the versions of "Uncle Sam's On Mars" on 'Atomhenge 76'/'Thrilling
> Adventures', Weird vol.5 (or is it 3?) & 'PXR5'; and THOSE lineups are
> essentially the same (except for Rudolph being replaced by Ade Shaw).
>
> Perhaps this philosophy is not for everyone (perhaps its' just the
> Kollektor/Kompleatist in me), but *I* say, "bring on the multiple live
> versions of the same song"!  And while you're at it, how about a double
> CD 'live 77/78' with the entire repertoire of the
> Calvert/Brock/House/Shaw/King lineup?
>
>     -Doug
>      ceres at sirius.com
>