spacebrock comments

[Jon Jarrett]

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, Michael W Blackman wrote:

> I would like to hope that Dave & the boys  have  some more creative spark
> left to spare
> and that when it happens it will be glorious.
>
> Look at their acchievements - (I know I don't have to say it) - but such a
> brilliant collection of utterly mind blowing music for all these years and
> still going.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: SHLL (Scott Heller) <shll at NOVONORDISK.COM>
> To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 6:13 PM
> Subject: spacebrock comments
>
> > I just recently got the Spacebrock CD and was very disappointed. I think
> > whoever made the decision to call it a Hawkwind CD was misleading a lot of
> > people. It is clearly a Dave Brock solo venture, as I beleive only one
> track
> > (Spacebrock) actually has any real band playing. For sure the worst thing
> > Dave has ever put out. I enjoy a few tracks but it really has the feel
> that
> > someone (I woudl guess Dave) went around and just picked up whatever
> tracks
> > were laying around and slapped them together. There is no cohesiviness in
> > the project and it mostly just sound pieces with samples and some vocals,
> > but not really all the interesting.. I really liked all the other Brock
> solo
> > lps but this just does not do it for me.
> >
> > I really see the end of Hawkwind...... now......sure they will play some
> > great gigs but the last real HW cd was in 1994 with ALien 4....Distant
> > Horizons was just several disjointed musical pieces slung together for the
> > masses... Don't you think..

        I think it's this "Dave and the boys" concept which is the key. If
that were the case I'm sure everything would be fine; a band like that
couldn't fail to produce something worthwhile just by jamming every other
weekend, I'd have thought, especially if Simon or Harvey were involved,
neither prolific songwriters but on the nail with what they
contribute. But from what little we hear, the band's not much in contact
off the tour circuit, is it; Jerry appears to be trying to make a go of it
in Paradogs, Alan's busy non-stop with Bedouin and his solo stuff, I mean
sure he writes loads but it's all going on his albums, Ron's got at least
two projects on the go, lives in Birmingham and has problems of his
own. Studio time didn't ought to be a problem considering they've one in
Dave's farmhouse, the whole of _Electric Tepee_ was recorded on it I
believe, but if no-one's ever using it... Richard and Jerry are the only
members of the band near it normally, assuming Alan's on tour as he so
often is (and in any case Mission Control still appears to consider Ron
the default bass-player), so it's down to them and most importantly Dave
to come up with whatever's to be come up with, unless someone is willing
to stump up quite a lot of travel money... And this is why we have
_Spacebrock_, basically, I think.

        Now, this said, there is actually nearly enough written for a new
album, I think, isn't there? We have a new version of `Spacebrock' itself,
`Anna Seed' remains unrecorded, there's the new `Owl and the Pussycat'
thing, the new `Earth Calling' could be stretched into a top-class
number; if Dave, Alan, Ron and Jerry (and, come to that, Keith whom I
shouldn't have forgotten until now though I've no idea how easily he
could get to Devon every other weekend... ) each chipped in one song and
filled up the rest with the synth'n'sequencer padding that occasionally we
love, there's an album and quite possibly not a bad one. But I don't think
that The Band as it currently exists can really do the whole studio thing,
so we have to rely on a sum of a few of the parts, or just be glad that at
least they're touring again, no? Yours,
                                        Jon

ObTapeofLP: ST37 - _Invisible College_
--
       Jon Jarrett (01223 514989)     jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
   =====================================================================
  "There is a certain pleasure in being mad, which none but madmen know"