HW: Mr Beardy's Quim

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Wed, Mar 13, 2002 at 06:15:13PM -0000, Tony Wilson typed out:
> > On Thu, Jan 17, 2002 at 03:38:15AM -0000, Richard Lockwood typed out:
> > >
> > > After hearing so many good things about Mr Quimby's beard, I've finally
> > > sat down and downloaded some tracks. Hmm.  Splendid.  If I'd never heard
> > > Hawkwind, or Alien Planetscapes, I'd think it was fantastic.
> > >
> > > Maybe I need to get back to smoking those funny big herbal cigarettes
> > > (Something I've not done for many a year now) but to me it sounds like a
> > > bunch of blokes doing a very good Hawkwind impersonation.
> > >
> > > Emperor's new clothes, or have I missed the point?
> >
> >         That was more or less the impression they gave at the Forum gig,
> > but I think there's a shortage of such stuff around so I didn't really
> > mind. The vocal styles are different, I don't think Hawkwind ever had a
> > singer that sounded like that, but I'm yet to be sure whether or not I
> > like it... (And I still haven't got any AP so don't know how that
> > compares) What it lacks, to me, is the edge that HW seem to have got from
> > not really knowing what it was they were doing. So it's as smooth as the
> > later stuff, _Electric Tepee_ onwards, but has a feel more like _Live '79_
> > in terms of togetherness and structure. Not the ideal combination then,
> > but still very good. Depends whether you're searching for something new or
> > you don't mind getting the same trip recycled. I had given up expecting
> > new things of the British side of the genre until I happened on _Return to
> > Earth_ by Starfield which is certainly getting there. (I owe Captain Black
> > a review still... ) Yours,
>
> Not again............
> Is there some kind of competition going on that I've never been told about??
> "Hawkwind VS. Every other band....."
> Can't you accept that spacerock is a genre of music and not something that
> belongs solely to Hawkwind, Richard ???

        I can. I think it currently belongs, if to anyone, to Farflung,
ST37 and possibly to Star Nation though I'm not quite sure yet and a small
portion should be allotted to Starfield for future exploitation. I think
Hawkwind have earned their patch but they're not expanding it (which is a
same because they could, with this line-up they so could--I'm trying not
to expect *anything* of the next album lest I be disappointed, although
you see I'm already expecting a next album so they can disappoint me
anyway if they choose. But anyway).

> I know this will win me no friends but AP !!! come on, they've had a couple
> of ok'ish albums and the rest of their stuff is just self indulgent dribble
> with poorly played synths over the top. And if you're looking for something
> new you'll not find it on the Starfield album (which btw I really like). I
> don't think I've ever heard a band sound as close to HW as they do Jon.

        I put it to you that Starfield have touches of Spacemen 3 and
Tangerine Dream about them which mark them off slightly, and also that
Krel, as I've posted here at length before, sounds a damn sight more like
Hawkwind copyism than they do.

> As for Mr Quimby's Beard, have either of you heard any of their albums ??? I
> can't imagine you have or you'd know that they draw from many other musical
> influences as well as HW.

        No. I've seen half a gig and I have a CD-R of live stuff. This has
not made it necessary for me to get their albums, though they have found
their way onto my list, just not urgently. There's a lot of Amon Duul II
and stoner I think is more likely to change my life, to pick two things
out of the air.

> I'll put my neck on the line and say.... I think Mr Quimby's Beard are
> currently offering more to my favourite genre of music (Spacerock) than any
> other band including Hawkwind (who I've loved for many years), and that
> their album "The Definitive Unsolved Mysteries Of." is the best and most
> complete album I've heard since long before Electric Tepee.

        As a spacerock album, I assume, not any album at all? I'd say mine
was indubitably Farflung's _The Belief Module_. Though their _25,000 Feet
Per Second_ comes in not far behind. Mind you, what little live stuff I've
heard of theirs has not come up to scratch either, so I may be comparing
unfair bases, but if you've heard this album I'd love to know how you
think they compare.

        Omnia Opera's two albums would both follow in there close behind
too.

> When you see them live as at the forum, supporting someone like Hawkwind, it
> is unfair to even try to compare the 2 acts, as, the headliner (HW) will
> have all afternoon to sound check (and rehearse) the opener (MQB) will be
> given (max) 20 mins if any time at all. The headliner is drawing from a
> catalogue of songs which some of us grew up listening to, the opener is
> playing you songs you're hearing for the first time. The headliner has 2
> hours to impress, the opener 40 mins. The headliner is performing to a
> stoned or drunk audience, the opener to people still arriving and sober. The
> headliner has a full light show to add to the atmosphere and draw you in,
> the opener has a couple of spot lights (if they are lucky). The headliner
> has a truck load of  expensive equipment and back ground personnel to ensure
> they sound great, the opener has so little room on stage that they are
> forced to down scale and use the minimum of equipment......I could
> continue.... and they still left a BIG impression on me..

        I was impressed. I was impressed with how the two songs I heard
all of both wrapped in two different songs by other people
(`Lighthouse' and something I forget, and `Free Fall' wrapped inside
`Saucerful of Secrets'). And one of the four numbers I could hear was Pink
Floyd too, so I wasn't even accusing them of total Hawkwind copyism (which
is why I reserve top slot in that field for Krel--but I don't mind that,
because the early 80s Hawkwind line-up, which is what _Ad Astra_ sounds
like, didn't record enough albums.) The CD-R I have of theirs actually
impresses me less, because the singing strikes me much worse, but it
sounds less derivative. I'm not going to argue that they should have made
more or less of a personal impression on either of us because that's a
matter of how our brains are built; but I do as you'll have noticed have a
few differences of opinion with you which might be more empirical. Anyway.
Yours,
       Jon

--
        Jonathan Jarrett                Birkbeck College, London
                 jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
        --------------------------------------------------------
  "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." (Tom Waits)