HW: Voiceprint, and How do you like your Hawkwind sir?

[Jon Jarrett]

On Wed, 21 Aug 2002, Doug Pearson wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Aug 2002 18:06:25 +0100, Jon Jarrett
> <jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK> wrote:
> [re: Bat Chain Puller]
>
> Doesn't sound too different from the kinds of differences-of-opinions we
> have here.  Some people are overly-incredulous, and others overly-cynical
> (and some manage to combine both at once!).  Tell you what, if you do pick
> up the OzIT 'Bat Chain Puller', and are annoyed at the tape hiss (or other
> sound issues), I'll gladly burn a copy of the boot for you. :^)

        Might take you up on that sir. I certainly want hold of it one way
or another. I wonder if the Captain is actually getting anything,
considering how he's said he doesn't want it released before now...

> [re: Yule Ritual]
> >        Yes, I remember talking to Alan about that when Bedouin played
> >Cambridge, and there was some reason they couldn't use that tape; I'm not
> >sure it had everything on. But on the other hand that was while they were
> >still talking about it so I don't know whether that was eventually the
> >case or not.
>
> But was the overly-processed bass sound printed to the tape they *did* have
> to use?  (Where the heck did that tape come from, in that case?)  It's not
> *that* difficult (especially for a pro like Alan) to re-record the entire
> bass part for a live album, if necessary (just ask Phil Lynott or Gene
> Simmons [probably Gene Simmons' bass tech, actually]).  Oh well, it comes
> down to the fact that one of these days I need to obtain an audience tape
> of the gig, after which I'll probably never listen to 'Yule Ritual' again.

        I got more information on this; they did use the tape after all,
it seems, and most of what we hear is EQing and compression. A second tape
was used for `Damage of Life' which cut out on the first one. I suspect
that re-recording would have cost someone too much money...

> >> The recent 'Nottingham 90' release is quite excellent...
> >
> >        I'll get it at some point. Hard to be too fussed when _Palace
> >Springs_ exists.
>
> Ah, but Simon House is only on two tracks of 'Palace Springs', while he's
> on almost an entire CD of 'Nottingham 90'.  (Also, you get Bridget on N90,
> but that isn't nearly as big a deal to me ... and probably a minus to some
> [but not me!].)

        I like Bridget, mostly, though not really as music... I'll get it
at some point. It's not an era from which I lack Hawkwind, is the thing.

> >        Well, we have a kind of middle ground here, where Voiceprint
> >haven't signed HW as far as we know (they don't do that sort of thing
> >anyway, do they?) but are e. g. doing promotion and merchandising for
> >them. They're quite at liberty to consider HW a cash cow of course but it
> >smarts that the band are happy to do this too. Can't say I blame them
> >given the cash involved, so I have to blame Voiceprint, simple :-)
>
> Fair enough, but it looks to me like all parties involved are out to make a
> quick buck (which I have no problem with, but it does make me want to
> assign the "blame" more equally).

        Yeah, I suspect I'm with you there, although it's hard to be sure
where it leaves the fans who want to do the Right Thing...

> >        Andy Gilham reckoned, some time before his site was pulled, that
> >around the time of _Epoch Eclipse_ there might have been an EMI deal for
> >HW had they not then flooded EMI's potential market with substandard
> >product priced below HMV's.
>
> This would certainly be nothing new for Hawkwind, since, allegedly, the
> reason why they haven't had a major label deal in two decades is because of
> all the stuff that was released through Flicknife while they were signed to
> RCA.

        Ah, I'd missed that part of the mythos. Can entirely believe it
too. I wonder if people made the same recycling arguements over the
Flickknife machine as we are having over Voiceprint?

> By now, I wouldn't think that they quite have the commercial potential to
> attract much interest from the majors (as is the case with most of my
> favorite bands).  Probably the only way it would happen would be if a
> certain ex-manager rammed them down the throat of a major because said
> major wanted to get its hands on a hot band currently managed by said ex-
> manager (pay careful attention to the copyright/performance right
> information on the two "new" tracks on that recent EMI 'Masters of Rock'
> CD).

        I did notice that, but I hadn't made the link... You may well be
right, though I think Andy is also right to suggest that there were future
plans at the time of _EpochEclipse_ which never came to be involved as
well and those tracks might date from that episode.

> Exactly.  I'm sure they were both pulled for the same reason ... and too
> bad, since they'd both be great additions to the catalog.  Interesting that
> Voiceprint has no trouble reissuing Man's segment of the GTP album (and the
> bulk of their UA catalog) ... I guess that shows that Hawkwind still DO
> have enough commercial potential to interest a major label in maintaining
> their back catalog, which puts them ahead of Man in that respect (or maybe
> there are completely unrelated reasons for this).

        Well, I think it's not quite the same in that EMI actually have
two of the relevant tracks out, on the _Space Ritual_ remaster, so that
just licensing stuff they don't want to put out themselves as with the Man
catalogue isn't quite the situation here. It takes the bonus out of _Space
Ritual_'s bonus tracks...

> >> (the first 3 Pink Floyd singles on one CD ...
> >
> >        That is very cool, I got it when it came out a few years back. But
> >they still haven't done the *next* three singles (with `Scream thy Last
> >Scream and `Vegetable Man' as bonus tracks obviously :-) ) and I wish they
> >would. It's an obvious massive seller so why not?
>
> At least those two tracks, yes!  (I don't really miss not having a copy
> of "It Would Be So Nice", and the 'Ummagumma' version of "Careful With That
> Axe Eugene" is vastly superior IMHO.)  From what I've heard, neither
> Gilmour nor Waters will consent to the release of "Scream"
> and "Vegetable".  Oh well, I've got 'em on bootleg, and Gilmour/Waters
> certainly don't need MY money.

        `Careful with that Axe' is on _Relics_ anyway (and yes I
agree). But `Point Me At the Sky' and `It Would Be So Nice' have never
come out, and there's nothing wrong with `Let There Be More Light' coming
out again in my book.

> [re: Text of Festival]
> As I mentioned in the other message, it appears that "Hurry On Sundown" is
> the only cut from 1970, and the bassist is, indeed, Crimble.

        <snip>

> And again, as I mentioned, Maida Vale BBC sessions are "semi-" studio
> recordings, so it would be expected for a lead vocal to have been
> overdubbed.

        Thanks for that, I hadn't realised they were sessions recordings
there. Good lord, the quality should be better than that then :-)

> It definitely would have been better for the investment to have been made
> in sonic cleanup (although we both know perfectly well that no amount of
> cash can improve an already-recorded performance), rather than pretty album
> art ...

        Somehow I don't think Dave Anderson really takes his role as
custodian of this bit of the Hawkwind legacy too seriously... Yours,
                                                                      Jon

--
"I recognise that I have transgressed many of the precepts of the divine
law, and that I am subjected by various vices and iniquities, disobedient
to the words of the divine mystery brought unto me and a worshipper of the
delights of this military age." Marquis Borrell of Barcelona, 955 A.D.

             (Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College London)