HW: Top 5/Old masters

[Henderson Keith]

Paul said...

>On the subject of ownership of master tapes I understand that EMI
>have offered a huge amount of money to Dave, principally, for the
>rights to all the Hawkwind back catalogue and all it will need is
>for Dave, Nik and Douglas to sit down and sign the agreement.

Before any great discussion of this ensues...I suppose someone
should ask if this is actually true.  There are those here that
know, certainly.  And anyway, how much is "all"?  The HW back
catalogue is a hefty and complex beast, yeah?

>Does anyone else feel that they appear to have run out of steam,
>energy and, please forgive me on this, ideas??  I have to say
>that I don't want them to quit but I'd like to see an injection
>of....something. They need re-energising. Shoot me down in flames
>if you like but I'd love to hear people's thoughts.

Um....ok, interesting timing.  This sort of opinion has been
occasionally touched on here over the last five years given
the heavy ratio of live & archive releases vs. actual new studio
material.  But you know, there *is* a new album ready to be
released.  Seems to me to be prudent to wait a couple months
and here what the new album has to say about their current
energy level.  I know two of the tracks at least, and so far,
so good.

Stephe (2nd) answered Chriz, with...

>>By the way The Watcher is great on Spaced out in London, I really
>>do think Alan Davey should tackle other Lemmy greats ie Lost Johnny

>Why should Alan bother? He's much better than Lemmy. He's good
>enough to not waste his time on covers.

While not intending to spark an Alan-vs-Lemmy debate (BTW, are you
comparing Alan 2004-to-Lemmy 2004 or Alan 2004-to-Lemmy 1974?), you
should note with some irony that Alan has a second job (or actually
3rd to be accurate) playing in a Motorhead cover band.  Certainly
that's well-reported here.  Why bother indeed?  And anyway, I think
it's pretty clear that Alan in many ways seems to emulate Lemmy, even
so much as to orient his microphone just so.  I'm not going to slag
that shtick (the way the music *sounds* is the critical thing),
but one might argue even that he's essentially a 'cover' bassist,
in the way that "Rock Star" Tim Owens was a 'cover' vocalist for
Rob Halford.  Not me, though.  :)  BTW, FWIW, at Hawkestra, I thought
that Lemmy was able to recreate his old self as well as (or even
better than) all of the others on stage.  Frankly, I was surprised.
Pity the rehearsals weren't enough to keep it all together during
all three hours (and then there was the on-stage sound/monitor problem,
or so it seemed).  But then, until Doug 'gives up' the tapes, I guess
that show will be lost forever.
-----------------------------------------
Agreed on the previous Doremi argument...all the better versions are
on Space Ritual.

So...just to make the statistics more complete...

Warrior on the Edge of Time
Space Ritual
Levitation
Quark, Strangeness, and Charm
Electric Tepee

Yeah, a pretty 'standard' list...sorry to be so boring.
------------------------------------------
On the issue of who owns what....
What's the deal with Snapper and licensing?  I continue to see
heaps of these budget 2CD releases by Snapper (or Recall, or
whatever they call themselves these days).  I assume that they
pay some sort of 'one-time' fee for this stuff (I know so little
about the music business, to be honest), and that they hardly
have any true ownership of this music, eh?  So, that begs the
question, if some *other* label wanted to release material that
is oop (say, 25 Yrs. On, or whatever you like) but is owned by
some other company/label that was reluctant to do it itself for
whatever reason (not worth it financially, for instance), then
why doesn't this happen (more)?  Couldn't it be done as a 'one-off'
re-issue, meaning the other label would only be allowed to issue
it under a single-payment license fee that would expire in a short
time?  (And hence, the actual ownership remain as is?)

Grakkl (FAA)

P.S.  Is it just me, or are others finding it more and more
difficult to distinguish Martha Stewart from David Bowie?

P.P.S.  Thankfully, this list (though being periodically quiet
and lacking a certain impetus for spirited discussion, this past
week being an exception...though again there's that new album
promised!) has avoided any and all (well, almost) recent socio-
political discussions, despite the world becoming an increasingly
strange place.  So, not wanting at all to end this trend (and
make Ben have to exercise his fingers), I'll just say the
following meaningless editorial remark....for me, what sums up
the nature of the world today, is that if I decide to turn on
the TV to CNN at 10 PM (I think it is) local time (CET) on a
weekday, I see the same thing.  The ceremonial closing of the
Wall Street stock market...a crowd of 20 or so fancy-dressed
pencil-pushers standing around some 'VIP' or minor celebrity,
smiling and clapping vigorously while this 'chosen one' does the
honor (?) of pressing and holding down a button that rings the
stupid bell.  wow...what drama.  *This* is a photo-op that warrants
live coverage around the globe on a daily basis?  Well, at least I
don't have to look at that weird cube-headed dude anymore, since
they dumped his ass out of the business for some strange reason.

P.P.P.S.  All my PS remarks themselves are as inane as that which
I rail about...so please feel free to ignore my peculiarities.  I
know you do anyway.  I really should get out more.  :)

P.P.P.P.S.  The words "Helios Creed" of "Chrome" were spoken on CNN
International (their special music program) last night...I'm shocked.
Some HORRID band that named themselves after one of his tracks.  They
sounded like 1983 New Wave rubbish.  *Why* were they Chrome fans??