HW: TMTYL lyrics...Recent gigs

[Keith Henderson]

Hi Folks...

  Now that I have some extra cheap internet time here in London, I can safely type in these lyrics without wasting a whole lot of dough.

  Many of the lyrics from TMTYL are included in the booklet, but not all.  I've tried to transcribe as best as I could the lyrics to a few more tracks and I'll include them here and see what you all think, and hopefully you can fill in one or two of the blanks.  I still haven't tried Sunray, which maybe isn't too hard, though I agree with the woman doing the DVD interview that Arthur ended up too low in the mix.  Luckily, his voice has such a strong character to it that it still come through fairly well despite the levels.

  So here it goes...

  Digital Nation (Chadwick)

I'm the major player in this wicked (god?) sin
  Late at night I type the crack and the program(me) let's me in
  I've met so many friends they're on this groovy secret level
  where it's fl(own?) artificial intelligence...heaven

  Go in there for days, man, there's always something new
  I control so many destinies, I know just what to do
  My harddrive is acquainted to the (intimated?) view
  All the sentient lifeforms in the journey are ??????

  You start off with a map that shows the layout of the land
  Zoom in with a microscope to where the city stands
  Click upon the street plan and suddenly you're there
  Sh????? off collector's items, you've got creds to spare

  So I'm online in the tavern, as the evening drifts away
  I know everybody in there and what they're going to say
  So it comes as a surprise to me when she walks through the door
  Sits down at my table, lays a gun on the floor

  She asks me if I'll join her in her quest to save the world
  Restore the planet's harmony and maybe win the girl
  Crack the alien lizard man, who rules with iron hand
  Storm in their headquarters for a hero's last stand

  She hits me with her green-eyed pixelated piercing stare
  I saw whirling pools of history, fractal patterns there
  Endless possibilities of irony (?) equations
  Living here forever with the digital nation

        Repeat last two lines then...
  I'll stay here forever with the digital nation

  Take Me To Your Leader (Brock, Chadwick)

  Brock:
  Witness the electromagnetic chaos to totality
  As it reveals the semi-conscient (?) particles and ??????? in view (?)
  Observe...long weekends are past the stakes (or...pass the steaks?) :)
  Learn experiment with various forms and curious (1st time) convolutions (2nd time) combinations
  Perform an abstract act with an objective object
  And therby convey an abstract message in which there is no meaning

  Chadwick:
  We always move to the invisible beat
  A reality (abandoned?) at everybody's feet
  We're all (a)musing (?) the centers, chasing the bass
  As constant as the constellations wheeling in space

  Out in the forest wolves howl at the moon
  (for/from?) audio sound to which we all can attune
  Turtles lay their eggs, it's a cycling legacy (?)
  As the tides keep turning...endlessly

  Whirling and rolling like stones in the mountains
  Forests are blazing, blasted by lightning
  The smoke drifts away as the flames die down
  And already seeds force their way in through the ground

  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  There are also a few lyrics in Sighs, which are quite difficult to make out...the first two lines are barely audible behind the music...

  Sighs

  ??????????????????????????????????? (drowned out completely)
  ????????????????????????? our eyes (?)
  ??????????? at work on the street
  We must accept them to survive
  Machines are taking over our land, the sea, and the air
  We are controlled by (all the/other?) machines
  Technoland is everywhere

  OK, there you go...I don't know who's updating the lyric file, but if we can all agree how to fill these in, and if somebody can type in the other ones from the booklet (I swear (I may be crazy, but...) that there's a final stanza to Angela Android that Richard is singing live, but is not on the album and therefore missing from the lyrics...can somebody check the live version from either the single or the Astoria CD?) then we can add these to the lyric file.  Haven't had to do much on this front lately, but we shouldn't let it slack now with finally a new studio album to enter in.

  There has been hardly any discussion of the new album here on boc-l, probably for the same reason that I have been rather ho-hum about it...which is...None of the songs are new (to those of us who have seen them live over a dozen times in the last two years, at least...which means that we should have heard something from the US contingent who haven't been lucky enough to have been there at the shows).  Well, the title track TMTYL is one that I haven't heard live, so that one is new at least.  And it's quite an interesting piece, perhaps one that wouldn't work live so well.  If I remember the track well enough, it has a kind of post-rock character to it that I wouldn't have expected to hear from HW.  It gives the album some more variety to it, along with the techno-ish bits, the (oft-quoted, almost ad nauseum, during the interviews) Jason-jazz piano influence (what do you think of that, DougP.?), and the two heavy tracks (GM and TLaM).

  GM is starting to finally grow on me a bit, and it's OK still being in the set now...it's really only very tiny bit of the song that I don't like (the sound of Alan's voice on the words at the end of each line of chorus...Rooo-ound, En-er-gee-eeeee, etc.) that spoil it for me...otherwise, it's a good tune, and the Classic Rock reviewer was right about it having 'balls.'  Out Here We Are is fine on the album, and is acceptable in the new live set, but only because it's A. something from the new album, and B. adds some spacey synth bits to give the show the proper dynamics.  Though it's too long and I don't like the fake trumpet keyboard bit (the lone criticism of Jason's playing that I have), especially since it's really loud for some reason on this tour.

  The set overall is really very very strong, and is full of classic tracks that I wouldn't have ever believed we would be hearing them play if you'd asked me a year or two ago.  Psi Power is really great, heavy guitar and energy throughout, though it starts off very lazily and understated, so it doesn't kick in until the start of the first chorus...then it rocks the rest of the way and the crowd really gets into it.  7 x 7 is better than it was at the Donnington Off the Tracks festival, when Richard did the spoken word bits.  Now Dibs is doing them, and he still isn't quite spot on, but I like it better...Richard's voice isn't just quite right for that part.  However, his voice is great, esp. on Digital Nation (which sadly we're not hearing right now), but also in harmony with Dave on Paradox, which continues to get better each time we hear it.

  Lord of Light was the one I voted for all throught Dave Law's contest, 'cause I'd never heard it live apart from Hawkestra (I think), and one time in St. Catherines Ontario when they did it during the soundcheck on the tour with Ron ('95) IIRC.  And it is really excellent, and here Dibsy is doing the vocals brilliantly...didn't realize he could sing so well in a lyrical style.  The Upside Down bridge in the middle of Brainstorm is working just fine for me, though Dibsy isn't coming through quite as well here.  I think they're doing it kinda fast (I'm sure it's slower on Space Ritual) and he's gotta keep up somehow.  And it only goes on two minutes or so, so it's not really an entire track worth of material.  But nice to hear regardless...kinda like Where are we now?  A taste of something obscure but not entirely forgotten for a change.

  The new dancers (including the fairy girl from Hawkfest 2003 and Off the Tracks), along with another girl and a guy, are not quite as artistic and creative as the previous two dancers, but I give these three some credit for trying to come up with some routines and such.  It was obvious to me at the previous events that they were just doing it as amateurs to have some fun and contribute to the show, and so they obviously felt the need to work up to something more for this minitour, and I'm glad that band got somebody to add to the visuals at least.  Their Angela Android routine is OK, but as a group they're a little too 'organick' looking than the previous ones*, who did the android-like routines *really* expertly (whether for AA or SotA), as if they really lacked an emotion chip.  The new crew are straight from the hippy festival mode and it's a stretch for them to be emotionless automatons.  Still, at times, their colorful outfits in connection with the lighting (esp. the green
 lasers backshot from the stage over the audience) were visually effective.

  *I would use their real names here, but I don't know them...I was a little disappointed that they were not credited in the liner notes to TMTYL, since I thought that they made such a great contribution to all the shows of late 2003-summer 2005.  (I don't know the names of the new dancers either, though the one fairy girl appears in a photo on the original release of the Hawkfest CD - back cover I think...I see there's a new version out with different cover...are the tracks the same?  AndyG?)

  The new lightshow routines are really excellent though...Neil and Marie have programmed some brand new things and can trigger/manipulate them much more effectively than before, keeping them in synch with the music. I was impressed with the Psi Power routine, since they only had a few days to work it out (they had to wait for the contest to near conclusion to know what was going to be in the set).  And the amazingly brilliant colored patterns during the intro piece (The Right Stuff) were really excellent, particularly at Birkenhead, which had a deep, narrow stage and high ceiling which allowed the projections to really appear extra bright.

  The Birkenhead gig was about perfect, cause the hall was a nice size, holding maybe about 800 or so max, with a crowd of something like 650 or so.  Which was just enough to make a good atmosphere in the crowd, yet allow for one to easily get to and from the restrooms and bar during the show without having to stuggle to regain a good place.  The PA was a bit small, and the hall slighly echo-y because of its barn-like shape, but since you could easily get to the front near the speakers, it was loud enough and punchy enough for me there.  The Manchester club was quite similar in size and dimension...slightly larger, with a much bigger PA, so it was definitely loud enough everywhere inside.  The place maybe held 1000 comfortably, and it was very nearly packed full, maybe 900, so it took some creativity to get in and out during the set.  (Sneaking across the back over to the left side was the trick!  Getting forward from there was ten times easier.)  The crowd at both took some time to
 really get into the gigs, but from SotA onwards, the set really cooks and the people are into it 100%.

  Lots of energy from Dave and Alan, plenty of guitar work, including lots of soloing from Dave (up front in view), so those old arguments here about not enough Dave can be forgotten now...I think we could've used a little more Richard this time (Digital Nation for instance) and (gasp!) perhaps just a very slight little bit less of Dave. :)  For trivia buffs...he's using his Warrior-painted guitar as backup to his other multi-coloured custom job (the usual) on this tour, and at Manchester, he broke a string or something near the end, and ended up playing two songs (or Brainstorm/Upside Down at least) with the Warrior guitar...first time I've actually seen that guitar I think.  ?

  Dumpy was guesting on Brainstorm at Birkenhead as usual, but never seemed to get his guitar and amp plugged in right, and I don't even think I could hear him most of the time.  Then at Manchester, he'd already done his solo act as warm-up, and for whatever reason (perhaps related to the equipment problems from the previous night, I dunno?) he didn't come out to guest at all I don't think.

  Well, I'm here in London awaiting the final show tomorrow, having skipped out on the Dudley one tonight since two shows in a row often burns me out too much.  See you all at the Angel tomorrow!  61 St. Giles High just east of the Astoria about a block or two.

  Grakkl

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