HW: TMTYL

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Tue, Dec 20, 2005 at 10:13:56AM -0800, Keith Henderson typed out:

        <big snip>

> 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).

        I agree with a lot of this. I'm not sure the preview clips really
helped here in a way because by the time the album finally came out behind
them, it all seemed too familiar and nothing was really surprising. Then,
secondly, a lot of things were not what I'd been hoping: I'd assumed `Sun
Ray would be the best thing on it by miles, for example, and was annoyed
to find that the ixing seemed to have robbed it of some of its
potential. This would be the other problem: by the time the album finally
emerged we'd got used to *better* versions of these songs, from the band
playing them live.

        It's taken me a long time to adjust my expectations out of the
opinion and come to a grip with what Hawkwind have actually sold us here,
and now that I've done it I have to admit I'm liking it more and more. It
doesn't fit the usual Hawkwind pattern we've got used to of a few blanga
tracks and a few bits of techno to join them together. Most of the really
good stuff here is actually the kind of crossover territory the Ozrics
were hitting with `Oakum' and so on. For a while the only thing I was
really keen on on the disc was `Out Here We Are', which is the sort of
Davey synth stuff I can never imagine him enjoying but which I very much
do. Since then I've adjusted to `Angela Android', though, and admitted
that if I didn't know it was HW I'd love it, so finally see no reason not
to love it given that it is HW :-) and `Sun Ray' *is* good, even if it's a
shame Arthur's down so low in the mix (and the same could be said for
Dave's guitar on `Angela Android', which sounds as if it *might* be a
break of `Flying Doctor'-style craziness but you just can't hear it
properly. Maybe my stereo isn't as good as they expect of their listeners
:-)

        I think Keith may have the button on it with with the post-rock
thing. This is post-90s HW. They have actually moved on from where they
used to be. But the thing that may have dulled the praise is that they've
done it with bits we knew quite well already. we've heard a lot of the
synth textures and samples being used in various Brock solo things and bit
on _Spacebrock_ over the last fve years, so that now, even though they've
been used a lot more consideredly and placed better on TMTYL we're not
hearing them as new and exciting. We knew the hits already and there's
Star Nation and Davey stuff and Brock stuff that kind of *telegraphs*
everything on the disc but `SUn Ray' so it rather lacks the ability to
surprise. But when I put it on now it tends to get two plays before I can
put something else on. I don't know how long this will last before it
wears on me, but at the moment I'm pretty happy with this album.

        Except `Spirit of the Age' which they should have just left alone,
but you can't have everything can you?

> 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.'

        <snip>

        I didn't think much of `Greenback Massacre' until I got the album,
actually, it might be one of the few tracks that's come out better on the
album than it did when I last saw it live. I understand how it's supposed
to fit together now.

        Live comments I have no responses too, because money and time and
energy just haven't made it possible for me to get to a gig this tour. But
I'm appreciating the information. I wish more people were posting about
BOC like this :-) 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)