NIK: HW: Sorry folks, my fault...

[Keith Henderson]

Well, then...I guess I'm the one to blame for bringing old tired debates.

Sorry...I really wasn't meaning to, honest.  I don't think I made any comparisons between Space Ritual and Hawkwind 2005 in my posts, other than in relation to the artistry of the dancers, which was in part just to compliment the two HW dancers after seeing them again at Loreley.  I was really just trying to evaluate Space Ritual on their own terms, in comparison to what they themselves are doing...trying to be some sort of reborn 1972-74 era Hawkwind with 1969-71 era musicians, and pointing out how little sense that makes.

Well, at least the list is a little more active than it's been in recent weeks, from what I can tell.

A few specific points...

Maxine...I think you're right...I'd totally forgotten this weird thing called 'skiffle' since it is from before my time (which starts around 1967...I don't know anything about music from before then, since none of it appeals to me) and also (largely?) English.  But now I think maybe that's what it is, of sorts.  Sorry also to mention Status Quo (even with the disclaimer attached)...I don't know any of their songs (would I know any of them, and not realize it?).  I think I accidentally saw them onstage at Sweden Rock two months ago for about 90 seconds, but I escaped unharmed somehow.  I don't even remember what stage they were playing on.

So, yeah, I guess maybe it's 'jazz skiffle' masquerading as 'space rock,' but whatever it is, it doesn't work worth a damn, IMHO.

And to Stephe, I'd say it does matter (and I truly won't go to any more Space Ritual shows, you can be certain of that) in part because he's (presumably) trying to earn a living doing this.  I mean, yeah, if he were playing everywhere for free, then, not such a big deal.  But I'm guessing that's not the case...and so it's a commercial enterprise, and it seems more likely than not that by calling his band Space Ritual, playing the songs from that album (and Cap'n Lockheed, since Calvert can't complain about it, presumably), and hiring anybody he can find who was ever in Hawkwind at one point irregardless of 'fit,' was all designed to maximize his attraction to potential punters.  I mean, why else does Space Ritual exist?  I think they played two tracks I didn't know, so perhaps they are writing a new song now and again, I dunno.  But they aren't playing the music that Hawkwind played in 1969-70, that's for sure...and why not?  The biography you forwarded, eg., talks about those
 days...Space Ritual doesn't *play* the soundtrack to those days, does it?  Therefore, it makes no sense.  And more importantly (to my ears), it manages to make my very favorite songs (ie., Space Ritual era HW) almost completely unattractive.  (Now, if he started over with Tommy & Len, and somebody like Steve Taylor on bass..then, after a while, I'm come back to support him.)

To Iain....blasphemy....Wolf City is one of the very best albums ever made.  :)  (And Dave Anderson didn't play on it.)  "Like the wind at the end of the street" is the one you liked. (?)

To whoever brought up Lemmy & Hawkestra...Hawkestra wasn't as good as predicted because, a. there was little rehearsal, b. the sound was crap in the hall and the monitors were very obviously not working right, c. Huw was awful, and d. it was too long and had no continuity.  But Lemmy, who I doubted beforehand could pull it off convincingly, did (in my mind at least) play his old role without showing much of any effect of 25 years of Motorhead-making.  He could/can still blanga convincingly.  Sad that it wasn't yet better, but there were moments worth being there for.  And I'm actually glad that nobody has ever been able the get the tapes from Doug S. because we can all pretend that it was brilliant without having to watch the evidence that it was far from it.  (If they made a 60-minute highlight DVD, that would be worth having. The other two-thirds of rubbish should be hidden away forever.  Including Ms. Fox.)

And anyway, Motorhead is a great band, and Lemmy is truly God.  :)  Actually, Motorhead's musical legacy would be a lot better if Lemmy didn't crank out so many albums, and therefore refuse to throw out not-up-to-snuff tracks that effectively dilute his albums.  If he only released half as many albums over the last 30 years, with only the best tracks from successive pairs on each, then he'd have made a load of great albums.  But anyway, Motorhead has nothing to do with Space Rock, so there's no crime in not liking it.  I didn't for quite some time, just because back then (when I was 16), I didn't like sloppy music, and Phil Taylor (for instance) was a sloppy drummer.

I don't know anything about Gmail, or whatever that whole discussion was about.  I don't have a home (let alone my own computer), and therefore no hardwired ISP connection, so I doubt any of that relates to my current situation.  I really just wanted to know if there was a way to have Yahoo mail preserve 'soft' returns in a message, or whether I needed to put in 'hard' returns in each paragraph (though that would cause problems, because the line lengths would almost certainly be different for different people, and then there's be one- or two-word stems between each line of text, which is also terrible to try to read).

Denis...I was in Gemünden am Main at the time, last Tuesday and Wednesday when those planes went overhead.  I don't know how to recognize various military planes, unless one of them was a F-104G, and because none of them crashed, I can be assured that was not the case.  :)

Nobody going to Off the Tracks?  How big is this thing, and what is the setting?  (Under a tent, in a field, on the speedway, etc.?)

Grakkl (FAA), in Hanau am Main (near Frankfurt)

P.S.  Fantasyy Factoryy is playing a special show here on Saturday at the old palace in conjunction with some art exhibition, so I guess I'll hang around for that and skip Finkenbach Festival, since I've already seen Kraan and Guru Guru a couple times recently.

P.P.S.  I didn't like Blows Against the Empire either.  What's the big deal about this album?

P.P.P.S.  But the worst ever 'recommended for space/prog types' album has to be that White Noise thing...that was unlistenable.

P.P.P.P.S.  I'm sad that VDGG sold out in Amsterdam before I was able to figure out a way to get a ticket.  I was seriously thinking of going, esp. since I like some of the reunion tracks a lot (Every Bloody Emperor, Nutter Alert).  Did anyone go?  Report?

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