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

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 25/07/2005 13:26, Keith Henderson wrote:
> 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.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, but hey -- if I had the chance to tour
around playing _Space Ritual_ songs, I would :)

I've seen Nik in various contexts, with various people, over the past 10
or 12 years, and it's always been variable -- sometimes great, sometimes
not so great.  Depends more on the line-up than on Nik, as you might
expect!  Frankly, I usually think that way about Hawkwind, too ;)  But I
always loved the Grateful Dead, and they too were perfectly capable of
stepping out and sucking royally on any given night even in the periods
where they were at the top of their game :)  That's what makes it fun.

> 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.)

Hawkestra was great fun to be at, probably grim to revisit in recorded
form ;)  That said, I thought Sam Fox singing "Mistress of the Universe"
or whatever it was with Lemmy and Brock lurking around the stage was
fabulously entertaining.  Tasteless and cheezy and sort of stupendously
"Whaaaa?", but (for those same reasons) fabulously entertaining.  And
any record of it should probably be destroyed :)

> 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.

Good point ;)

> 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.

Sloppy as hell!  With all respect to the "classic" lineup, I don't think
Motorhead have ever actually had as good a line-up as they have now.
But, anyway, I'm not convinced that Motorhead has _nothing_ to do with
space rock.  Hawkwind is, after all, basically three-piece boogie rock
with Dr. Who noises and lyrics about spaceships, whereas Motorhead is
three-piece boogie rock at incredible velocity and volume with lyrics
about living fast and hating politicians :)  "Orgasmatron" is as fine a
spaceblanga workout as you could hope for without actual swooshy noises
in it, and the best spacerock bands I've heard play have done so with a
t least a soupçon of Motorhead in their sonic database.

(Y'all are free to disagree -- I really just wanted to use the phrase
"soupçon of Motorhead" in something :)

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
mailto:cea at carlaz.com
http://www.carlaz.com/