Hawkwind next CD

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 08 Feb 2009, at 02:31, John Rennie wrote:
> But since Levitation it's hard to point to any new
> inspiration. Dave Brock seems to have become very interested in
> electronic music (e.g. Church of Hawkwind) but that didn't produce any
> real innovation.

Well, though I know there are those who differ, I think the Chronicle  
of the Black Sword stuff (including the live stage show) was a solid  
effort, and one that came about through the combination of a lot of  
diverse talent.  I have a vague recollection that it started as a Nik- 
Moorcock idea, and although Nik ended up not being involved, besides  
Moorcock and of course Brock, there were significant contributions  
from particularly Huw and also Alan.  Indeed, I think Alan brought a  
relatively fair amount to the table throughout the rest of his tenure  
in HW, though I think it's also true that HW has produced the most  
when there were more song-writers or partners in song-writing, giving  
the band enough material to regularly produce a relatively strong  
album's worth of material every year or so.  However, IMO, it has  
been a fair old while since the band has had a sufficiently stable  
_and_ well-populated lineup to generate enough good material for that  
sort of thing.  (Yeah, we are looking back almost 30 years for that,  
after which it has been occasional bright spots, IMO.)

And, yes, plenty of bands dribble out after their first handful of  
albums -- though, equally, some musicians go on producing solid  
material for years (albeit with occasional mis-steps, but who doesn't  
have those).  I think it's often "operational chaos" -- when bands  
are losing direction at a personal/professional level -- that brings  
about periods of little activity or questionable product.  If the  
writers then get their heads together (or lives in order), they often  
start making quite solid stuff again (whether or not enough people  
then pay attention to get critics murmuring "comeback!" ;)).

Can Hawkwind get their sh!t togetgher?  History would suggest: err,  
no .... ;)  But I suppose they (or Dave, it being his ship) _could_  
if they really had the "political will".  I'm not exactly holding my  
breath, though.

(I was just about holding my breath after hearing that Roadburn gig  
from a few years back, since that sounded pretty strong, like a band  
that had just about decided to do something.  But enough faffing  
about followed that I went on to exhale .... ;))

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
http://www.carlaz.com/