Atomhenge Live Chronicles (was Re: HW 40th Anniversary Show)

[Steve Swann]

Further to your point, a great part of my obsession with Hawkwind as a live unit has to do with how their sound can vary unbelievably from one era to another and yet still sound unmistakably Hawkwind.  In my opinion the "unmistakably" bit is the monster slab of Brock guitar that everything else is layered on top of.  So long as you've got Dave and the rythm section creating that core Hawkwind sound**, you can have any talented soloist add the frills on top: violin, synth, electric guitar, flute, saxophone - it all fucking rocks.  Huw just happens to be my favorite of the many and varied "embellishers" of Hawkwind's sound.  :)

** in fact when I saw them as a 3-piece, they basically had -just- that unmistakable core Hawkwind sound.  It was interesting to note that the songs still sounded great when stripped of all frills and embellishments.  It was like it got more at the core rock sound that's underneath the skin of all of their songs...

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Edlund Anderson <cea at CARLAZ.COM>
Date: Thursday, Mar 19, 2009 8:33 am
Subject: Re: Atomhenge Live Chronicles (was Re: HW 40th Anniversary Show)
To: Reply-    BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET

On 19 Mar 2009, at 06:29 , Steve Swann wrote:
 What I'm hoping for is that it will be better mastered than the  
 Griffin release, which always sounded muted/muddy to me.  As a  
 result I always ended up listening to the original despite it bein  
 an incomplete concert record....


Well, I await the report from your critical ear then.  _Live  
Chronicles_ is a mighty album and a HW high point, for all that I  
feel more drawn towards the Palace Springs lineup ....

In fact, I'll happily say that the band turned out more good material  
with the 80s-Huw lineups than with the Brock/Davey/Chadwick/House/ 
Bainbridge lineup (which barely produced part of the semi-live album  
that is Palace Springs).  It's just the ... *vibe* on those bits of  
_Palace Springs_ that attracts me.

And, somehow, HW seems _right_ to me when there is just Brocks guitar  
grinding away on its own -- for all that I can't really imagine  
something like "Shot Down in the Night" without Huw's part.  Strange  
really; when I go and home-record my own space-rock things, I  
invariably end up with at least a couple of guitars scattered around  
it, despite my model being the 1-guitar HW incarnations.  Go figure.   
Well, it's all of a part, I suppose!

Cheers,
Carl

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