HW: Alan Davey Website Ho Ho Ho

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 30 Sep 2009, at 15:35, Dave Hall wrote:
> Second, the band are currently on blasting form - want to see that  
> transferred to the studio. Hopefully the move away from programmed  
> synths will help.


Down with programmed synths!

Still, I feel comfortable thinking of Alan in many ways as "Most  
Valuable Player" during much of the "trio(+)" period, a period that  
produced a lot of music I liked, despite the programmed synths.  Alan  
came up with good fraction of the cool songs from that period, and  
brought a good vibe to the band's stage presence (at a time when Dave  
was [in]famous for "hiding behind the synths").  When he was out of  
the band, he came up with a pretty good solo album (_Captured  
Rotation_) that was IMO an improvement on the official HW output from  
that same time (_Distant Horizons_!), and Bedouin was a stonking live  
side project (even if its official recorded output never quite lived  
up to my expectations).

Yes, Alan does manifest a somewhat alarming "Lemmy, Jr." vibe -- and  
though I have a Rick basically because Lemmy does, it's true that  
Alan has sometimes taken that sort of thing a bit farther than I  
might have recommended -- and he is doubtless imperfect numerous  
other ways at which we might only begin to guess (but, then, who  
isn't?) .... Still, I can think of people who have occupied the "bass  
chair" in Hawkwind with less satisfying effect.

There seems to be little shortage of bad blood, to some degree or  
another, between former crew-members of spaceship Hawkwind and their  
once-upon-a-time captain, so we can perhaps be unsurprised to sense  
some in Alan ....  And given his long and generally (AFAIK)  
honourable tenure in the band, we might forgive him for trading on  
the association now that he's flying fairly firmly solo.  But, in any  
case, I think Alan has plenty he could do on his own or in new  
projects if he can find the ways and means to do so.  At the end, I  
do not pay attention to Alan's current doings because he was a member  
of Hawkwind -- after all, the highways and byways of Britain are  
fairly littered with former Hawkwind members, many of whom I am  
content to let lie! ;)  Rather I pay attention because I think he was  
a pretty valuable former member who still has some cool stuff to whip  
out of his hat (or from out his sleeve, or whatever!).

Cheers,
Carl

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