tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4734632882240245529.post6906316552836246960..comments2024-03-06T07:21:56.792+00:00Comments on Carnival Saloon: SFX, Drugs & RollerskatesNigel Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02785166677784087005noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4734632882240245529.post-52997862932458567882008-09-10T22:55:00.000+01:002008-09-10T22:55:00.000+01:00Thanks for the comments Pete and 'Tessa'. If Hawkw...Thanks for the comments Pete and 'Tessa'. If Hawkwind had a steel player I'd no doubt be a massive fan.<BR/><BR/>I'm still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. This documentary really was my first proper exposure to their music and as I said it didn't really have enough to give me a sufficient overview I'm sure. <BR/><BR/>As you'll see from the note I've just added to the post, it turns out I do have one Hawkwind track already in my collection.Nigel Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02785166677784087005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4734632882240245529.post-59589520625003651552008-09-10T10:25:00.000+01:002008-09-10T10:25:00.000+01:00tessa has pretty much summed up my feelings about ...tessa has pretty much summed up my feelings about (ahem) the hawks. if you want to big up their, er, 'cultural significance' i think you could point them out as an influence on punk (lydon was a fan, and the pistols have been performing 'silver machine' on their recent tours). at their best (on the early albums where the guitar solos are at the pete shelley level) they certainly equal the motorik intensity of neu! whatever, in 1968 they were one of the few bands in the UK whose music displayed not a shred of anything remotely connected to the blues or indeed anything from america . which is one of the reasons i suspect nige might not be too keen on them!Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06573269123690960407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4734632882240245529.post-65565698839807371222008-09-09T15:50:00.000+01:002008-09-09T15:50:00.000+01:00Yes, they were ridiculous, but for some reason the...Yes, they were ridiculous, but for some reason they were wonderful too. Like some bizarre balancing act they trod a line between avant garde and cartoon. The trouble was that they should have split in 1978. Post-Calvert they went all metal, and despite the ridiculous inclusion of Ginger baker in their ranks for one album and a tour they became a parody of themselves. The documentary did play up the sword and sorcery stuff, but Moorcock's input before 74 was more of the Ballardian, new wave of Brit Sci Fi style than the women in bronze bras type. And as for the electronic pioneer tag? Well, they had direct connections to the krautrock axis in the early days (bassist dave Anderson played with Amon Duul) and the wiggier bits of Space Ritual still tweak the synapses nicely. <BR/>Turner was true maverick - his album of recitations of the Book Of The Dead in the Great Pyramid (and produced by Steve Hillage) remains a lost classic (no, really)...and their last gasp with Robert Calvert on Quark Strangeness And Charm and Hawklords albums saw them approaching subject matter as wide ranging as drug taking Australian Outback doctors to the nature of imperialism as encapsulated by NASA's space programme.<BR/>But maybe I protest to much? In the end, they were about as far out as you could get in those far off days. Age has not been too kind, but for those of us...hem hem...old enough...they were the real deal.<BR/>Oh...and Brock's guitar solos were always pretty minimal. It was only in the post 79 days that they started to go on<BR/><BR/>and on...Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830181746733922480noreply@blogger.com