You Are in Orbit! Space-Rock Appreciation Thread!

Hi, 

I'm not sure that me making suggestions would help ... in many cases, I would imagine that the context with which these things are presented is the most important issue of all ... though I would not exactly like to redo what Guy Guden did one time in his show on the early days ... he played IO and then Astronome Domine and a couple of other pieces, all kinda over each others in seque and all of a sudden you are hearing the American Anthem ... and all you could think if ... this is my inspiration, and it could be thought of as space rock, but in the end, it is rock music is my source and anthem.

Likewise, Guru Guru could have been added with Ax Gernrich stuff in their early days going absolutely bananas on stage and giving it titles to the pieces that suggested space ... but were the best JH ever done on a stage ... no one could create such images on an electric guitar at the time, though it is said that there were a couple of folks in Germany that were doing solo guitar stuff alone on stage with the same ideas and thoughts though I find these more exploratory than I do meaningful as anything, regardless of what we think. AND, later, Guru Guru also gave us a piece that is far out ... and preceded the fall of the Wall in Berlin ... in the TANGO FANGO album, when "Das Lebendige Radio" made some serious satirical comments about the music in East Germany ... which in the end, was turned off with feedback to give us some rock'n'roll ... and the idea that the schlagger of the old days was not the music of the future. Again, the context is the value of the whole thing.

I like, and appreciate, almost all of the selections, but in the end, the context of the show will end up being boring for me ... too much of the same thing ... a sort of "Classic Hits" on almost all the FM radio stations in America ... listening to it over and over again, makes me want to ... yeah!

In my own radio show 24 years ago, I did a full 2+ hours of Hawkwind, and couldn't help mention that what was called "outer space" ended up being replaced by "inner space" ... and I kinda think that came about because we were all BORED with the film 2001, and those days of ideas about space and the universe ... and the idea that things had to be over the top to get folks to think about it some. It is here that Michael Moorcock, for me, became a cartoon, and no longer a viable and enjoyable read when compared to Arthur C. Clarke for example.

But let me tell you what an experience it was to see that film on the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood ... in 180 degrees and with some amazingly insane sound ... you not only saw it ... you felt it ... and you will remember it forever. Later seeing the first Star Wars in a theater with 700 speakers, many under your chair kind of thing, you will also remember that rumbling and all the sounds in the last 30 minutes of that film ... and that was in space, though we won't call it space anything at all ... the imagination alone gave us the rest ... but your butt rumbling is ... yeah!

Scheduled for the next one! Thanks.

Romain
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Hi,

In my book, the band itself (GONG) was not exactly just about one or two cuts or their size, although when they found something neat they seemed to expand it, but almost all of the longer stuff was left to a lot of their solo albums and experiments. GONG, basically, was about the story and its music is the driving force.

All in all, the whole thing is a bit on the Zen side of things, and the short stuff is, often, a transition and the story moving along. The trilogy is what all this is about, and yes, the long pieces are far out and it's hard to not appreciate the two pieces that were side one of the LP for "YOU", which flowed together incredibly, and showcases the Pierre Moerlin amazing talent in carrying things along with varying times and touches. As the Daily Doug said ... it was weird (I don't think he has the guts to do "YOU"), and he admitted that the musicianship in the band was way above average ... "these folks know how to play" ... which, in reality is what so many of the folks coming out of the Canterbury area was all about ... as evidenced by all the folks coming through/out of the Soft Machine and Caravan folks ... just about all of which were, likely, professors in music. Mike Howlett, even was in charge of a music school in Australia, I believe, along with also producing a few things ... and he was the bass player that never made a mistake and and had a touch that was ... not even enjoyed or appreciated by many who think that the stars are the players that show off ... Mike just does his thing, and the many times I saw him, it was always "there" and an immense pleasure to watch such accuity in the level of concentration on the music ... he didn't play to the drummer ... he played to the music, and this was important when you had Pierre Moerlin doing it, who was also way up and above a lot of drummers in terms of his musicianship and ability. He, sadly enough, didn't live long enough to get appreciated for it a lot more.

I tried my hand at some simple sci fi spacerock.  Was listening to Hawkwind steadily in the 70's. Just now getting into Gong.