Welcome to Singled Out! where we ask artists to tell us the inside story of their latest single. Today Tim Blake from rock legends Hawkwind tells us about "Inner Visions" from their brand new album "Blood of the Earth," which hits stores tomorrow! Tim sent the following from a hotel in Germany before the Berg Hertzburgh festival:It's quite interesting, really, the choice of songs of mine Hawkwind play ...
I don't think I ever "chose a song" - for instance , we were rehearsing for Live '79 and Dave just said " and then we'll play Lighthouse ... ! and we have been ever since. It's incredible the way that song has evolved .. It's happened again, as we've added "Tide of the Century ' to the Live set .. I wrote that as the New Millennium came in, and I was living in an windmill in Brittany ... close to the Sea ... It corresponds too to the conception of my daughter.. I actually spent the highest tide of last century, by the sea at Carnac... where the stones are, and I wrote a set of pieces called 'La Maree du Sciecle" and the project just grew from there. But it took a long time to come to fruition, I mean, two comets and an eclipse ! Living in the Windmill I was in total symbiosis with the sea and the wind .. There were nights- like those when the Erika went down, where being in my studio a top of the mill, I could feel the storms
Of course it was also a fantastic investigation to world of virtual recording, and I think hardest part is capturing the emotions .. I think the words sum up what was happening - "There's a Tide Coming ! - will you be there?" Playing the song live, with the group is already starting to widen it up in other direction.
Visions, on the other hand, was one I've recorded a couple of time by myself, but never released .. So it was an excellent choice when Dave suggested we did a version for "Blood of the Earth" There was always that Line "I have inner visions" but I had no Idea about what.. Then some things changed in my life, in a very dramatical way.... Could these be the visions of the near death experience I had had? - no that was something else.. Actually, the song is highly "Non-Conforme", insofar as the guitar riff is played by the Ax - Dave plays the Steel Guitar ... but it's Hawkwind and so it gets "raunchy" and slightly 'uptight'. Then, there's how , whilst in the midst of my recovery, my life was invaded and spun about by an astonishing erotic visual performer ... Visions indeed !
I discovered that we are sending and receiving visions all over the world... across the Internet ... Video calls , visio chat ... it's one of Arthur Clarke's promises from 2001. Youtube videos ... so many There's an incredible world out there for us all to explore The Flashing screens - it's exactly the riff - in images - in our minds. Hawkwind have had a long time relationship with images all over their 41 years, and so have I - both in my own way, as well as with Hawkwind
Now that you know the story behind the song, learn more about the album - right here!
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