Band Review: Youngblood Hawke

The review gave me a serious case of cognitive dissonance.

First let me cover the band I saw. I admit I walked in late, so I may have missed some things, but what I thought I saw was very much a 70’s band, builidng up the hair and glam a little bit as they transitioned into the 80’s. Actually, seriously I thought they could have been guys that had gone to school with my brother (class of ’83), but had not aged. I kind of started looking for Ron and Darren.

That did not make me particularly happy, because never having heard of Youngblood Hawke before, I kept thinking of Hawkwind, so seeing the 70’s clothes and hair made me think I was going to find myself back in the Pulsing Cavern, and I was annoyed in that cavern!

Fortunately, they were fine. It was only a few songs that did not really stick with me, so I stayed fixated on the clothes and hair. I did see them taking pictures with people out front after the show, which I respect, but I knew that any real analysis of their music would have to come later.

Well, that brings us to Spotify listening, and this is where things did not seem to match up. First of all, suddenly there was a woman. I’m not saying that it’s impossible that there was a woman on that stage, but it had seemed to be all males, and suddenly listening to their recordings it sounded very female. There is one in the band, but she seems to be a much bigger part of the vocals than I had noticed at the show.

Also, it turns out that they don’t really have many songs. They are a new band, working on new material, so this makes sense, but they really only have four songs. However, they have 24 tracks on Spotify. How did this happen? Lots of repetition. The five top hits are exactly the same as the five singles, and under albums you have those same five again plus commentary on four of them. Why only four? Because one of those five is just an acoustic version of “We Come Running”. Also, I’m not sure it is truly acoustic. There is less electronica, but it is still there.

The other six are different mixes of “We Come Running” There’s the Tiesto Remix, the RAC Mix, the Knocks Remix, Spacebrother Remix, Vicetone Remix, and BIZNIZ Remix. I’m not sure I understand the difference between a mix and a remix. Actually, the main point I want to make here is that if you listen to their whole catalog this way, you will hear “We Come Running” 12 times; “Stars”, “Forever”, and “Rootless” three times each, plus the four commentary tracks. Obviously this seems insane so I decided to do it.

You know, it wasn’t awful. They do fall firmly in the category of “not my thing”, which it is good to be okay with, and “We Come Running” does finally stick in my head now, so even though the show did not manage that, listening to it 12 times in a row did. (I still don’t really remember the other three.)

They do have a definite spirit to them, and I did see them being attentive to fans, so maybe they just need more time. Eventually they will have more songs. I don’t know that any song will ever be improved by a club mix, but again, there are people who like that sort of thing. I could conceivably check in on them again in a few years.

That being said, I am finally cured of hearing “indie” and thinking that’s the logical follower to “alternative”. It hadn’t quite sunk in with M83 yet, but I’ve got it down now.