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Posts tagged Steve Hillage
National Health – Missing Pieces (1975-79) (@256)
22 Feb 2011
(Review from progreviews.com)
National Health was envisioned by its founders Alan Gowen and Dave Stewart to be a progressive rock orchestra playing the most dense, audacious music they could conceive. Despite composing some of the best music of the Canterbury scene, the original plan failed due financial difficulties and lineup shuffles.
Consisting of demo sessions from 1975 and radio sessions from 1976 (and some later after last album tidbits from winter 1979), “Missing Pieces” demonstrates how promising the original vision really was.
Following a brief wind piece performed by Mont Campbell, the first track of note on Missing Pieces is the dizzying “Paracelsus”, also composed by Campbell and originally used as an audition piece for unsuspecting drummers.
“Clocks and Clouds,” a Stewart composition, is a song composed in the Classic Canterbury style; however, Amanda Parsons’ vocals sound a bit anemic here. Next is the swampy and dense “Agrippa,” performed by the original line up. “The Lethargy Shuffle and The Mind-Your-Backs Tango” begins with an angular boogie and works its way into more familiar Hatfield territory.
“Zabaglione,” a Campbell composition, is perhaps the most complex track and gives a hint of the massive potential of the original lineup. “Starlight on Seaweed” is a beautiful, spacey Campbell art song, tastefully arranged by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin.
For the National Health fan, this album is more than likely indispensable.
Line-up:
- Dave Stewart / keyboards
- Alan Gowen / keyboards
- Phil Miller / guitars
- Steve Hillage / guitars
- Phil Lee / guitars
- John Greaves / bass & vocal
- Mont Campbell / bass
- Bill Bruford / drums
- Pip Pyle / drums
- Amanda Parsons / vocals (3,6)
- Barbara Gaskin / vocals
Track List:
01. Bouree – 0:53
02. Paracelsus (inc. Bouree reprise) – 5:36
03. Clocks and Clouds – 6:47
04. Agrippa – 8:22
05. The Lethargy Shuffle & The Mind-Your-Backs Tango – 9:19
06. Zabaglione – 7:47
07. Lethargy Shuffle Part 2 – 4:36
08. Croquette for Electronic Beating Group – 3:51
09. Phlakaton – 0:25
10. The Towplane & The Glider – 5:12
11. Starlight On Seaweed – 3:07
12. Walking The Dog (extract) – 0:25
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Egg – Civil Surface (1974) (@256)
17 Oct 2009
(Review from progarchives.com, progreviews.com, wikipedia)
In 1974, Dave Stewart, now signed with Virgin as a member of Hatfield and the North, also got a deal for Egg to record their unreleased material, which resulted in the farewell album Civil Surface.
Beginning with a metronome click, sped up drums, and organ fanfare, “Germ Patrol” is the sound of an Egg rehatched. The masterstroke on the album, however, is “Enneagram”. This track expertly synthesizes all of the Stravinsky ostinati, jazz chords, and space sounds that Egg had touched upon earlier in their career but hadn’t quite mastered. Shorter, but just as telling of things to come, is “Prelude”, filled out by the Northettes on vocals. Not everything is as revelatory as the previously mentioned tracks, but other tracks are enjoyable nonetheless and feature a sense of humor.
In addition to the keyboards of Dave Stewart here we have a wind quartet, various wind instrumental virtuosos, and a female vocal trio. The overall impact of this is to give the album a modern classical feel, with many pleasant sounds. The compositions are generally more fusion based, straying at times towards krautrock. There are at times strong hints of the wonderful work of early 70′s multi- instrumentalist Yoel Schwarcz and his work with Continuum. The complex counterpoint and tart harmonies on this album set the stage for the sound that would later be National Health’s trademark.
Line-up:
- Dave Stewart / organ, piano; bass (6)
- Clive Brooks / drums
- Mont Campbell / bass, voice, French horn and piano
with
- Jeremy Baines / Germophone & Bowle
- Lindsay Cooper / oboe, basson (1-6)
- Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet (1-6)
- Amanda Parsons / vocals (4)
- Ann Rosenthal / vocals (4)
- Barbara Gaskin / vocals (4)
- Steve Hillage / guitar (5)
Track List:
01. Germ Patrol – 8:31
02. Wind Quartet 1 – 2:25
03. Enneagram – 9:09
04. Prelude – 4:17
05. Wring Out the Ground Loosely Now – 8:10
06. Nearch – 3:27
07. Windquartet 2 – 4:44
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Arzachel – Arzachel (1969) (@256)
14 Oct 2009
(Review from progarchives.com)
This could be seen as the first Egg album, Arzachel (also known as Uriel) is essentially Egg + Steve Hillage. The band recorded this album in one afternoon, making it all the more remarkable. Boasting ethereal organ from Dave Stewart and the oh-so English vocals of both Mont Campbell and Steve Hillage, this album is a real treat.
The album starts off with the short and efficient “Garden of Earthly Delights”, a track driven by Stewart’s organ and alternating verses sung by Hillage and Campbell. It is an incredible track that gets things off to an energetic and decidedly English beginning. “Azathoth” brings things down a bit, featuring haunting church organ and distant vocals from Hillage. Moving at a slow, stately pace, one hardly expects the organ-noise, which erupts halfway through before falling back into its hymnal melody. “Queen St. Gang” is an understated instrumental which continues much in the vein of “Azathoth”, slowly churning along but progressing beautifully all the while. “Leg” is a bit less successful than the previous three tracks, delving into blues and away from the delicious psychedelia. It reminds of Jethro Tull circa 1968-69 with organ instead of guitar.
The album concludes with two lengthy jams, “Clean Innocent Fun” which is pretty good, though derivative. The second jam, the sixteen minute monster, “Metempsychosis” is in par with any 60s Pink Floyd instrumental in terms of madness. It slowly moves along, gaining momentum, and Hillage and Stewart in tandem are both ugly and hypnotic in this piece. It finally concludes with some distorted organ. Apparently the band watched the clock during the whole jam and only played until they had an album filled. The song is incredible however, but takes a few listens. True, experimental psychedelia at its most acid laced.
This is a good and energetic record. It shows just how talented these young kids were at the time, barely out of high school. Highly recommended to fans of psych, space, blues and canterbury, it hits all of the bases.
Line-up:
- Clive Brooks / drums
- Mont Campbell / bass, vocals
- Dave Stewart / organ
- Steve Hillage / guitar, vocals
Track List:
01. Garden of Earthly Delights – 2:45
02. Azathoth – 4:21
03. Queen St. Gang – 4:25
04. Leg – 5:40
05. Clean Innocent Fun – 10:23
06. Metempsychosis – 16:38
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Khan – Space Shanty (1972) (@256)
19 Feb 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
Space Shanty was a one-off shot by a little-known group led by soon-to be Gong star Steve Hillage. This inspired work is almost certainly the rockiest and least jazzy album to emerge from the vibrant Canterbury scene, thus rendering it among the most accessible. There are some incredible exchanges from two Canterbury icons Hillage and keyboardist Dave Stewart (who also starred in Egg, Hatfield And The North and National Health) and that alone makes this record indispensible.
Khan is not as typically quirky as the likes of Hatfield, no does it have quite the trippy vibes of Gong or indeed the Hillage masterpiece Fish Rising but when our heroes get going, this is truly compelling stuff.
Highlights include the free-flowing (and occassionally hard-rocking!) title track, “Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains” (which starts off with a great blues-rock riff before launching into a kick-ass exchange of solos between Steve Hillage and Dave Stewart, with some great basswork from Greenwood thrown in as well) and “Driving To Amsterdam” (which alternately rages and reflects) but they are all good. “Stranded” is a dreamier, laid-back electric piano dominated piece that curiously evokes an image of a ragged-sounding America, also features a rare acoustic guitar solo from Hillage. “Hollow Stone Escape Of The Space Pirates” is a charming Caravanesque psych epic that includes a mesmerizing multi-tracked solo from Hillage and Stargazer also has some dizzying moments.
It’s too bad that they didn’t last long enough to make more records.
Line-up:
- Nick Greenwood / bass, vocals
- Steve Hillage / guitars, vocals
- Eric Peachy / drums
- Dave Stewart / organ, piano, skyceleste, marimbas
Track List:
01. Space Shanty (Incl. The Cobalt Sequence And March Of The Sine Squadrons) (8:59)
02. Stranded (Effervescent Psychonovelty No.5) (6:35)
03. Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains (7:14)
04. Driving To Amsterdam (9:22)
05. Stargazers (5:32)
06. Hollow Stone (Escape of the Space Pirates) (8:16)
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Gong – You (1973) (@224)
05 Apr 2007
Request of John.
(Review from progarchives.com)
“You” is the third and final installment of the “Radio Gnome Invisible” trilogy set and in my humble opinion is Gong’s best work. Anyone out there who love space rock or fusionish jams will definitely love this album. Mostly gone from “You “ is the classic Gong silliness that embodies most of their albums and stands out as their characteristic watermark. Fans of England’s Ozric Tentacles should definitely check out this album as it obviously had an influence on their sound. One of the most intriguing aspects of this album is Gong’s ability to shift abruptly from harmless, sunny-day pop music a la Beatles (the opening two tracks) to an ominous, mystical fury a la Mahavishnu Orchestra (“Master Builder,” and the band’s masterpiece, “A Sprinkling of Clouds”). “You” is for me the perfect mix of Tim Blake’s sea of synthesizers, Didier Malherbe’s sax offset by Steve Hillage’s wild guitar frenzies, Gilli Smythe’s ‘space whispers and the thunderous rhythm section of Howlett and Pierre Moerlen. At the helm remains the zainy yet inspired Daevid Allen who continues to paint his convoluted musical story of Zero the Hero, Octave Doctors, and the Pot-Head Pixies. This is by far Gong’s most instrumental album in their Daevid Allen days, as there is tons of absolutely killer jams. “A Sprinkling of Clouds” is simply one of the best Gong songs I have ever heard, with tons of great, spacy synths, lots of guitar jams, and at the end, killer bamboo flutes. Wow… what else could you ask for ?
Line-up:
- Daevid Allen / vocals, glissando guitar
- Mireille Bauer / percussion
- Tim Blake / Moog & EMS synths, Mellotron
- Steve Hillage / lead guitar
- Mike Howlett / bass guitar
- Didier Malherbe / saxes, flute, vocals
- Benoît Moerlen / percussion
- Pierre Moerlen / drums, percussion
- Gilli Smyth / wee voices, chorus
- Shakti Yoni / poem & space whispers
Track List:
01. Thoughts for Naught (1:30)
02. A P.H.P.’s Advice (1:37)
03. Magick Mother Invocation (2:11)
04. Master Builder (6:09)
05. A Sprinkling of Clouds (8:42)
06. Perfect Mystery (2:25)
07. The Isle of Everywhere (10:21)
08. You Never Blow Yr Trip Forever (11:24)
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