Steve Hillage-Hit or Miss?

[KELLY WELSH]

OK,so I'm a fan of Green by Steve Hillage,and I was wondering if i should indulge in any more of his works?Are his other records hit or miss?

[Scrotum Scissor]

Fish Rising is his most 'progressive' offering and a damn fine record. L is very good as well, with Motivation Radio being a solid, more song-based effort. Rainbow Dome Music is a purely ambient instrumental release but is actually my second fave of his next to Fish. If you dig the latter, you are already halfway into discovering the completely wonderful so-called 'Canterbury sound/scene', which remains one of the most generally acknowledged paths of progressove rock music as a whole.

[Luckie]

Green was the peak of his early solo phase for me. The Todd Rundgren-produced L is its nearest equivalent - a couple of love 'em or hate 'em covers, but two supernaturally brilliant epics in Lunar Musick Suite and Hurdy Gurdy Glissando. His solo debut Fish Rising is ace and close at heart to Gong; Motivation Radio has some transcendent moments, but is mostly concise pop-funk with a hippy twist. The album Open has its moments, but the production is flat and Hillage sounds tired: a transformation was coming with the double For To Next and And Not Or, electronica with guitar and not much syncopation, the former with vocals (not bad, but a little enervating and now sounds very dated), the latter instrumental (has stood the test of time). His live albums are almost all good. His later stuff as System 7 is a mixed bag - 777 is good. I highly recommend his System 7 collaboration with ROVO (Phoenix Rising) and solo with Evan Marc (Dreamtime Submersible).

Agree with SS's recommendation of Rainbow Dome Musick - ahead of its time and good for meditation.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

For To Next and And Not Or were released separately on LP... I never bothered with the former, but the latter is some great rave-ups of the classic Gong - You material.

But I love all of his stuff from the 70s
L
Green
Open
Motivation Radio
Rainbow Dome Musik

[progman1975]

Hillage is Awesome....Fish Rising is a Masterpiece

[Luckie]

For To Next and And Not Or were released separately on LP...

It was a double - not a trad gatefold double, but they were sold as one.

[SteveSly]

I don’t have all of his albums, but do have “Fish Rising” which is excellent and “L” which is also quite good. I also have “For To Next” and “If Not Or” (the CD release with both of them together) and not as fond of those. They sound very very dated to my ears and were not all that great to begin with.

[Rand Kelly]

I don’t have all of his albums, but do have “Fish Rising” which is excellent and “L” which is also quite good. I also have “For To Next” and “If Not Or” (the CD release with both of them together) and not as fond of those. They sound very very dated to my ears and were not all that great to begin with.

I think L is very good too and his backing band is Utopia since it was produced by Todd Rundgren.

[arturs]

I have become a major fanboy over the years. I would recommend "Live Herald" next. That 6 or 7 piece band he had with the 3 synth players and Clive Bunker on drums was just fantastic. I think most of the versions there are better than the studio releases.

[NogbadTheBad]

Fish Rising is a masterpiece, I like Rainbow Dome Musik a lot too.

[DrGoon]

They're all hits to me. I enjoy every era of Hillage - Uriel through System 7. I agree with what arturs said about Live Herald.

[RaelWV]

His later stuff as System 7 is a mixed bag

They also did an album as Mirror System, which is a little more downtempo/chill than the more dance-like System 7 stuff.

[Udi Koomran]

Besides these mentioned I always loved the Studio Herald tracks
New Age Synthesis , Talking to the Sun amazing tracks
If you like Green I am sure you will dig these
oh and Live Herald is one of the best live sets

[kid_runningfox]

Pretty much any of Hillage's 70s solo albums are worth taking a punt on (my own faves are Fish Rising and Live Herald, but honestly you can't really go wrong with any of them). Not familiar with the work he's done since then, however.

[happytheman]

It was a double - not a trad gatefold double, but they were sold as one.

I seem to recall having these (or at least one of these) as a single album.. perhaps I picked it up in used / cutout section.. Remember not being impressed and ended up dumping it years later when I did a clean out of vinyl that I didn't listen to anymore..

[ItalProgRules]

The Live '77 DVD is awesome.

[progman1975]

The Live '77 DVD is awesome.

So are the '79 and '06 DVD's

[arturs]

The Live '77 DVD is awesome.

[Rand Kelly]

Rainbow Dome Musik makes a great alt. for Asprin or Advil for a headache.

[rcarlberg]

For To Next and And Not Or were released separately on LP... I never bothered with the former, but the latter is some great rave-ups of the classic Gong - You material.

I bought mine as two separate 45 rpm 12" EPs, and the material is not Gong IIRC but it is rhythmic rock pieces using sequencers as the bassline. Different from Fish Rising or Motivation Radio but very very well done. AFAIK these were the prototypes for what later became System 7.

[Luckie]

They also did an album as Mirror System, which is a little more downtempo/chill than the more dance-like System 7 stuff.

Yes, that's a nice one. Forgot about that when I posted.

I bought mine as two separate 45 rpm 12" EPs

Are you sure? Each album was of conventional length, each side about 20 minutes. I bought it in the week of release - they were two separate single LPs in their own outer sleeves, sealed back-to-back. I'm fairly sure a later edition For To Next - the album with vocals - was released on its own, so And Not Or - the album of unrelated original instrumentals - was in effect a free LP for people who bought early. As has been mentioned they were later combined on a single CD, running time 79:05.

[Rogue Mail]

They're all hits to me. I enjoy every era of Hillage - Uriel through System 7. I agree with what arturs said about Live Herald.

Well, that sold me...just downloaded Live Herald.

May check out some of the system 7 stuff also. I like some electronica/dance/trippy stuff, to a degree.

That said, I did see Hillage at the Gong Unconvention in Amsterdam in 06, and though there were parts of it I liked, I did find a lot of it somewhat overwhelming. I was not a Gong fan going in and though I can appreciate them a little more now having seen them since and some of the various offshoots, I still find them an acquired taste.

[Sunlight Caller]

Y
Are you sure? Each album was of conventional length, each side about 20 minutes. I bought it in the week of release - they were two separate single LPs in their own outer sleeves, sealed back-to-back. I'm fairly sure a later edition For To Next - the album with vocals - was released on its own, so And Not Or - the album of unrelated original instrumentals - was in effect a free LP for people who bought early. As has been mentioned they were later combined on a single CD, running time 79:05.

My recollection too is of two single vinyls in separate sleeves sold together, exactly like Simple Minds "Sons & Fascination" / "Sister Feelings Call" set, both of which were on Virgin and of course Steve Hillage also produced the Minds set.

As to solo recommendations, you guys have it covered, but of the latter days, I love Mirror System and the Rovo release especially. There's a new Mirror System out soon I think.

[zeprogmeister]

Fish Rising
L
Motivation Radio
Green

Are the essential ones imo. Others YMMV.

[strawberrybrick]

And Not Or has one of my fav Hillage guitar pieces, the title track. Love it. I have a few copies of these, maybe a double vinyl, but the entire of For To Next And Not Or are very modern albums (for the time) and show why he became a producer for many "new wavy" bands.



Aura was a US compilation and a very solid one, bunch from Green and Studio Herald? I had the mobile for it, who knows where that went!

Fishing Rising is its own beast, he never really went to that territory again (keys Dave Stewart). L and Motivation Radio for me are not as exciting as Green or Open. As others have mentioned Rainbow Dome is an ambient album. And a landmark at that. He put out 3 albums in 1979!