I prolly got my And Not Or disc in a used bin so I dunno how they were sold "new", but you may wanna revisit the instrumental one... one of our memories is suffering from old age cause I remember it as mostly variations on the Gong - Angels Egg/You era compositionsOriginally Posted by rcarlberg
Last edited by MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER; 06-02-2015 at 01:50 PM.
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
The track Knights Templar was written with Daevid Allen and Mike Howlett - I can't think of a similar Gong track that it might be based on though. Still Golden is a revamp of The Golden Vibe section from Fish Rising. Maybe that's the germ of false memory.
By contrast, I was not only a massive Daevid Allen era Gong fan (having seen all of their 90's era visits to Cleveland), but Hillage was specifically the reason why I got a passport, broke myself financially, and decamped to Amsterdam for the Uncon. And apart from the brevity of his set (only about 45 minutes), he did not disappoint. Neither did any of the other performers, everyone played great sets. And Steve and Miquette were both lovely people to chat with, as well. I've got a really nice picture of myself with the two of them.
A couple years later, they came Stateside with Gong to play at NEARfest. That time, Steve noticed I was wearing a Magma badge around my neck, and I pointed to the Gong You mandala badge I was also wearing, and he says "So you've got the yin and yang of French prog rock!". I greeted Miquette by saying, "Bon jour, Mademoiselle Giraudy", and Steve says, "Oh, listen to this polite young man!". Then later we had a good chuckle about the Magma video on Youtube with the phonetic subtitles for the lyrics to Otis.
I think all of Hillage's original solo records are great. Fish Rising and L are the most "proggy" (whatever that means). Fish Rising is effectively a Steve led Gong record, as Daevid and Gilli are the only members of the You era lineup (well, the main lineup anyway) that aren't on the record.
Motivation Radio is effectively Steve's attempt at making a funk record. He enlisted Steve Wonder's rhythm section and producer, and delivered a good funk rock record. The songs are shorter and less twists and turns, but there's still that super fine guitar playing, and there's three great pieces on side two that hark to the earlier sound on the first two solo records. Also, you've got that great photo on the front cover of Steve with his old Strat (which I read he bought from money he earned working in a butcher shop, which I've always thought was a strange occupation for to him, as I always had the impression he was a vegetarian).
There's an interview on one of the DVD's (either the Rockpalast or Rock Goes To College deals, I forget which one) where Steve explains the reason he made Motivation Radio was because when he came to the US to tour behind L (opening for ELO, incidentally), he found that people he met were astounded to find out he liked stuff like Parliament, or Earth Wind & Fire. The reaction would be that their jaws would drop and then say, "You mean like disco?!" (there's a distinction between funk and disco, but that's not the point here). He felt there was a "musical apartheid" happening in the US, so Motivation Radio was his way of addressing that matter, in whichever manner.
Green might be considered by some a "return to form". There's still some funk elements, but the "spacey" and "prog" elements come back into play. Some of the lyrics start to get a bit dodgy here (actually, they were getting on Motivation Radio..., eg "Oh me, oh my/there's a light in the sky"), but musically it's still pretty happening.
Open might be the album were most might find things really start going off the rails. Steve starts going new wave, but again, I still like a lot of the songs on this record, particularly Day After Day and The Fire Inside. On the other hand, Definite Activity feels like it was written for an aerobics workout video. The CD edition adds the studio tracks from side four of Live/Herald (shades of Kiss Alive II), which includes another great instrumental called Healing Feeling.
For To Next is a synth pop (not electronica!) album. Again, good melodies, and the occasional guitar solo but if you have bad memories of the era when guitars and acoustic drumkits had been declared obsolete by everyone young musician in the UK, you may not like this one. And Not Or was an instrumental disc that was included with the first pressing of For To Next, and both are included in the CD reissues. And Not Or has some good stuff on it, too, but again it has that drum machines and synths production that every damn record that came out of the UK had during that time period (well, except for Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and the rest of the metal brigade, thank goodness).
As for the live stuff, Live/Herald is the original double live (well, 3/4's double live) that he put out in the 70's. It's quite fine, but there are a few other titles one should consider:
Rockpalast: I forget the title given to the DVD release, but this is a video of Steve and the band he took on the road after L came out, performing on German TV. This is the group with Miquette Giraudy and Basil Brooks on synths (though it looks like Basil is mostly just dancing around), Clive Bunker on drums, Christian Boule on guitar, Phil Hodges on keyboards, and Colin Bass on...well, bass. Great performance, playing most of the material from both L and Fish Rising. The only thing I don't like about it, and I know it's a minor point, is that he plays a Les Paul through almost the entire thing, except for one thing. I was hoping to see some good footage of him playing his Strat (they don't call me Guitar Geek for nothing, ya know).
Rock Goes To College: This time it's UK television, and it's from the tour he did to support the release of Live/Herald. Mostly the band plays stuff from Green and songs from side four of Live/Herald, plus Salmon Song and I think one or two things from L and Motivation Radio. Pretty good video, and he plays the Strat for a few songs on this one, before swapping over to an SG Junior. Not bad, but it's nice to have.
Rainbow 1977: I actually have had most of this release (which just came out last year, I think) on a bootleg called Ggggong Go Longggg. As the title implies, it was recorded at the Rainbow Theater, on the Motivation Radio tour. There's lots of good stuff on this one, including an extended rendition of Saucer Surfing/Searching For The Spark. I think this might also be the same version of Electrick Gypsies that was on Live/Herald (unless they recorded more than one night, and this is from the other night, or whatever).
BBC Radio One In Concert: Mostly recorded in 1979, from the same tour as the Rock Goes To College appearance (plus one track from a 1976 session). I'm not positive, but I think this might be the other performance that appears on the Gggong Go Longgg bootleg, though the song introductions don't match up to what's on the bootleg (on the other hand, the introductions on Rock Goes To College, such as the "This is this called Unzipping The Zype, believe it or not" line, do match up). At any rate it's worth tracking down a copy (it's been out of print for ages) for the encore finale of Crystal City/Activation Meditation/The Glorious Om Riff.
Live At Deeply Vale Festival 1978: From the Green era, this is a soundboard recording. Thus the mix is a bit uneven in places, but it's worth having for the opening Saucer Surfing/Searching For The Spark/Octave Doctors suite.
Gong Uncon 2006: Very fine given that it was the first time since 1979 that he'd play any of this music in concert. A bit on the short side, but still a nice review of the old stuff.
I still haven't heard any of the System 7 stuff, so I can't comment on any of it.
Fish Rising for me - love it (and his works with Gong).
Not his other albums.
(though it looks like Basil is mostly just dancing around),
That and playing inaudible flute. Inaudible on the DVD, anyway.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
He couldn't have been too vegetarian, since the back cover of Fish Rising shows him fishing. Pescetarian, maybe.
Fish Rising and L are the must-haves, IMO. Green and Rainbow Dome Musick are cool as well, and of course there's a treasure trove of great live stuff out there. Sounds like not too many here have ventured into the System 7 stuff. I have a bit of it; I probably like the Point Three Water album best. (The Point Three Fire and Water albums being respectively more beat-driven and more ambient versions of mostly the same material.)
Sometimes I think my posts are too wordy and need editing. Then I someone quote something like that, and I realize, yeah, I should try to be more concise, but at least as it is, somebody's at least skimming through my doggerel.
Sometimes I think my posts are too wordy and need editing. Then I someone quote something like that, and I realize, yeah, I should try to be more concise, but at least as it is, somebody's at least skimming through my doggerel.Yep, I read it all. That was a great summary of his recording career.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
my memory says there's a track called The Glorious Om Riff too
I should just get my lazy butt up and play the LP now
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
Hey Guitar Geek, that was a great, very informative post. Lots of interesting trivia! Thank you so much!
The Glorious Om Riff is on Green, actually. I always thought it was a great ending for the album. If you think about where he went on side four of Live/Herald, Open and the early 80's recordings, it sort of served as a book end to his psych/prog career. Perhaps he already knew things were changing and he knew what he was doing next would be decidedly "not prog" (not that he ever considered himself or Gong to be "prog" to be begin with, or at least that's what he says now). And Still Golden on And Not Or sort of bookends his solo career overall.my memory says there's a track called The Glorious Om Riff too
I should just get my lazy butt up and play the LP now
Inner Temple from Angels Egg
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Not sure if it was mentioned --- by all means do whatever you have to - get your hands on the BBC Radio One release (two '76 tracks and the rest is '79)... its about as good as it gets for me. Sound and performance.
http://www.amazon.com/BBC-Radio-Live.../dp/B000001LGK
ok, so its been a while, but I knew he had done variations of more than one Gong tune on his solo albums
Knights Templar and The Glorious Om Riff are the ones I was thinking of
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
Thanks, it was nagging me. Dug both out of storage and can hear it plainly now.
I had Aura on vinyl at one point only to find out later it was a compilation.. guess that was stateside only eh? Great album though..
Dren! I forgot about Rainbow Dome Musick. Yes, that's a great ambient record. Reportedly, sometime in the early 90's, Steve walked into a "chill out" room at a dance club somewhere in the UK, and he heard Alex Patterson (he of The Orb) playing a remix of Rainbow Dome Musick, which intrigued Hillage enough that the two struck up a friendship, which is what led to Steve playing on the first couple Orb albums, and then, I suppose the inspiration to starting up System 7 with Miquette.
BTW, as far as Steve dropping in Gong allusions on his solo records, didn't Daevid Allen do the same thing? I recall on the Gongmaison album, there's a remix of Flying Teapot, for instance.
ANd as a side note, for anyone who loves the glissando guitar stuff that Steve and Daevid both do so very well, check out the Glissando Orchestra DVD from the Gong Uncon. It's basically all the guitarists from the various bands who played that weekend (including, but not limited to, Daevid, Steve, Kawabata-san from Acid Mothers, Josh Pollack, Harry Williamson and about I think three or four other guitarists) all doing glissando guitar for about an hour together. Very Ligeti-esque, would have made great music for the Jupiter And Beyond sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I would very much agree with this..it captures Hillage's live peak in 1977/8, with far superior versions infused with live energy !
Yep, US Release. Live Herald was always in the import bins, but as a double it was expensive. And Green, being on green vinyl, was IIRC also on the pricey side. But I got a promo of Aura, and the mobile. I still have the mobile from TD's Force Majeure, also released the same time on Virgin International.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
I was never able to find Green on green vinyl. I bought mine as a UK import in Eureka,Ca literally on the day of release and it was just black.
I was at the 1977 Rainbow gig, and very good it was. But I've never heard the recording! Must put that right sometime.
I love everything he did with Gong. Of his solo albums, it's probably no surprise that Fish Rising remains the best for me, followed by L.
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