Three little known gems of the 70s

[BaldJean]

Some albums just don't get the attention they deserve, and I would like to introduce three of them. They are among my absolute favorites.

The first album is "Photo Musik" (the spelling is the one chosen by the artist) by Christian Boulé. He was a French guitar player who is probably best known for his work on one side of the "Clearlight Symphony" album. He sounds a bit like Steve Hillage, and actually he was second guitar player in Hillage's touring band for some time; Steve said in an interview that Christian was an excellent lead guitar player himself. Here an example track:



The second album is "Fairy Tales" by Mother Gong. The album does indeed contain three fairy tales wonderfully told by Gilli Smyth accompanied by the excellent band towered by Didier Malherbe, who is just incredible on this album.



The third album is "Xitintoday" by Nik Turner of Hawkwind (accompanied by many musicians of Gong). It is an album about the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Wonderfully atmospheric; Nik really manages to evoke the Gods.



I hope you like this music as much as I do.

[BaldJean]

It looks as if indeed no-one knows these albums; else there probably would have been a comment.

[Bytor]

First time hearing about those albums. I'm taking notes. Were they released on cd at some point or should I continue looking in the vinyl bins ???

[ProgArtist]

Thanks for posting these. I enjoyed the Christian Boulé track despite not liking Clearlight Symphony. The second video link says it's private.

[TheH]

I have "Fairy Tales" on Vinyl somewhere, great lineup on this one. Although I do like it, it's just to much narration
for me to listen to it more often.

I also own the '93 Remake of Nik Turner's Sphynx which is an almost totally different Album.
The original has a great lineup of Hawkwind, Gong and Mother Gong musicians..

[moecurlythanu]

I've heard of the 2nd and 3rd albums, but I'm not a fan of Gilli Smyth, so that one's out. As for the Nik Turner...better, but not a priority.

[BaldJean]

I changed the second video to public

[BaldJean]

I have "Fairy Tales" on Vinyl somewhere, great lineup on this one. Although I do like it, it's just to much narration
for me to listen to it more often.

I also own the '93 Remake of Nik Turner's Sphynx which is an almost totally different Album.
The original has a great lineup of Hawkwind, Gong and Mother Gong musicians..

We have the 1993 version too, but we like the other one better.

[BaldJean]

I have "Fairy Tales" on Vinyl somewhere, great lineup on this one. Although I do like it, it's just to much narration
for me to listen to it more often.

I also own the '93 Remake of Nik Turner's Sphynx which is an almost totally different Album.
The original has a great lineup of Hawkwind, Gong and Mother Gong musicians..

Te narration on the Mother Gong album is in my opinion essential and definitely one of the reasons I like it so much. Gilli Smyth is a great narrator.

[mellotron storm]

I have Fairy Tales and Xintology both based from your or your partner's recommendation. Love them both. I'll have to check out Boule's recording. By the way the new Turner album is incredible if your into Jazz/ Fusion. So many guests too like Cobham, Etheridge, Krieger, Poland, Smyth, Hillage, Weinzierl, Vandroogenbroeck and pretty much the whole Brainticket and Hedersleben bands.

[Progbear]

Fairy Tales was one of those albums I kept for a day, then immediately traded back in to the record store. I had no idea I was literally getting an album of actual fairy tales!

[wilcox660]

Fairy Tales is fun, but I gravitate toward Robot Woman 1 & 2. In fact, I just bought a cool FLAC download of Robot Woman 1 from Harry Williamson. Sounds awesome!

[BaldFriede]

It is highly interesting that so many people seem to dislike that there are spoken words throughout the music. It does not bother me in the least because I rather like the genre of melodrama (a musical form in which a dramatic text is accompanied by music that was especially popular in the romantic era). Well-known examples are "Die Flüchtlinge" (The Fugitives) by Robert Schumann and "Hexenlied" (Song of the Witch) by Max von Schillings. I especially like "Hexenlied".