Steve Hillage - Fish Rising (1975) (2007 Remaster)
Rock | 1cd | EAC Rip | Wv + Cue + Log | covers
Virgin CDVR2031 | rel: 2007 | 443Mb
Rock | 1cd | EAC Rip | Wv + Cue + Log | covers
Virgin CDVR2031 | rel: 2007 | 443Mb
After departing Gong in 1975, Steve Hillage followed the same route as everyone else, by making a solo album. He enlisted some Gong colleagues – bassist Mike Howlett, saxophonist Didier Malherbe, and drummer Pierre Moerlen – and augmented them with others from his Canterbury past, keyboard player Dave Stewart (the two had played together at the beginning of the decade) and Henry Cow's Lindsay Cooper. The result, apart from revealing a slightly unhealthy obsession with fish (at least a change from Gong's pothead pixies) is a Canterbury musical delight, even if the lyrics are chock-full of hippie-dippy sentiment. There are plenty of complex time changes, easily and smoothly handled by the musicians, and while Hillage doesn't contribute as many solos as admirers of his style might wish, he does use layers of guitar to create some wonderful textures and harmonies.