Steve Hillage Band

Steve Hillage Band - Live At The Gong Unconvention - 2009 - G-Wave

In November 2006, the great Canterbury Rock guitarist and vocalist, Steve Hillage re-formed the Steve Hillage Band and made an unexpected return to the Gong fold when he and Miquette Giraudy played at the Gong Unconventional fan gathering at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, Holland. The musicians played material from the 70's albums - mainly from "Fish Rising", which was itself essentially Hillage using most of the rest of the Gong band as his own), as System 7, Hillage and Giraudy's current set up, and also as members of Gong. This album has also been released on CD and DVD with various track listings, bonus tracks, etc. Check out Steve Hillage's great "Fish Rising" album, and search this blog for Gong related albums

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Hello Dawn - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
2. It's All Too Much - George Harrison
3. AftaGlid Part 1 - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
4. AftaGlid Part 2 - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
5. AftaGlid Part 3 - The Golden Vibe - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
6. Solar Musick Suite Part 1 - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
7. Solar Musick Suite Part 2 - The Dervish Riff - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
8. The Salmon Song - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage
9. These Uncharted Lands - Miquette Giraudy/Steve Hillage

MUSICIANS

Steve Hillage - Guitar, Vocals
Mike Howlett, Paul Francis - Bass
Miquette Giraudy - Synthesizer, Vocals
Basil Brooks, Tim Blake - Synthesizer
Chris Taylor, Andy Anderson - Drums
Didier Malherbe - Saxophone
Daevid Allen - Vocals

BIO

A guitarist who first found fame in the progressive rock era only to later resurface as an ambient techno cult hero, Steve Hillage was born August 2, 1951. In 1967 he co-founded the group Uriel with bassist Mont Campbell, organist Dave Stewart, and drummer Clive Brooks; the unit subsequently continued on as the trio Egg upon Hillage's 1968 departure for university. He did not return to music for another three years, reuniting with Stewart in 1971 in Khan, which recorded the 1972 prog rock effort Space Shanty before soon splitting. After touring in support of Kevin Ayers, Hillage joined Gong, winning acclaim for his echo- and delay-heavy brand of guitar work over the course of the group's 1972-1975 "Radio Gnome Invisible" trilogy (consisting of the LPs Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You). In 1975 Hillage went solo with the album Fish Rising, the first fruits of a longstanding writing partnership with keyboardist Miquette Giraudy. He next traveled to New York to cut 1976's L, produced by Todd Rundgren and featuring guest appearances from Utopia as well as jazz great Don Cherry. At the peak of the punk era, Hillage's work was by no means fashionable, but he pressed on regardless; in 1977 he issued Motivation Radio, an album recorded with Malcolm Cecil (the creator of an influential early electronic project, the studio-synthesizer T.O.N.T.O.). He subsequently issued 1978's Green, 1979's Rainbow Dome Musick (an early ambient outing) and Open, and 1983's For to Next/And Not Or, but as interest in his music continued to dwindle, Hillage turned to production, helming records for the likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Simple Minds. By the close of the 1980s, Hillage had largely disappeared from music; however, in 1989 he was visiting the ambient room of a local club when, much to his surprise, his own Rainbow Dome Musick began to play. He introduced himself to the DJ, one Alex Paterson, and soon Hillage was working with Paterson's seminal group the Orb; out of their collaboration grew a new Hillage-Giraudy project, System 7, a dance collective also comprised of club luminaries including Paterson and fellow DJ Paul Oakenfold. After debuting with an eponymously titled 1991 LP, System 7 plunged completely into blissed-out ambient sound on 1993's 777, which reached the Top 40 on the U.K. album charts. Released in 1994, Point 3 appeared in two different versions: the first, The Fire Album, offered heavy beats and rhythms, while The Water Album featured drumless mixes of the same music. With 1996's Power of Seven, System 7 turned to Detroit techno, recruiting the services of mixers Carl Craig and Derrick May. The group continued to release studio albums for many years to follow, including Golden Section (1997), Seventh Wave (2001), Encantado (2004), and Phoenix (2008). Hillage also reunited with Gong on the album 2032, released in September of 2009. © Jason Ankeny © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifixqe5ld0e~T1