Steve Hillage
Album: Live at Rockpalast CD/DVD
Label: Repertoire
Tracks: 7 on CD/9 on DVD
Website: http://www.repertoirerecords.com

Back in the heady days of 1977 I was a young guitar player fascinated by all the great axe-men I could listen to.

One night listening to John Peel I heard Steve Hillage for the first time. I loved his languid effortless style and was hooked.

I hunted down his albums - vinyl of course - Fish Rising and L - and was transported into a hippy drippy world with Tibetan bells, synthesisers, and sublime guitar.

Now I have to chance to relive it all again with this superb CD/DVD package which was filmed for the German live music TV show Rockpalast on March 20, 1977.

Beautifully packaged, with excellent production notes, this set takes us back to another time when seven minute songs were the norm - on this CD you'll find one track - Lunar Musick Suite at a whopping 17 minutes!

The CD kicks off with the Salmon Song from Fish Rising, a pulsating rock with a spaced out central section. Hurdy Gurdy Glissando takes us from bluesy guitar to full-blown jazz-rock.

Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man is given the over-top Hillage treatment, with a superb guitar solo.

The band is firing on all cylinders - Miquette Giraudy (synthesisers), Clive Bunker (drums), Colin Bass (bass), Christian Boule (guitar), Phil Hodge (keyboards) and Basil Brooks (synthesiser and flute) - providing the background for Hillage to flower.

The Solar Musick Suite shows them at their best. It is followed by the blistering Lunar Musick Suite from L.

George Harrison's It's All Too Much features a change in guitars after Hillage breaks a string on the customary Les Paul and returns with the Strat to complete a storming cover version.

The final song on the CD is Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away (Glid Forever) which builds slowly and explodes into life with some stunning guitar. The song would later appear on Hillage's Motivation Radio album. I bet Buddy Holly never thought his classic three-chord song would ever sound like this though!

The DVD has two extra songs - Aftaglid Pt1 and Electrick Gypsies.

Just sit back and let it all wash over you…

John Knighton