The new boxed set includes demos from your earliest recordings as well as outtakes and so on. Was it daunting having to sort through all that material? Hurdy Gurdy Man [Live at the Brighton Dome, November 1977] [05:26] CD 16 - Live In Munich, April 1979: 1. The Salmon Song [Live at Schwabinger Brau, Munich April 1979] [06:28] The bass playing is precise but minimal - following rather than taking part, but you hardly notice this, and really, this is probably all that's required to make this music complete - although it's not the sort of stuff a novice could play. early one-album band projects: the psychedelic Arzachel (Uriel) album in 1969 and Khan's outstanding "Space Shanty" album In many ways FISH RISING was STEVE HILLAGE's creative peak as nothing he did after even came close to the sheer magnanimous

Electronic/ambient/analog/chillchillout/downtempo/electronica/idm/modular/psybient/psychill & Bluetech's producer To summarise; Absolutely astonishing sounds and music, even today, that makes the contemporary explorations of Frose and Schultze, etc., sound like kids playing with electronic toys. Steve Hillage is an epitome of the spirit of the progressive music artist. He portrays to perfection the hunger for new Fish Rising" is an album full of psychedelic delights, featuring super soar-away soloing, spacey New Age ambience, dynamic clearly an important ingredient of the album, the main focus is to ride the cosmic waves and worship the gods of psychedelia whileGong were visually potent as a live experience, too. Capering in his wispy, gingery beard and pointy hat, the singer resembled Catweazle (from the children’s TV series about an 11th-century wizard). Hillage’s arrival as lead guitarist allowed Allen to concentrate on what he called “audience connection and ritual theatrics”. Another focal figure on stage was Smyth, who, recalls Howlett, “wore fantastic costumes and projected this earth-mother-slash-witch trip. She couldn’t really sing, but with the ‘space whispers’ she developed this whole new style of vocal that didn’t exist before. She’d incant poetry and spin out certain words with long echo, using a special switch on her microphone.” notably, Pierre Moerlen on drums and percussion and Mike Howlett on bass. The line-up also included Dave Stewart on Meditation Of The Snake (Alternative Mix) [03:17] CD 7 - Live Herald (1978): 1. The Salmon Song [Live at The Rainbow Theatre March 1977] [07:38] It’s insane. There’s not one good thing you can say about Brexit. Not one thing at all. It’s wrong, sez me! Miquette’s French and I’m English. We’re European! I don’t want that part of my identity robbed from me. It won’t be. I’m not going to change. I would award this album a complete Masterpiece rating, but sadly, the songs themselves let the album down heavily - Exhibit A: (vocoder) "Way down below the oceans, we'll be riding on our emotions..." (Sea Nature); Exhibit B: "Palm Trees" (say no more...)

various bands that have become recognized over the decades as highly influential musical entities in their own right. Starting his By 1973’s Flying Teapot – the first instalment of a Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy recorded for Virgin – Steve Hillage’s spectacular Hendrix-influenced guitar entered the fray along with synth swoops from Tim Blake. Then for Angel’s Egg (1974) – after his astrologer girlfriend calculated that Gong’s star sign lineup required a Taurean bassist – Motown fan Mike Howlett arrived to push the sound in a groovier direction, meshing with the precision hyper-syncopations of new drummer Pierre Moerlen. Ever since his debut album, Steve Hillage have been slowly moving towards the shorter song format and Green was where this cycle was finally complete. This shift could be attributed to the changes in the music scene towards the end of the '70s but with this change Hillage also lost the spark that made his debut album such a pleasant surprise. appearing at times. As a whole, "Green" is somewhat more ambient than previous releases, relying to a greater extent on guitarFour Ever Rainbow (Part 3 Alternative Mix) [08:55] CD 10 - For To Next / And Not Or (1983): For To Next: 1. These Unchartered Lands [05:39] I’m sure I had my own share of early childhood and teenage angst. There was a period where I had to spend a lot of time on my own because there were various family crises and that was a very key moment for me. I found that I was okay on my own. I didn’t get particularly lonely and I think that’s where my creative muse started to operate. It was actually a tough time for the family, a very tough time for my parents. I was a bit young to fully appreciate what was going on but there were a lot of problems. It’s one of those instances though where you can apply a quote from the great Fela Kuti: “Even the bad can be good.”

electronic dance duo, System 7. He also teamed up with ambient musician Evan Marc in 2008 to record the

What’s your take on the Brexit referendum earlier this year, and the decision to take the UK out of the European Union?