I think it was around 2004 that Steve Hillage’s ‘Deeply Vale’ double album
set was first officially released on CD by the ever industrious Chris Hewitt at
OzIt-Morpheus Records, who has made something of a cottage industry out of
repackaging, re-releasing and reissuing material from the late 70s Deeply Vale
scene. There’s something about an economic recession which drives the British
out into the countryside to stage and attend music festivals, as a consequence
of which the mid to late 1970s were peppered with such events. The festival
scene was neutered by the conscienceless Thatcher government (the notorious
“Isle of Wight Act”), and then all but killed off altogether by the rampant
consumerism and red tape of Blair era, and only in the past few years has the
counter-culture started to gather pace again with the economy heading ever
further into the doldrums – just about every weekend now there’s a festival
happening in an English park, wood or a field somewhere, which can only be a
good thing for live music generally.
Deeply Vale was one of the smaller festivals (nowadays termed “boutique” events)
to spring up during the last recession, four of them taking place annually from
1976 onwards, set in a wooded valley that lies between Bury and Rochdale in the
North West of England. One of the high-spots of the July 1978 event was a
headline set by none other than Steve Hillage, the high priest of bobble hats
and guru of the glissando guitar. Hillage’s ‘Live Herald’ double album, collated
from various concerts played during 1977-78 (along with some new studio
recordings) and released in early 1979, has long been acclaimed as one of the
touchstone live LPs of the era; but the Deeply Vale set, which didn’t see the
light of day until 25 years later, makes a far better job of transporting the
listener to a place filled with hippies, sunshine, teepees and exotic aromas; a
place where Hillage’s music fills the air and eternally belongs. The set is made
up as you’d expect of songs from ‘Fish Rising’, ‘L’, ‘Motivation Radio’ and (my
personal favourite) ‘Green’, which was recorded during the previous April using
primarily American session musicians, the only permanent fixtures being synth
player Miquette Giraudy and Steve himself. The group which toured the U.K. and
Europe in the Spring and Summer of 1978 and which features on this album is
significantly different, with Steve and Miquette accompanied by amongst others
the late Christian Boulé (guitar), drummer Andy Anderson (who later went on to
play with The Cure), and the Global Village Trucking Company’s John McKenzie on
bass (John later went on to join the Man band).
So, a beautifully produced live album featuring some of the ‘70s greatest at the
peak of their stoned prowess, pressed on 180 gram psychedelic vinyl and housed
in a thick card sleeve – what is there not to like?
Also available from the same label (and similarly highly recommended) are
repackaged deluxe vinyl represses of albums by Tractor and The Way We Live, both
albums which I know for sure the Terrascope has reviewed and featured in the
past, so we'll move swiftly on to a couple of related DVD releases.
Hillage’s ‘Searching for the Spark’ from the above set also appears on a DVD
released by OzIt-Morpheus entitled ‘Deeply Vale Festivals’, available from the
same source. Overall it’s a bit heavy on the documentary and light on
performance for my tastes, but Gong completists will no doubt want to snaffle
it.
To my mind a more watchable DVD (also from OzIt-Morpheus) is a celebration of
the legendary 1972 Bickershaw festival, organised on what turned out to be wet
May bank holiday weekend in a bleak mining village of the same name, a suburb of
Wigan in the Northwest of England by future TV presenter Jeremy Beadle (with a
young Chris Hewitt helping out by distributing leaflets). The location may have
been less than inspirational but the music is never less than captivating, with
live performances from the Incredible String Band, Grateful Dead, Donovan,
Kinks, Family and Captain Beefheart amongst others.
Interestingly, what today is seen as the pinnacle of the rampantly commercial
megafestivals, Glastonbury, was originally planned as a model of the alternative
society, a serious attempt to put the counter-culture ideal into practice. The
September 1970 Glastonbury Festival, staged 24 hours after Jimi Hendrix’s death,
saw Pilton dairy farmer Michael Eavis charging people just a pound each to see
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Al Stewart, Steamhammer, Stackridge and Keith Christmas. The
June 1971 Summer Solstice Festival on the same site was not only intended to be
a free festival but also had far loftier ideals: a medieval fair encompassing
music, dance, poetry, theatre, a pyramid stage and lights, principally organised
by two fallen scions of the landed gentry – Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill
(grand-daughter of the wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill. Sadly she died in
2007, having acted as an adviser to Michael Eavis at all the subsequent
Glastonbury Festivals to date).
There was little advertising beyond hand-bills given out at gigs. No names of
the artists appearing were pre-released to the press, the organisers trusting
that people would come to Pilton having heard about the event by word of mouth
alone. Much as I’d love to do the same at Terrastock, I’m not brave enough to do
that even today with the internet spanning the globe – so this was a
considerable leap of faith for 1971! Nevertheless, between seven and ten
thousand people turned up, and were treated to performances by amongst others
Bronco, Terry Reid, David Bowie, Gong, Traffic, Magic Michael, Help Yourself,
Mighty Baby, Skin Alley, Brinsley Schwarz, Quintessence, Quiver, Henry Cow,
Linda Lewis, Fairport Convention, Edgar Broughton, Hawkwind and the Pink
Fairies. Inevitably rumours of the Grateful Dead appearing were unfounded
(apparently the band themselves wanted to play, but Andrew Kerr had a
disagreement with Warner Brothers over the spelling of the word Fayre/Fair, so
Warners prevented them... I have to say, the more I see and hear about Andrew
Kerr, the more I like this guy!)
As well as the subsequent release of a triple gatefold sleeve LP celebrating the
event, with live recordings from the gig itself plus contributions from many of
the names listed above – including a whole live side donated by the Grateful
Dead to make up for their non-appearance - the festival was filmed, primarily by
Si Litvinoff, Peter Neal and Nic Roeg (whose debut feature film ‘Performance’
had just been released). The footage wasn’t edited and assembled until a year or
two later, and rather pleasingly majors on the people attending the event, on
the festival as an entity of itself, on the mystique of Glastonbury and the
social aspects rather than purely on musical performances, though there are
plenty of these as well – notably Traffic, Terry Reid (with Kaleidoscope’s David
Lindley on guitar), Pink Fairies, Magic Michael, Quintessence, Arthur Brown,
Fairport Convention, Melanie, Linda Lewis and Family (with Roger Chapman’s
legendary ‘electric goat’ vocals proving too much for the microphones in places
– a perennial problem for the film-makers, the soundtrack to the movie was later
overdubbed by some of the bands involved).
The movie received a short theatrical run in 1973, but aside from the occasional
festival and late night TV screening it’s been unseen ever since.
Phil McMullen
www.terrascope.co.uk