Steve Hillage "Live At Deeply Vale 1978"
Ozit Morpheus CD OZIT781

For some strange reason I had never come across Steve Hillage prior to this CD, although even I have heard of his album, "Live Herald", which was produced only a year before Steve's gig at The Deeply Vale Festival. Possibly it is the existence of that album which has caused these tapes to be buried for so long, but I do know that I now want to search out other things by Steve, because this set is terrific. This double CD release contains the complete 77-minute set taken from the mixing desk, plus some of the songs also recorded from the audience, plus some stage announcements and songs by Tractor and "Babylon's Burning" by The Ruts. But these are just extras to the thirteen numbers provided by Steve and his band, Christian Boule, John McKenzie, Miquette Giraudy and Andy Anderson.

The album starts with a stage announcement: "The Radio Caroline Roadshow would like to thank the guy that has just blotted us all out with that acid!" Then it is off into the trip that is Steve Hillage and "Saucer Surfing". Steve was obviously enjoying himself, as was the crowd, and it is obvious from this performance just how much bands like Ozric Tentacles owe to Steve. Coming to this as a 'musical virgin', I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. All I knew was that he had been in Gong, but this performance with guitars and keyboards creating a totally separate musical world is awesome. This CD set comes with two booklets, one detailing Hillage and the other - the festival itself.

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