Steve Hillage "Live At Deeply Vale 1978"
Ozit Morpheus CD OZIT781
The Deeply Vale Free Festivals - there were four of them, mid-70s, set within
Rochdale's stark idyllic moor lands - seem to be edging deeper and deeper into
the mythology of the North West history. Articles, television programmes, DVDs
all presently clamour for your attention, and at first glance one might be
forgiven for wondering why. After all, visions of a mud-encrusted crowd built
from a disparate cocktail of latter-day greying hippies and thin-tied
spike-topped punks might not appear immediately inspiring. But the magic lay
within that disparate street cocktail. Deeply Vale stood for an unlikely
tolerance in fractured times.
This Steve Hillage set absolutely typified the prevailing feel. With his Gong
days receding - offshoot Here And Now also performed in a moveable package that
included The Fall and ATV- Hillage was given licence to follow the extensive
wanderings of his guitar-driven muse. While this may hint at insular
improvisation, Hillage always seemed to emit an invigorating freshness. This is
apparent from the outset here, as his naturally attractive playing pulls the set
immediately out of the sea of lo-fi festival background noise. Lovely,
invigorating, organic, evocative. You can almost taste the mud.
Record Collector, November 2004
