Any appreciation for Steve Hillage?

.......so this bloke appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test* in 1976 making this amazing spacy music with brilliant lead playing, a little jazzy, clearly Hendrix-influenced but very much his own sound, made some fantastic albums in the 70s, had a whole new career in dance as System 7 who are worth checking out...........the standouts for me are Fish Rising, L, Live Herald and Open.........anyone else?

*for anyone unfamiliar, late-night 70s British rock TV programme- pretty much the only one then....

 

A must Steve Hillage album is

 

Definitely, both with Gong and some of his solo stuff (Fish Rising, L, Rainbow Dome Musick, Live Herald). I'm not a huge fan of his vocals (or the vocalist on the Khan LP), but the music's solid enough for me.

 

Sure. One of my all time favorite guitar players. Can't say I like System 7 though. Just the '70s material for me. I have everything from him up to Open.

 

Had the pleasure of seeing him live in a small venue.... a stunning guitarist, great albums too....still play Green quite often, have had it since the Seventies.

 

Hillage is one of my favourite guitarists both with Gong, and his own solo albums, Motivation Radio & Rainbow Dome Music being absolute faves. Never got on with System 7 stuff, Actually feel his music, spirit and energy are more necessary now than ever.

 

A must Steve Hillage album is also



Steve Hillage was here the producer, but his sound is easy to find in this early Simple Minds album 'Sons and Fascination'. During these post-punk days the Simple Minds were really great. So no stadium rock here!

 

Hillage is great. I think I started a thread about him here years ago. Personally, I prefer his solo material and Khan to most of Gong, although I think You is a really strong album.

 

A big fan here, in all of his incarnations - Uriel/Arzachel, Khan, Gong, Steve Hillage Band, System 7, Mirror System - I love them all.

Enjoy....

 

I think he has a very fluid and interesting style....and I love the work with Gong.

 

Neil certainly likes him...

 

Great musician. I'm a big fan of Gong and have been enjoying some of their amazing live performances with Hillage this week. I like some of his solo stuff as well, particularly Fish Rising, though sometimes the new age, space hippie lyrics get to be a bit much. It's amazing that he managed to remain fairly popular through the punk years.

 

I like 'Fish Rising' and 'L' enough, but the more song-based stuff from 'Motivation Radio' on just leaves me cold.

 

The title track from "And not or" is fantastic.

 

Just picked up a brand new vinyl reissue of Live Herald from eBay for £UK6.80 with free post. It lacks the studio material that was on side 4 of the original issue but sounds pretty good.

 

i have L.... i like it more than fish.

however for a early awesome steve you need "arzachel". its wonderful. his playing is a lot more bluesy there,

 

Love Steve Hillage. Khan's Space Shanty is a nice place to start, though the vocals are not great. Fish Rising is like Gong's You Part 2 and is excellent.

 

Hillage and/or Gong fans should be listing Paragong as well...

 

What do people think of the 1983 release For To Next? When I first heard it I thought What The F---- Is He Playing At but I'm giving it another listen at the moment. Hillage thinks it contains some of his best compositions.....

 

I have never knowingly heard a Steve Hillage song but I appreciate his production, co-writing and guitar work for Algerian singer Rachid Taha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A8wpjcMHSk8

 

I thought his singing ruined it. I love New Wave, but Steve is just not the right guy to sing it — his voice is just too weak.

 

Love the stuff with Gong, but haven't heard too many of his other projects.

 

I love Hillage and his work with Rachid Taha is worth finding. Love ' Made In Medina"!

 

I love both 'For To Next' and its sister record 'And Not Or'. The only Hillage album that does nothing for me is 'Open'. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it is his worst album - too much funk for my liking.