STEVE HILLAGE LIVE AT THE DEEPLY VALE FESTIVAL '78
OZIT CD 781

The complete 77 minute concert on CD for the first time - I mean, this thing's so rare it's never even been bootlegged - well, not in this quality it hasn't! Yes you can really wake up now - it's a mixing desk recording - that's right, MIXING DESK! Time to foam at the mouth and reach for that computer button or phone and order - right now, from us - what is a slice of classic Hillage from a time when a live recording has never before been presented to us! The rather fabulous 'Live Herald' was from a year earlier, and this CD here really represents the "last of the old", as the new, altogether more muscular, rhythm section backs the trio of Hillage on guitar and vocals, Miquette Giraudy on synths and vocals and the late, lamented Christian Boule on lead, rhythm and glissando guitars. Musically it's a set of things from the first four albums and presented here in excellent quality, so that you'll hear magical playing from all concerned. In many ways, Hillage's guitar work here is arguably better than on the previous live album - there seems to be an added bite, and certainly the whole performance is a lot stronger, none of the heaviness taken away by post-production or anything like that - it's all here in gloriously "untampered" sound - you hear it exactly as you heard it at the time. Surely I don't need to say how essential this is for anyone into Gong, Hillage and all spheres of psychedelia but I'm telling you anyway - essential and then some!

Andy Garibaldi

For Goldmine review, June 2004 - click here!

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