Thefirst live performance of The Steve Hillage Band in 25 years!
July 14, 2012 - London,UK – The Gong Family Unconvention at the Melkweg club in Amsterdamin November 2006 was a unique 3 day event in which all the originalmembers of the legendary psychedelic band Gong came together andperformed their own individual sets. Guitar legend Steve Hillage, whowas a prominent part of the "classic" Gong line-up of 1973-75felt it was a great opportunity perform again some of the songs fromhis 1970s solo albums. Steve Hillage is widely considered a guitarinnovator, andis associated with the Canterbury scene, working in experimentaldomains since the late 1960s. Besides his critically acclaimed solorecordings, along with Gong, Steve has been a member of the ensemblesKhan and System 7.
Steve'slive set at the Gong Family Unconvention in 2006 provoked a rush ofexcitement and emotion at the event, and this was beautifullycaptured on film and recording – and is now available on this DVDand CD.
Performingwith Steve were his long-time musical partner Miquette Giraudy onsynthesisers, Gong bass player Mike Howlett who played on Steve's'Fish Rising' album from 1975, and Gong drummer Chris Taylor whostarted playing with the band in the 1990s. Also guesting was BasilBrooks on synthesiser, who played in Steve's band in the '70s.
Tracksplayed were as follows:
1. Hello Dawn (from the album 'Motivation Radio')
2. It's All Too Much (the Beatles cover – from the album 'L')
3. Aftaglid (from the album 'Fish Rising')
4. Solar Musick Suite (from 'Fish Rising')
5. The Salmon Song (from 'Fish Rising')
6. These Uncharted Lands (from the album 'For To Next' and neverbefore played live)
Inaddition the audio CD has 4 exclusive bonus tracks from Steve's1970's archive.
Tracksrecorded live at Amsterdam's Sonesta Koepelkerk on Dec 14th1979 just a few days before the the 1970's Steve Hillage Bandstopped touring are:
7. Palm Trees
8. Unzipping the Zype
9. Healing Feeling
Andfinally an interesting early version of one of Steve's 'FishRising' classics performed before it was recorded with the band Gong:
10. Solar Music Suite (early version)
TheDVD has bonus material in the form of a substantial interview withSteve and Miquette, and background clips from around the Gong Melkwegevent.
Theaudio for the CD and DVD was mixed by Steve in his A-Wave Studio andhas a rich, warm sound. The video DVD was edited and authored by longtime friend and Gong family member Harry Williamson in his SpringStudio in Melbourne Australia.
Theartwork was put together by Z3 who do the artwork for Steve andMiquette's dance music project System 7.
Ifindeed Steve does create some more music in the psychedelic rocksphere this powerful and unique live recording can be seen as alaunch pad. Steve currently sees his System 7, Mirror System, andSteve Hillage Band entities as operating in parallel and has beenwriting some new rock-based material for a possible Steve HillageBand album for release in 2013/14.
Formore information: http://www.facebook.com/stevehillageband
Topre-order Steve Hillage - 'Live in Amsterdam 2006 at the Gong FamilyUnconvention' CD & DVD:
Watch YouTube video of "Aftaglid" (from 'Live in Amsterdam 2006 at the Gong Family Unconvention' DVD) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSxk4YLRd-c
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