I was playing Steve Hillage at Madison Square Garden in 1977, on orange vinyl recorded as support, I think, to ELO. It draws on Fish Rising and L with a brilliant snatch of The Glorious Om riff, or Master B builder as it was known in Gong.
It is brilliant guitar wizardry, supported by glissando guitar, swirling keyboards, complex drumming and Mirette Gaudy’s French trippy contributions.
It is, in the best way, far out, in that lyrically and musically it hints at a more ethereal, metaphysical consciousness, talking about ‘the spark within’ and other splendid concepts.
Of course I’ve adored Hillage since I was an impressionable 16-year-old and got into ‘L’, produced, of course, by Todd Rundgren utilizing Utopia as his backing band. Sometimes, weirdly, it does sound a bit Utopia-ish occasionally.
When I was a teenager, it all went deep with me as a hippy kid, which only really, at that time, meant having long hair and knackered patched jeans and baseball boots. I was open to such influences. I don’t really know why I took that route from an early age but it just appealed to me, along with all things Tolkein. I read the Mabinogion, the Welsh folk tales. I had a sense there was an other, a beyond, an existence just out of view and Hillage’s music was the zenith of all of that.
At that time, far out music was, although niche, everywhere and brought several strands of music together. Under the far out or stoner umbrella, were such people as Hawkwind who explored more sci-fi themes. Tim Blake, who fits into that family tree, explored the outer reaches of consciousness via a big bank of synthesisers.
Tangerine Dream and assorted Krautrock bands like Nektar reached for that vibe. Other people like Camel flirted with fantasy and far outedness, though not as whole-heartedly as Hillage. Of course much of Hillage’s music evolved out of Gong and you can hear it in their jazz-rock ramblings.
Less obvious people like Ash Ra Tempel were acid-fried and though they didn't sell were popular amongst that subset.
The ironic thing is at the time in 1977 was embracing punk, new wave and disco and things definitely not far out, I think that aided the appeal. It felt as if, by embracing it, you were reaching for greater knowledge, as unfashionable as that might be. And it never really left me, even if I’ve shaved off the more extreme elements over the years. Music searching for truth is as attractive now as it was 47 years ago.
