Album review: STEVE HILLAGE – LA Forum 31.1.77

Madfish [Release date 17.03.23]

Yet another Steve Hillage live album? And again focusing on the “classic era”? One for the fans, definitely, for whom the main attraction will be three bonus tracks recorded in London in March 1977 and seemingly left over from the ‘Live Herald’ release.

The main event, though, is the January gig that year at L.A. Forum when he supported ELO on their U.S. tour. It reminds us of Hillage’s ascendancy at this time. All psychedelic guitar, magic mushrooms and flying teapots.

Hillage always had a good band and here he is accompanied by the likes of Colin Bass (bass), Miquette Giraudy (synthesiser, backing vocals) and Clive Bunker (drums). Only Giraudy remains in the current line-up that plays UK dates in March/April coinciding with this album release.

There is, therefore, a whiff of “cash-in” about this project. The real problem is that much of this set list has been recycled over the years in different shapes and forms, starting with Live Herald in 1979.

The recording quality, originally from cassette, is only let down by annoying sibilance on the cymbals and the drum sound in general. The individual track editing however is sloppy with, for example, the merciful ending of ‘Meditation Of The Dragon’ (essentially a demo of Hillage’s effects unit) truncated and the somewhat ramshackle ‘It’s All Too Much’ capturing the previous song’s final flourish.

When we get the hippie dippy lyrics/vocals out of the way the blend of jazz fusion and rock can be quite engrossing especially if under the influence of something.

The bonus tracks are ‘Aftaglid’, ‘Electrick Gypsies’ and the Buddy Holly cover ‘Not Fade Away (Glid Forever) and whilst there’s no information in the liner note/credits these are presumably outtakes from the Live Herald album and of course the sound quality is so much better.

Somewhat stuck in his classic time zone I personally would like to see him focus on an oft-overlooked late seventies sojourn ‘Open’ which offered up some real gems which were more accessible for most non die-hards. But of course demands for a more straight-ahead approach from his label Virgin evidently sent him into record production in the 1980s and into the arms of The Orb in the 1990s.

At best, this album should be categorised as “historic”. The uninitiated may also like to track down the BBC Live In Concert released in 1992 along with Rainbow 1977 (2014) and ‘The Glastonbury Experience (Live 1979)’ (2022) which all provide both alternatives and duplicates from the same period. ***

Review by David Randall

Album review (Rainbow 77, 2014)
Album review (2006 remasters)

UK tour dates

24.3.23 Nottingham Rock City
25.3.23 Manchester O2 Ritz
26.3.23 Glasgow SWG3
28.3.23 Southampton The 1865
29.3.23 Exeter Phoenix
30.3.23 Bristol O2 Academy
31.3.23 Birmingham O2 Institute
01.4.23 London O2 Forum Kentish Town
02.4.23 Brighton Concorde 2

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)