Customer Reviews

Fish Rising

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What I have to add, beyond my full agreement with the other reviewers, is how inspired all these gifted musicians were in the studio. If you want to hear studio jams that cook to the point of nova-like intensity, there can be no better album. Just listen to the "horn" section ( probably Gong's Dieder Maherbe and Lindsay Cooper of Henry Cow on saxes and bassoon, repsectively) near the end of "The Salmon Song". What is even more remarkable is that the recording "smokes" even though much of the time all you are listening to is multi-layered Hillage.
Anyway, "Salmon" is hot from the get-go, "Solar Musik Suite" builds to a tremendous, shattering climax and "Aftaglid" has to be heard to be believed.All preferably LOUD.
This is the real deal. Probably explains its obscurity. None of the standard issue guitar gods (Clapton, Hendrix) EVER issued anything like this. And the only other thing I heard that was close was labeled "jazz" (LArry Coryell, Live at the Village Gate-its Coryell's ultimate psychrock jam and sadly forgotten now.)

I was a teenager in the midwest in the early 70's and pretty much kept my music purchases back then to "imports".... with a heavy tilt toward GONG, HAWKWIND, CAMEL, ASH RA TEMPLE, CAN, and like minded music. I ended up with a collection of about 3,000 LP's and later another 1,500 or so CD's. I of course ended up expanding my interests to include more main stream music (I bought my fair share of BLUE OYSTER CULT, STEVE MILLER BAND, JETHRO TULL and so forth).

But my heart belongs to instrumental music of a certain progressive tilt. I'm a huge fan of OZRIC TENTACLES, ORBITAL, THE ORB and other modern keepers of the faith (and I love my a fair share of world, electronica, and "new age" music too).

Anyway, I should get to the point... Out of all the music I have bought in my life time FISH RISING by STEVE HILLAGE is my favorite hands down. When it first came out I thought it was something special and time has done nothing to diminish my view of it. I know I wore out my first couple of imported LP's back in the 70's and I now probably have 6 or 7 vinyl copies and another 2 or 3 copies on CD.

FISH RISING was 20 years ahead of it's time when it first came out and it sounds as fresh today as it did then. Hillage's later solo albums are great also and I do enjoy his current SYSTEM 7 work but for me FISH RISING will always be his masterpiece.

If you have not heard this album and you love great space/jazz/rock/electronic music..... this is a MUST HAVE addition to your collection.

Man, is it possible to give an album 6 stars? If it was, I would have given it to Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising". From the opening, raga-influenced chords of 'The Sun Suite', to the conclusion of the same name, Steve proves that he was at the forefront of hippie-rock, and also proved that he could blow your mind long before his foray into techno. Utilising the talents of many of the musicians of the uber-hippie psychedelic rock band Gong, Steve and his cohorts display a remarkable adeptness at making the listener feel relaxed and peaceful. Note: Mind expanding drugs optional, but hardly necessary. Just lie on the floor with one speaker at each ear, and you'll fell the full effect.

Fish Rising serves as a continuation of the musical format presented on "You" by Gong, which was released the previous year. Just like its counterpart, the music on "Fish Rising" is very spacey with loads of atmospheric synthesizer work from Tim Blake, technically superior drumming from Pierre Moerlen, virtuosic guitar work from Steve Hillage, and rumbling bass playing from Mike Howlett. However, the complexity of the ensemble work and arrangements has increased over that presented on You to a degree that is at times staggering (i.e. the 17 minute Solar Musick Suite). Conversely, the whimsical side of Gong is also present as on the shorter piece "Fish". Steve Hillage is a gifted musician with considerable compositional skills and a great singing voice. This CD is highly recommended for fans of You-era GONG, and progressive rock in general.

Apparently, Steve Hillage was quite bid in England in the mid to late 1970's. I think the last album I pick up of his solo work was his first, Fish Rising. Clearly the most progressive of any of Steve's solo stuff. He and Dave Stewart had paired together in a band called Khan on an album called Space Shanty in 1972. Dave matured by the recording of this record in 1975 and is a BIG part of why this record stands on its own volition. The Sun Suite and Salmon Song really are a prog rockers' masterpeice. Intense, percussive, masterfully concieved and performed, at the price it is at now, this is a must! Great spin!

This album haunted me like a ghost for years. First I received most of it on a tape with an impossible to read label. Something about fish but nothing clear. As the friend who made me the tape disappeared, I was left with no way of knowing the artist as it became one of my favorite soundtracks for inner-space exploration. Over time, the cassette wore out, and for years I was without this music. In the meantime though, I'd been turned onto Gong, and one day a search of CDNOW on "fish" caused me to recognise the name of one of Gong's guitarists: Steve Hillage. Still uncertain, I took the chance and ordered the CD. If you could have seen the look on my face when the opening of the first track made me realize I had the right side at last!

This is the sort of music I would probably run to avoid if described to me: synth heavy effect laden guitar loops working on a neo-Christian/Gnostic theme. But all I can say is, this is genre-shattering stuff. Truly deep dharma. Don't miss it....

This album is just fabulous.Steve Hillage's guitar work is brilliant, creating soundscapes and atmospheres through interconecting musical themes.Although very much a solo album, Hillage brought together musicians from other bands he worked in so it feels very much like a band playing and enjoying playing together.
The album works very much as a whole, with a good mixture of soft and hard, it may take a few listens to get into but then you'll find a rewarding listen every time.There's a complex mixture of jazz, prog.,eastern psychodelia and rock, but somehow it doesn't come across as overcooked, but fresh and exciting.
This definately the strongest album that I've come across that Hillage has produced, and I highly recommend it, especially fans of Gong, Caravan and other Canterbury scene bands.

There must be a thousand Hendrix and Jimmy Page cover stories in guitar magazines all over the planet but I don't think you'll have an easy time finding even 3 of STEVE HILLAGE, member of psychedelic-ambient pioneers GONG, and easily one of the top 5 greatest and most original guitarists of the '70s. That's right! Top Friggin' 5! Just listen to this record and if you're not blown away completely by the incredible array of guitar sounds and effects and techniques used, you will definitely qualify to join the world organisation for the tonally deaf!

I have to echo the other reviewers here. The music swirls with complex changes yet flows like an improvisation. I've listened to it hundreds of times and there are just so many delightful intricate details that it will take years to absorb. Every serious guitarist should spend some time getting into this album.

Steve Hillage - Fish Rising, 1975.

This is Hillage's first real solo album, but the influence of his couple of years in Gong are quite audible. The album is quite complex, with long pieces of multi-layered music which shift and change as the song proceeds. The music is quite heavy in places, but is also liberally interspersed with quiet jingly tunes, as well as experimental and guitar based music.

There are three long songs, and two short ones. The two shorter ones, "Fish" and "Meditation of the Snake" are just Hillage having some fun with bubbling water, a bit of singing and lots of distorted guitar delay effects. The three long songs, "Solar Musick Suite", "Salmon Song" and "Aftaglid" are each a grand opus in their own right, moving from heavy distorted raw guitar based rock, to polished swirling synthesisers, plaintive electric guitar to Indian jingles and bells. Sometimes it seems that Hillage is just letting it all hang out!

This album has a lot of depth, and there's plenty going on in all of the songs. It takes a few listens before you know what's going on, and you have to pay attention. A bit like when you watch a film over and over, and each time you see more and more detail, same with Fish Rising, each time you listen you hear something new, a different instrument comes to the fore as you pay attention to it, you can hear musical phrases being refrained in different ways. It's a bit avant-garde jazzy, but don't let that put you off, there's plenty of rock there as well!

As I said, this album is complex, but very rewarding if you give it a chance. Every time I listen the songs I hear something new. It's the kind of album that I look forward to hearing again and again!