Review: Steve Hillage – Fish Rising (1975)

Fish Rising is the first solo album by Gong guitarist Steve Hillage.

Fish Rising was recorded in the aftermath of Gong’s You album, while there was a power struggle within the band not only over musical style but also over leadership. Hillage had little time or care to get involved in this battle as he was busy working on a solo album.

Fish Rising can be seen as a natural extension of Hillage’s earlier own band Khan, who made their first, and only, album Space Shanty in 1972. However, Fish Rising easily outshines Space Shanty on every level.

Of course, a major relative of Fish Rising’s music at this stage is Gong’s latest album You (1974), in which Hillage had played an important role. However, Fish Rising is not a one-to-one sequel to You.

You’s spacerock elements are also present on Fish Rising, but on the other hand, instead of jazz-rock, Hillage’s own album has more than a hint of the Canterbury spirit that is an important part of his musical roots. On the other hand, Canterbury prog is often referred to as British jazz-rock so I understand that there may be some contradiction in my description. But let’s just say that the band’s more muscular and often quite complex Canterbury sound is not the most jazzy tendency of that genre.

Fish Rising’s Gong sound is no surprise as Fish Rising’s band is mostly made up of the line-up from Gong’s You album minus Daevid Allen and Gilly Smyth. That is, synthesizers are played by acid head Tim Blake, sax/flute by eccentric Didier Malherbe and a powerful rhythm section is provided by funky Mike Howlett and virtuoso drummer Pierre Moerlen. And that’s not all, with help from Henry Cow’s Lindsay Cooper on bassoon, old Khan pal Dave Stewart on organ and Hillage’s girlfriend Miquette Giraudy on backing vocals and synthesizer. Of course, Hillage’s own mercurially supple electric guitar playing and his sultry hippie vocals take centre stage.

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The backbone of the album is formed by its three long (9-17 minutes) tracks ”Solar Musick Suite”, ”The Salmon Song” and ”Aftaglid”. In between the first two are a couple of shorter and less important, but still quite enjoyable, tracks.

At almost 17 minutes, ”Solar Music Suite” is probably the most complex track on the album. ”Solar Music Suite” starts off as a leisurely floating piece, but slowly takes more and more turns and eventually the instrumental parts explode into a few moments of truly staggering fireworks. The band that Hillage has assembled around him is truly a band of heavy calibre. Hillage’s own sometimes quite long, even gracefully bouncing and shimmering guitar solos have succeeded in becoming a natural part of the song.

The complex ”Solar Music Suite” is well counterbalanced by the album’s other highlight, ”Salmon Song”, which rocks in a much more straightforward way, backed by an addictive guitar riff and Howlett’s insistent bass pattern. However, ”Salmon Song” doesn’t remain a monotonous rut, but has an interesting cosmic sparkling interlude where Lindsay Cooper’s bassoon gets to rumble a few times with a nice sound.

The 15-minute ”Aftaglid”, which closes the album, is a handsome track as well, and the closest of the album’s tracks to You’s spacerock vibes, with Tim Blake’s pulsating synths taking up plenty of space. Krautrock is also called kosmische musik, but yes, I think ”Aftaglid” captures the cosmic moods more effectively than the average German star voyager. The song also successfully manages to incorporate Indian overtones, so it’s quite an eclectic mix. A very tasty mix.

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Read also: Review: Hatfield And The North – The Rotters’ Club (1975)

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Hillage himself handles the main vocals on the album and although he is by no means a particularly strong singer this is not a major problem at any point. And especially in the more relaxed moments of the album, there is something very attractive about Hillage’s sleepy space cadet voice.

Fish Rising didn’t exactly break the bank commercially, peaking at a relatively modest 33rd place in the UK charts at best and only lasting three weeks on the charts. In terms of quality, however, the album was strong evidence that Hillage can stand on its own. In the years that followed, his solo career enjoyed a surprisingly high level of popularity even as the general commercial trend in progressive rock took a downward turn.

Steve Hillage released many more excellent, and more commercially successful, albums in the 70s, but for me Fish Rising is the absolute highlight of his solo career.

Best tracks: ”Solar Musick Suite”, ”Salmon Song”

Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI

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https://open.spotify.com/album/2IfufXMgO8WKAIEeyNbzoY?si=97qMqX63TImgfldk9GjeFg

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More reviews can be found here

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Tracks:

Side A

1. ”Solar Musick Suite” – 16:55
2. ”Fish” – 1:23
3.”Meditation of the Snake” – 3:10

Side B
4. ”The Salmon Song” – 8:45
5. ”Aftaglid” – 14:46

Steve Hillage: vocals, electric guitar Miquette Giraudy: backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers Mike Howlett: bass Pierre Moerlen: drums, marimba, darbuka Tim Blake: synthesizers, tamboura Didier Malherbe: saxophone, flute Lindsay Cooper: bassoon Dave Stewart: organ, piano

Producer: Steve Hillage and Simon Heyworth

Label: Virgin

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