L

Steve Hillage | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B000000HZ8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,971 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Hurdy Gurdy Man

2. Hurdy Gurdy Glissando

3. Electrick Gypsies

4. Om Nama Shivaya

5. Lunar Musick Suite

6. It's All Too Much

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spacy hippie guitar and synth based psychadelic rock! Wow!, October 23, 2000

By 

Micheal O Mealoid - See all my reviews

This review is from: L (Audio CD)

Produced by Todd Rundgren, "L" represents Hillage moving away musically from his days in Gong, and developing a style of his own. This was his second solo album, (his first, Fish Rising, was far more in the style of Gong, especially their third radio gnome album, "You"), and contains the beginnings of Steve Hillage's own very distinctive style.

If all of that stuff above about Gong, etc. means nothing to you, don't worry. All you need to know about this album is that it contains some great mid-seventies hippie oriented guitar rock. The earlier Gong stuff was quite psychedelic and a bit avant garde jazzy, but Hillage is first and foremost a guitar and synth player, and so his solo albums reflected this, although definitely keeping the other-worldly feeling of his days in Gong.

This album, and Hillage himself, benefited greatly from Todd Rundgren's production. Rundgren was, at the time, one of the most sought after producers in rock, and it was certainly a coup for Hillage to get him. The resulting album had a heavier rock feel to it, but also had a distinctive Todd Rundgren sound to it (I suppose it helped that Rundgren used his band, Utopia, as the musicians on the album, apart from Hillage and his partner, Miquette Giraudy!).

Hillage started to sing about things that interested him really for the first time on this album, mainly consisting of how wonderful the world will be in the forthcoming electric age. Hurdy Gurdy Man, is about a wandering minstrel, singing songs of love as he goes about (perhaps Hillage saw himself as the subject of the song?). The song gets quite fast, and by the end is a blistering guitar solo that'll leave your hair standing on end. Hurdy Gurdy Glissando is basically a slower and more acoustic version, but still nice. Electric Gypsies is probably the seminal track, providing ideas for future work, especially on Motivation Radio, his next album. The song is about a vision of the world becoming a network of happy and fulfilled people, taking full advantage of all the benefits of the electric age, travelling around a good and happy earth. As you can guess, this song and the picture it paints is the epitome of hippiedom! Sadly, not to be.

The next three songs (side 2 in the good old days of vinyl) are less forward looking, being closer to Hillage's Gong material, but good nonetheless. Om Nama Shivaya is an Indian tinged gentle song, with a nice sliding guitar solo, while Lunar Musick Suite is a quite long rock opus, which develops slowly through several movements (including a trumpet solo!) into an intricate feast of guitar, synth and drums. It's All Too Much is a good cover of a George Harrison number, with reedy synths and compressed drums, which certainly stands comparison to the original, although it is quite different.

As a record of the very best in mid-seventies hippie rock, you can do no better than this album. Hillage's later albums were better, in my view, but this one for some reason seems to really stand out as something really special. It's all about love, and gypsies, and wandering minstrels, but has plenty of good solid guitar and depth of sound to it, thanks to Rundgren. (this album even got a mention on The Young Ones, a very influential anarchic comedy programme on the BBC in the early/mid eighties, when Neil, the hippie character, was playing it at a party, when the police broke it during a raid. "Oh, no! That was Steve Hillage" says Neil.)

Overall, this is a fab album, well worth whatever it is you have to pay for it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars L -3 1/2 stars, September 18, 2005

By 

Warren W. Nelson (Mooresville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: L (Audio CD)

After steve hillage's magnificent debut, much less his incredible work with gong which practically defined the role of space rock guitar, the sophmore 'L' is a somewhat more staight ahead performance. This album still participates in the joyous cosmology but also introduces more basic songcraft('electrick gypsy' 'it's all too much') where his personality becomes more clearly defined. Though not as spectacular as 'fish rising', this album literally has astounding psychedelic guitar work all over it with the excellant support of utopia(particularly the bass). 'lunar music suite' meanders a tad, and some of the songs toward the end are weaker than the others, but the guitar work is beyond superb.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Steve Hillage - 'L' (Caroline), July 13, 2005

By 

Mike Reed (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: L (Audio CD)

Originally released in 1976,as this was his second solo effort as well as the follow-up to the 'Fish Rising' lp(see my review)and about as good.Much of this CD shows up on his 'BBC Radio One Live' disc(see my review).A good progressive art rock title by the cosmic guitar guru himself to check out when you're in the mood.Liked hearing the studio versions of "Hurdy Gurdy Glissando","Electric Gypsies" and "Lunar Music Suite".Also,his cover of George Harrison's(R.I.P.)"It's All Too Much" isn't bad.A should-have.