Rainbow Dome Music

Steve Hillage | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B000000HZA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,316 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Garden of Paradise - Steve Hillage

2. Four Ever Rainbow - Steve Hillage

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mindblowing electronic music, November 7, 2001

By 

BENJAMIN MILER (Veneta, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rainbow Dome Music (Audio CD)

This one is way different from Hillage's other solo work, like Fish Rising, L, Motivation Radio, Green, etc., as this is an all instrumental album, largely electronic. I was a little hesitant to buy this album because it was released in 1979, released in an era where Virgin Records was beginning to pander to the Lowest Common Denominator (especially since Virgin ditched that cool Roger Dean created label with the ladies and snake by that time). But with Rainbow Dome Musick, I was completely blown away. Apparently the music was used for the Rainbow Dome at the Festival of Mind - Body - Spirit in London in April 1979, and if the event was as mindblowing as the music, I only wished I was there to witness that, but unfortunately I was only 6 years old and living in Eugene, Oregon at that time. There are only two cuts which tends to be repetitive, but it creates a wonderful hypnotic effect. "Four Ever Rainbow" shows the most mindblowing glissando guitar I have ever heard! Rainbow Dome Musick seemed to be liked by the ravers, but since I don't follow that scene, I love it for the spacy qualities. So if you love electronic music (like Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, etc.), Gong, or Hillage's solo efforts, you must have this album in your collection!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slowly shifting soothing synthy sonics., October 10, 2000

By 

Micheal O Mealoid - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rainbow Dome Music (Audio CD)

Rainbow Dome Musick.

This album was totally ahead of its time, with groups such as the Orb only catching up ten or more years later. While this album is quite different from all of Hillage's previous stuff (which was guitar and synth based rock, and very good too!), this album was a project for a "Body-Mind Festival" in England in the late seventies (you can just imagine it, can't you, all these spaced out hippies looking for somewhere to relax and some music to relax to!). The result was two 20 minute really excellent ambient synth recordings.

The music moves slowly, ebbing and flowing, shifting and changing textures as it goes along. If you can imagine each song like a river, big and wide and deep, moving slowly. The main musical thrust of each song moves slowly along, with big fat deep synthy sounds sweeping majestically across the sound stage, lots of modulation, reverb, sequencing, and other cool effects. But, here and there, there are little eddies in the music, swirling tinkling synths, understated guitar solos, fabulous bass lines, bells, water sounds, fading in and out, all combined seamlessly together into a wonderfully dreamy experience. This is fantastic stuff, and, as I said, well ahead of its time.

I think I should make special mention of Four Ever Rainbow, the second track. This is, in my opinion, possibly Hillage's single finest achievement. Beginning with a richly textured synthesisers, rising and falling slowly, sweep over you like water lapping at the shore. Then comes the guitar synth, notes picked out and tinkling all around, Tibetan bells punctuating the music every so often. Then it moves on, with the fat synth acting as an anchor, new higher pitched synths come in, singing aria-like, only to be supplanted by more but different deep synths that seem to bubble up from below the surface, like some huge up welling of water bringing more little swirling synths with it, finally turning into the best bit of all, a wonderful synth tune, the notes sometimes staccato, sometimes extended and modulated, it bounces unhurriedly along, and is just so sweet and good that it always brings a smile to my face. I used to listen to this song when going to sleep, as you can put it on real low but you still get the deep sound effects, very soothing.

On a historical note, this album led to the re-emergence of Steve Hillage in the 90's. By the mid-80's, Hillage had faded from view somewhat, but he discovered Alex Patterson in a club listening to this album, introduced himself as the artist, and from there went on to found System 7, a band based around Hillage and his partner Miquette Giraudy, but drawing in people such as Patterson to guest on the albums. Hillage is now very big again, owing his new lease of life to this album. Hopefully, this new interest in Hillage will lead people to listen again to his previous stuff, as there really are some gems in there (not to mention Gong, but that's another story...).

Getting right to the point, this is a fantastic album, one which I would strongly advise everyone and anyone to get.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated milestone album of electronic music, July 13, 2004

By 

W. Rosenblatt "[e-mail]" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rainbow Dome Music (Audio CD)

This is an amazingly beautiful album, especially in its latest digitally remastered incarnation. It's also an unheralded classic, deserving a slot as one of the most important in the history of electronic music -- right up there with Tangerine Dream's Phaedra and Rubycon, Terry Riley's Rainbow in Curved Air, Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting, and take your pick of several Klaus Schulze albums. Finally, this album is a seminal influence on today's trance/electronica scene through The Orb and Hillage's own System 7.

If you're new to Hillage, try this album, and then for a contrast, the Todd Rundgren-produced "L". The latter album has a much harder edge, covers of Donovan and the Beatles, and a track ("Lunar Musick Suite") that almost sounds like heavy metal (almost).