This is Steve’s second full length solo album, and was released in ’76 after a stint with the cosmic hippies, Gong. This album was produced by Todd Rundgren in the US. There are only six songs on the album, three of which are covers. One of which is Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man which is better than the original, it has a killer solo from Steve. The whole album has that space hippy vibe to it with a huge dose of Krishna thrown in, and was probably recorded whilst high on copious amounts of chemicals.
Hurdy Gurdy Glissando is very trippy and groovy and has a superb repeating bass line and some great guitar. You want to know where Ozric Tentacles got their inspiration from, look no further than here! Electric Gypsies feels as though we are back in the late sixties, especially with the harmonies. Om Nama Shivaya is a modern take on a traditional Indian piece. The 11 minutes of the album centrepiece, Lunar Musick Suite, is next and it’s a full on prog/jazz fusion experience – with a lot of hippy thrown in. The album closes out with a cover of George Harrison’s It’s All Too Much, which is a great rendition with a very odd snare drum sound.
This is one of my mood albums that I put on when I am already chilled.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
