GILGAMESH

In 1972, a keyboardist Alan Gowen, previously of the afro-beat band Assagai, Sunship (with King Crimson's Jamie Muir and Allan Holdsworth) and (one year later of) Hatfield And The North teamed up with a guitarist Rick Morcombe, saxophonist Alan Wakeman (the cousin of Rick Wakeman), bassist Jeff Clyne of Nucleus and Isotope and drummer Mike Travis to create Gilgamesh. After various personel changes, Wakeman left and Morcombe was replaced by a guitarist Phil Lee. In 1975, the quartet signed a record contract with Caroline to record their self-titled debut album.

Gilgamesh always remained fairly obscure, breaking up after recording two albums. Their sound is clearly shaped by their contemporaries, mainly Hatfield And The North. The band's sound however does not have the goofiness and the English sense of humor. As much as we could debate whether Hatfield And The North or National Health are fusion of progressive rock, Gilgamesh is a bit like Soft Machine - it's pretty much just straight-up jazz fusion. Unlike Soft Machine though, the quartet does not use jazz instrumentation like saxophones, but rather typical prog rock instrumentation of keyboards, a guitar, a bass and drums. The musicians are definitely very good at their craft. Alan Gowen's sound is dominated by an electric piano and a clavinet as well as a Chick Corea-like synthesizer. His style is inspired by previously mentioned Chick Corea as well as Dave Stewart and Mike Ratledge. Phil Lee's guitar work reminds of that of Phil Miller with pastel-like fuzz guitar. Mike Travis is a very decent drummer, capable of pulling off fantastic grooves, while Jeff Clyne's style is inspired by upright bass.

The album consists of eight tunes, three of which could be called "mini-epics" and two one minute-long piece. All the other tracks are kept between three and six minutes. Despite having a great dynamic variety between them and drawing dreamy soundscapes, they are very forgettable. And so is the whole album for that matter. The dry improvisation-based fusion style is quite boring, monotonous, ho-hum, and "too consistent". Despite the great instrumentalist abilities, every track (maybe with an exception of "Notwithstanding" and "We Are All / Someone Else's Food / Jamo And Other Boating Disasters - From The Holiday Of The Same Name") ask to get skipped. And it's a shame, because the band definitely could do much better than that! Just listen to the follow-up of this one!

In conclusion, the self-titled debut album of Gilgamesh presents phenomenal musicianship. However, it is overshaded by rather repetitive compositions, that lead to nowhere. This album is well suited for Canterbury fans and collectors, but not recommended for newcomers and those trying to get a taste of Canterbury scene. Much better things were to come from Gilgamesh. I am struggling between rating this album for two or three stars. Composition would get two stars, while playing would get four. So, the most adequate rating would be three stars!