RADIO GNOME INVISIBLE VOL. 2 - ANGEL'S EGG

Of the three albums that make up the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy, Angel's Egg is the most inconsistent and has the least interesting moments. Both Flying Teapot and You are much stronger albums. Although this is part two of the trilogy, the band went through some changes with this one. First of all, they switched labels and signed to Virgin. Second of all, this album introduces drummer Pierre Moerlen, bassist Mike Howlett and guitarist Steve Hillage. At this point Hillage was mainly known for being a part of the short lived Khan.

The production is a step up from Flying Teapot, but there is a lot more filler material here. The two standout songs are "Sold To The Highest Buddah" and "I Never Glid Before". "Buddah" has guitar mimicing Allen's vocals at the start. Good drumming in this song. A little bit of piano. I don't know if Blake plays piano or not but this is possibly the only Allen-era album to feature any piano. "Never Glid" has great rolling drums at the beginning. Good sax/guitar riff. Jazzy vocals with guitar mimicing the words. Great chorus. An awesome guitar solo by Hillage. After a while it calms down. Then a mini-bass solo. Tempo increases near the end, gets almost punk sounding.

"Other Side Of The Sky" is the longest but also most boring song. It begins with spacey noises and effects. Gilli whispers and Daevid gives a speech. Then he does a mantra. Electric piano and drums appear. Then guitar. At the end Daevid says "hare" to everything including "hare, hare supermarket". "Prostitute Poem" features Gilli playing the part of a prostitute with waltz style backing music. "Selene" is a ballad with no drums except a little bit of cymbals. I like the call and response guitars near the start.

There is a melody at the end of "Flute Salad" which gets reprised during "Oily Way". "Love Is How You Make It" starts with marimba and other mallet percussion. Then Daevid begins to sing. Before 2 minutes drums kick in. Drums stop after awhile and then a melody on mallet percussion. This is followed by drums and Daevid singing.

With the presence of Moerlen there is a stronger jazz influence than what came previously. Hillage seems to take the spotlight in the guitar department. Although Angel's Egg has Moerlen, Howlett and Hillage, the three don't quite gel like they do on You. All three will remain until Shamal. A good album overall, but you are better off hearing the other two volumes of the RGI first. 3 stars.