DAEVID ALLEN, GILLI SMYTH & HARRY WILLIAMSON: ‎STROKING THE TAIL OF THE BIRD

This is an intriguing collection of a number of ambient and New Age experiments made by Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Harry Williamson over the years. In fact, of the three performers it's actually Harry who dominates this time around, with each track built to a large extent around his synthesisers and Daevid and Gilli contributing guitar and ethereal vocals respectively in a sparse, minimalistic manner. At its best, this combination is really quite excellent; the latter sections of Stroking the Tail of the Bird Part 1 remind me in some respects of the similar sonic territories explored by Dead Can Dance. Not an album that was ever going to set the ambient world on fire, but a very credible contribution to the genre nonetheless.