AND NOT OR

This is a MEGA collection of instrumental tracks featuring some out of this world guitar work from Steve Hillage. It reminds me of the very early Ozric Tentacles with the moody synth sounds & broody bass lines & of course that supersonic guitar work. By all accounts 'For To Next' was not the album fans had hoped for although the track 'Alone' features some great fret work from Steve & isn't really a bad track. The rest aren't that good & in my opinion Steve was spending too much time trying to be a recognised 'vocalist' rather than being what he was-a superb guitar player! The tracks on 'And Not Or' prove this.No vocals to get in the way,just close your eyes & listen to these brilliant tracks. 'Before The Storm' could easily of been an Ozric track on 'Pungent Effulgent' & i'm sure this is one of the tracks that influenced Ed Wynne's guitar style. Very simple drum beats & bass lines lay the path for Steve's guitar to weave in & out of with those dark synths & echos always in the background. On the 4 minute mark the guitar gets savage with untold bends & soaring crisp notes. Even on the fade out Steve is still wringing the neck out of instrument & really the track should of gone on for another 2 or 3 minutes at least! 'Still Golden' is a real 'Up & at-um' track which i reckon would of been a brilliant live track,its one of those that you carnt help jiggin' too! Again real simple drum pattern with Steve walling in between the bass lines & synth sound effects,another stormer! From the middle of the track Steve changes direction with a more staccato guitar vibe before real-ling it all back in for the fade out,once again the jiggy beat & spacey soloing takes us to fade. Best of all is the title track 'And Not Or' this tune is superb-fantastic-brilliant!!! Like the rest of the tracks on this album the production is crystal clear-pin sharp. The track opens with a broody synth & bass line with Steve gently picking his notes in the background. As the track goes on once again the simple drum beat comes in with Steves lead guitar int winding with the infectious bass line. Its a stormer of a track,the guitar work is immense & in my opinion some of the best & most moving that ive ever heard,pure class! Again though sadly the track fades out on 6 minutes with Steve still shredding those notes,really it should of been a 10 minute track this! The three tracks ive mentioned are worth buying the album for alone but the others aren't bad either. The sad thing is Steve didn't really produce anything else like these tracks. OPEN wasnt a bad album but again some of the vocals spoit it for me. And Not Or?.....Yes please.