SPACE SHANTY

Steve Hillage and Dave Stewart made this English/Dutch-styled remarkable album. The music corresponds to the progressive Canterbury style; you listen to it from the beginning to the end with a great satisfaction. Hillage is very structured on this record: he plays a coherent electric guitar that participates to the music, although he sometimes add some psychedelic & spacey guitar sounds, a bit like on his solo albums. Hillage sometimes uses acoustic guitars, which soothes the already mellow music. The tracks sound a bit like Hatfield & the North and Caravan, since the keyboards are quite similar: one can recognize the typical lagged wah-wah organ of the Canterbury style and some electric piano notes. Dave Stewart gives some effects to his basic keyboards, and I must admit the result is quite impressive. The lead & backing vocals are a STRONG point here: the male vocals are rather highly pitched, perfectly suited for the Canterbury style. I'm sure the album is not very well known, but it should!

Rating: 4.5 stars