CLEARLIGHT SYMPHONY

Recorded at the Manor and put out on Virgin Records, it's not too hard to see that this was an attempt to replicate the success of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Apparently, the album was recorded through the simple means of recording a couple of 20-minute piano solos from Verdeaux and then overdubbing the rest of the instruments later on, as other musicians jammed using the piano solo as inspiration and Verdeaux added keyboard and synth flourishes. This explains why on one side Verdeaux is backed by a triumvirate of key musicians from Gong, whilst the other side features the core of what would become the Clearlight band.

The extent to which Verdeaux's piano solos dominate both sides means that the album almost slips into the New Age category, but there's enough prog twists added (often with a mild Canterbury flavour, no doubt due to the Gong presence) to keep prog fans satisfied. At the same time, though, the fact that the disc was an unabashed attempt to replicate the Tubular Bells formula is hard to overlook. Three stars - it's a fun listen, but it's a little too derivative and unimaginative to be a great listen.