Saturday Deluxe / 8 June 2019
Steve Hillage
The Steve Hillage Band play London tonight for the first time in a very long time. The Shepherd’s Bush Empire show is the last in a series of three UK dates that marks the 40th anniversary of the band’s first UK tour.
The English musician is associated with the Canterbury scene of the late ’60s / early ’70s and formed short-lived outfit Khan; worked with Kevin Ayers for a while; was a member of Gong and then went on to release a series of solo albums in the late 1970s, including Fish Rising, L, Motivation Radio and Green.
If you are interested in exploring Hillage’s output, the SDE shop has copies of his hefty Search For The Spark 22CD box set available, which include an exclusive signed photo print.
Order the Searching For The Spark box with exclusive signed photo print
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Prince / Originals
I had a sneak preview of the new Prince album, Originals, during the week. Prince archivist Michael Howe came over to the UK to give some insight into the recordings on the album. I interviewed Michael about a month ago about Prince and the archive (where I also put some of your questions to him) so stay tuned for that interview on SDE soon. Unfortunately for us physical music fans, TIDAL has a two week period of exclusivity on this album, so we have to wait until 21 June for it to be released.
Read more about Prince’s ‘Originals’ here.
Kate deals continue
How good were those Kate Bush deals last weekend? Virtually all of her vinyl and CD remasters were dirt cheap, in the UK. Well, surprisingly, all these deals are still ALL available, so if you haven’t picked anything up yet then you can still do so. If you’re looking for advice, I’d say the first 7CD box at £33 is what they call a ‘no brainer’ and for vinyl fans the fourth box – a 4LP set with remixes, B-sides and rarities for just £40 falls into the same category.
Browse the Kate Bush deals on vinyl and CD box sets.
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Seems good ol Kate isn’t selling that many records anymore.
Saw Steve Hillage last night at the Shepherds Bush Empire and he & his 6 piece band (including Gong) were mesmerizing.
Steve also honoured the late great founder of gong Daevid Allen.
Hillage contributed to some of Gong’s greatest work, produced one/two of Simple Minds finest albums, was an electronica pioneer, & remains a spellbinding guitarist. He was an obvious inspiration for a contemporary sonic explorer like Steven Wilson, definitely a kindred spirit.
If you have the chance go and see him later in the year.
Keep your eyes open for Steve Hillage – “The Golden Vibe”
Ordered Kate Bush box sets 1, 2 and 4 last wednesday and received them yesterday. Paid €146, including p&p so it’s approx €49 per box set. Pretty good price.
About Steve Hillage, he’s obviously a great musician but also a great producer. Love his work with Rachid Taha and The Orb. In the same vein as Jah Wobble or Eno, he’s been a pioneer. Great artist.
amazon lists the dbl lp and cd set of prince not released until july. is this only for the deluxe package
No, all three vinyl configurations of “Originals” have a release date of July 19th, including standard edition (2LP black vinyl), limited edition (2LP white vinyl, available exclusively from https://store.prince.com/), and deluxe edition (2LP purple vinyl + CD). June 21st is the release date for CD and digital download only.
And Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus already available in the USA.
The new Peter Frampton Band disc is actually very very good. Oh, and the new Santana Africa disc has bonus tracks if you buy it at Target!
J
I have the Hillage box and if anyone is in the fence, don’t wait. This is a great set with tons of relevant, interesting material for the uninitiated, as I was period to buying the set.
My review from another retailer’s site:
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Did research, took a chance, and it paid off!
I have a habit of buying boxes from artists I know little about. Sometimes it works out (Pretty Things, John Martyn), and sometimes it doesn’t (names withheld to protect the innocent).
This box was just such a gamble. I watched all the promo videos and read all the background I could find. I listened to some tracks, and ended up not being able to resist. And I am now putting “Searching for the Spark” in the winners column.
I am blown away by the range of music in this massive set. From straight on rockers, to more atmospheric pieces, all centered around this amazing guitar work. I have had the set for about a month, and I am working my way through the contents slowly. I listened to alot of this set through headphones, and the recording quality, save for some of the live material, really is clear and well produced.
The packaging is really top notch. All the extras provide a whole picture that allows someone like me a real opportunity to follow Steve’s career. The main book is massive, and is the most impressive box set book I have ever seen in this genre. All the clippings and photos are worthy of a true archival trove. A minor issue is the paper sleeves in the CD wallets are hard to remove, as some are lightly glued in the sleeve. I have put the discs in Japanese thin plastic inner sleeves, and then back in the paper sleeves, and in the CD wallets, to keep them in great shape.
I am really glad I took the chance on this set. I look forward to many years of listening and discovering more gems.
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By the way, Amazon US is asking over $600 for this set, new. Without the signed print!
Good to see SDE finally recognising the Steve Hillage box set. It mysteriously was completely ignored on these pages when first released, so better late than never.
I snapped it up from Burning Shed when it was first released and can highly recommend it; a fantastically well put together set, with top quality running throughout. Well worth the price. I do wonder if we will get a follow-up one day covering the System 7 years.
Got my copy of Kate Bush’s the Other Sides now and can confirm that it most definitely DOES fit inside the Remastered Part One box very neatly. I wonder if this was the idea all along, and somewhere in the planning stages someone screwed up so that the Other Sides ended up in the wrong box?! Anyway that completes my KB collection (I’m not touching box #2; that’s for the experts only) so all is well.
Paul has a wife and two kids (I think), and he spends a good chunk of his life packaging musical wares with attention and care, give ‘im a break!
KB’s Other Sides definitely does not fit inside my remastered box. When it was released, people were saying some sets were gloss & some were not. Mine is gloss, perhaps that’s the reason?
The Hillage box is awesome. I nearly didn’t buy it because I owned so much of it already, but I’m very glad that I did. Here’s hoping for a live album off the current tour, for those of us who can’t get to see him.
Hello — Just wanted you to know that my Rolling Thunder Revue Box showed up Friday – and-wow – pretty amazing stuff -of which I’ve only just sampled a bit. Dylan was Killer on this ‘tour’ (well, not really a tour, more like a jaunt…) – only wished that they could have included the songs of other performers and guests – but I’m sure a licensing hell —
I shall be seeing Mr Hillage when System 7 tour later in the year. Would love that boxset, but £200 is too rich for me!