I bought this on vinyl at the time. I was already an avid listener to Gong, but I'm not sure I'd made the connection with how much Hillage had influenced the sound on Gong's later Radio Gnome albums.
This was heavily advertised in the music press, with Virgin keen to transform Hillage from hippie axeman to mainstream pop star. So after modest sales of his first solo (very Gong-like) album, Virgin sent him to USA to be produced by Todd Rundgren and backed by his band, Utopia, rather than by his usual 'Canterbury Sound' mates. And it worked - L was Hillage's most successful album.
I saw Hillage on this tour at Liverpool Empire Theatre, a gig which was remarkable only for the girl sitting next to me turning to me halfway through Hillage's set to ask me "What time is Steve Harley coming on?" About 9.30pm tomorrow was the answer.
It opens with a hurdy gurdy drone, leading into Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, an ordinary cover, intended to show off Hillage's guitar soloing. Hurdy Gurdy Glissando rattles along for 9 minutes, decent guitar work, but not exciting me. Electrick Gypsies is often seen as the ultimate 'hippie nonsense' track (famously on the record player in The Young Ones, when the hippie party is busted by the police) and it's OK, but nothing groundbreaking.
Om Nama Shivaya is a Hindu mantra, with some nice guitar work, but little to excite. Lunar Musick Suite, however, is a bit more like it. Driving guitar fades into a slower middle section, notable for superb trumpet solo by Don Cherry. Sadly, the track meanders on for a further 5 minutes, adding little more. The album ends with George Harrison's It's All Too Much, a competent cover, but not adding anything to the song.
Unfortunately, the attempt to mainstream Hillage resulted in something that probably didn't satisfy Hillage/Gong fans or mainstream pop/rock fans.
3* - some nice moments, but too many of the songs aren't strong, and the virtuoso guitar work isn't enough on its own.
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