Search - Steve Hillage :: For to Next & Not Or

Steve Hillage - Goes New Wave

Steven Sly | Kalamazoo, MI United States | 04/30/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"To my knowledge this was the last studio album released by Hillage in 1983. The version I have is the re-mastered edition from 2007 which also features the "And Not Or" bonus material. To say this album sounds dated would be a vast understatement. The album is basically Hillage on guitar and Miquette Giraudy on keyboards. All of the drums are programmed which gives the album a very retro new wave type of feel. In fact much of this album seems to have more in common with synth artists like Gary Numan or Ultravox than it does the progressive rock that Hillage is known for. When I first picked this up I almost could not get past the programmed percussion and dated feel to the disc, but with repeated listenings I got used to these attributes and found quite a bit to like with the collection. Along with the new wave tendencies there are parts of this album that remind me of The Alan Parsons project. There is some very nice guitar work by Hillage on this here, especially on the bonus material which is all instrumental. Hillage's vocals have never been his strong suit, but here they serve the main disc well, again in a new wave kind of style. Overall this is far from Hillage's best, but if you get past the dated feel to the material there is enough to like here to make it worth owning."