Steve Hillage: From Hurdy Gurdy Man To Techno-Trance Wizard

Steve Hillage, 1977
Steve Hillage

Steve Hillage is, without doubt, one of the greatest rock performers ever. Yet he never earned the fame that The Rolling Stones or the Beatles achieved. Whereas the latter are still known to younger generations, Hillage is forgotten.

Hillage was more interested innovating synthesizer music than making money, holding free rock concerts performing with other geniuses like Tim Blake and the Crystal Machine. Yet these were the classical musicians of that time.

So, hoping to create some new interest in this amazing musician, here's a German recording of perhaps his most popular tune, The Hurdy Gurdy Man.

This is a much younger Hillage to the one mixing the synthesizers for System 7 below!



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Google currently displays several Hillage videos including eight recordings made at the Otto Hahn Schule, Bensberg, Germany in 1977.

See also Antares' blog,

Steve Hillage: From Hurdy Gurdy Man To Techno-Trance Wizard

Steve Hillage & Miquette Giraudy: System 7

Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy at The Sonic Rock Festival, The Farm, Chapel St Leonards, September 2005.

With Angel, as usual,dancing her socks off. She danced non stop all weekend. We weren't really into techno and trance and all that stuff but after this we were converted.

Qwoonsweird.



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Here's a great way of capturing videos off the web for your own library. Just released, Realplayer Beta.

Download it here

Tim Blake & Crystal Machine, "Lighthouse"




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Desplazamiento: A Tribute to Tim Blake by Klauss



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Another classic favourite from the 'eighties, Tim Blake and Crystal Machine. Blake also played with Steve Hillage, Gong and System 7 and though a lot of their videos are available on Google their contributors have disallowed embedding codes.

Good music like this should be available for everyone to share and enjoy. Hillage and Blake would be the first to agree. So why this snobbery?