Fish Rising

Much of Fish Rising was written for the second line-up of Khan in 1972 and never recorded. Hillage made it with Gong colleagues, Giraudy, Mike Howlett, Pierre Moerlen, Tim Blake and Didier Malherbe, plus Dave Stewart on organ and Lindsay Cooper on bassoon, crediting himself as Steve Hillfish. He said at the time that he had thrown all his humorous and serious ideas into a big cauldron, and later that he was not consciously trying to avoid sounding like Gong. It was released the day after a Cheltenham show where Daevid Allen walked off the stage, and it reached thirty-three in Britain while Hillage was still in the band. Side one is the Solar Musick Suite; side two holds The Salmon Song and the long Aftaglid. AllMusic and Uncut both gave it four stars.