Here’s a superb box set anthology of Tim Blake’s stuff encompassing the entire career of one the pioneers of spacey, trippy, proggy synths and keys going back to the early 1970s. Three CDs and a DVD in a study box. Marvellous.
As a teenager in the mid-1970s some of the first albums I bought were by Gong’s wacky Flying Teapot trilogy.
Tim was a member of Gong back then and also known as Hi T Moonweed. He provided the trippy/spacey/ethereal synths on the trilogy.
After Gong he joined Hawkwind for a spell – the tour which would result in the Live ’79 album and Levitation. And in between this (and since) there has been his tremendous solo stuff such as the Crystal Machine, New Jerusalem, Tide of the Century and others.
I’ve enjoyed Gong and Hawkwind ever since those mid-70s days though other than Crystal Machine didn’t have any of Tim’s solo stuff. So when I discovered this Anthology box set, it had to be bought. And what a listen it is – especially for me to fill in some of those solo blanks.
Disc 1 revisits three of Tim’s tracks from that Gong trilogy – one each from Flying teapot, Angel’s Egg and You. Fantastic trippy stuff. Then on to some Crystal Machine, the excellent New Jerusalem culminating in his classic Lighthouse taken from the Hawkwind Live ’79 album. I saw the Hawks on that tour and can still remember Tim doing his stuff on Lighthouse.
Remains a classic to this day. Here it is. Give it a listen. It’s the version onn the DVD.
Disc 2 starts with the hypnotic Who’s Gonna Win the War from the Levitation album before meandering us through extracts of more of Tim’s solo material. All top, top notch. Sure, it’s trippy, that’s the point and although mostly inventive synths and keys check out Tide of the Century and the vocals. A personal favourite of mine. Also the live performance of Byzance.
Disc 3 comprises of unreleased recordings. Mostly it comes over as largely experimental though inventive and oh so enjoyable. The killer saved until the last track – a superb live performance of Tide of the Century taken from, I believe, the Gong “unconvention” in 2006.
The DVD is Tim performing on a French TV show in 1979. It’s a bit rough and ready though does include New Jerusalem and Lighthouse.
You may recall that in the mid-70s, Jean-Michel Jarre released Oxygene. It sold squillions of copies. Tim Blake released Crystal Machine at roughly the same time. It’s in a similar vein to Oxygene though admittedly more “out there” and certainly in my opinion streets ahead of Oxygene. Whilst Jarre became a household name the work over, Tim did not. More’s the pity.
If you remember Tim from the good old days and want to “re-connect” or like your trippy, proggy synths then this box set is for you. First class and quality from start to finish from a true pioneer of the genre. Progtastic all the way….!