HUGH HOPPER — Two Rainbows Daily (with Alan Gowen) (review)

HUGH HOPPER — Two Rainbows Daily (with Alan Gowen) album cover Album · 1980 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
This album could’ve been Gilgamesh’s third, had they decided to add more musicians or even another Soft Heap album, but with the notable absence of Elton Dean. . But then again, seeing (or more like hearing) the tracks present here, it surely wouldn’t have a hopper Solo or a Gowen solo, as they are way too accessible for the fans of such complex artistes. Don’t get me wrong I said “accessible”, not easy-listening.: a whole album of just Gowen’s keyboards and Hopper’s bass (no tapes doodlings) is not that easy to absorb, especially that the tracks are all laid back. Is not that easy to absorb, but compared to 1984 or the first Gilgamesh, this should go down easy. With a superb and colourful artwork gracing its cover, the album was recorded in June 80

Gowen’s keyboard palette includes synths (mostly MiniMoog), but mostly he’s still with his old Fender Rhodes and Hopper’s layered basses are gentle and not too complex or fuzzy. The two buddies wrote the tracks together except for one each, and the tracks sound relatively similar, although the moods range from the laid back to trhe furiously laid back, the whole thing being a typical jazzy Canterbury album.

In the Cuneiform Cd reissue, they found a bunch of tracks recorded live some two months after the Rainbows album’s recording date (and probably before its release as well), where they played some very similar music with ex-Isotope drummer Nigel Morris , nd it actually adds to the overall accessibility of the their music. The five tracks, adding up to some 21 minutes are perfect companion to the album, and had you not been told they were of a different stock, you’d probably wouldn’t have know. Sadly Gowen would die the next spring, these two rainbows being for his posterity. Recommended for Canterbury fans, but it might seem a bit of an anecdote to casual fans.

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