GILGAMESH - Gilgamesh (1975-1990) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Gilgamesh's 1975 eponymous debut portrays a fine group that emerged during the waning days of Britain's Canterbury scene. The album by keyboardist Alan Gowen's quartet -- also featuring guitarist Phil Lee, bassist Jeff Clyne, and drummer Mike Travis in this incarnation -- was issued by Virgin Records' budget-line Caroline imprint. By the mid-'70s, Virgin's support for bands of this ilk was approaching its end, with punk and new wave soon ruling the day. Arriving late in the game, Gowen and company sounded most similar to Canterbury supergroup Hatfield and the North, and in fact Hatfields keyboardist Dave Stewart co-produced the album. Gilgamesh had clearly mastered the Hatfields' suites'n'segues approach to Canterbury-style complexity while sidestepping blatant imitation -- for the most part. Certainly from the first notes of opening three-part suite "One End More/Phil's Little Dance/Worlds of Zin," Gilgamesh prove capable of nimble thematic lines and knotty stops and starts, while admirably refraining from pyrotechnics. The suite's kitchen-sink approach makes room for King Crimson-ish Mellotron and grand piano flourishes (recalling Keith Tippett on Lizard) as well as Stevie Wonder-ish funk-lite clavinet, but the uniform production smooths out such quirky juxtapositions. "Lady and Friend" provides a true jolt, with Clyne's lullaby-like bass melody, seasoned by light electric piano/guitar accompaniment, preceded by a brief blast of full-band unison riffing seemingly designed as a rude interruption. Just over a minute and a half long, Gowen's "Arriving Twice" is a wonderful interlude, with acoustic guitar, electric piano, and synth sketching a melody that draws from jazz, folk, and classical but ultimately transcends such labels; it's the perfect segue into "Island of Rhodes," the first portion of the album's next three-part suite, with the track's namesake keyboard floating in nocturnal ambience à la In a Silent Way before the introduction of a dreamily beautiful theme accompanied by the subtlest percussive embellishments from Travis. The suite ultimately offers its own share of unpredictable twists, ending with a driving vamp as guitarist Lee cuts loose, but the production again manages to avoid shattering the prevailing vibe. The album does court Hatfields imitation here and there -- "Jamo and Other Boating Disasters" features Amanda Parsons' soprano vocals in pure Northettes style during an interlude that clearly strives for the drama of The Rotters' Club's "Mumps" coda, while elsewhere Lee employs a decidedly Phil Miller-esque electric guitar tone. But Gowen himself avoids obvious Canterbury devices, eschewing fuzz organ solos during the music's most animated moments in favor of round-toned synth voicings that snake and float through rather than pierce the air. Gilgamesh's studio-based forays may have tamped down the band's woollier aspects, but the keyboardist and his bandmates were charting their own inimitable direction, too briefly explored but holding up admirably in recordings such as this. by Dave Lynch 
Tracklist:

1 One and More/Phil's Little Dance (For Phil Miller's Trousers)/Worlds ... 10:22

Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
2 Lady and Friend 3:44
Jeff Clyne / Alan Gowen
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
3 Notwithstanding 04:47
Steve Cook / Alan Gowen / Phil Lee
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
4 Arriving Twice 1:37
Alan Gowen
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
5 Island of Rhodes/Paper Boat/As If Your Eyes Were Open 6:41
Steve Cook / Alan Gowen / Phil Lee
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
6 For Absent Friends 1:13
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
7 We Are All/Someone Else's Food/Jamo and Other Boating ...  7:49
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
8 Just C 0:47
Gilgamesh / Alan Gowen
Credits:

Double Bass, Bass Guitar – Jeff Clyne

Drums, Percussion – Michael Travis
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Twelve-String Guitar, Classical Guitar – Phil Lee
Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer, Mellotron – Alan Gowen
Voice – Amanda Parsons

GILGAMESH - Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into (1978-2009) RM / APE (image+.cue), lossless

Like finely tattered lace, Gilgamesh created intricate music that was light and airy, its moods mostly gentle, yet its power incontrovertible. Two years had passed since the band's debut album, and the group had splintered, with the members going on to other projects. Regardless, 1977 saw keyboardist Alan Gowen begin composing music for a follow-up; he was soon rejoined by guitarist Phil Lee. Drummer Trevor Tomkins and bassist Hugh Hopper completed the lineup, and work began on Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into. Floating between free-form jazz, fusion, and at-times psychedelia, what's immediately notable about the set is its complex and ever-shifting time signatures. In lesser hands, the changes would be disconcerting, but the musical riffs and swells of melodies provide a centering for the pieces, with the rhythms and music sliding and floating like drops of mercury. An excellent set from a highly talented composer and a group of excellent musicians. It's just a shame that the rest of the world was into punk rock at the time! by Dave Thompson
Tracklist:
1 Darker Brighter 5:40
Written-By – Gowen 
2 Bobberty / Theme For Something Else 10:41
Written-By – Gowen, Lee
3 Waiting 2:25
Recorded By – Peter Ball 
Written-By – Lee 
4 Play Time 7:16
Written-By – Gowen
5 Underwater Song 7:05
Written-By – Gowen 
6 Foel'd Again 1:51
Written-By – Gowen, Hopper
7 T.N.T.F.X. 2:57
Written-By – Gowen 
Credits:
Bass Guitar – Hugh Hopper
Drums – Trevor Tomkins
Guitar [Guitars] – Phil Lee
Keyboards – Alan Gowen
Painting [Cover Painting: 'The Ghost Of A Flea'] – William Blake

GILGAMESH - Arriving Twice (2000) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Based on 1975's eponymous debut album and 1978's Another Fine Tune, Gilgamesh seemed rather polite, representing the Canterbury scene's cerebral side. But nearly two decades after keyboardist/bandleader/composer Alan Gowen's 1981 passing, Cuneiform set out to broaden the understanding of this often spirited band with the archival release Arriving Twice, issued in 2000. The angularity and complexity of those '70s albums blended into a late-night trippy ambience (not necessarily a bad thing). Comparably, Arriving Twice is a wake-up call. Its eight tracks -- including three multi-part suites -- come from a 1973 demo tape and 1974 and 1975 BBC sessions. Gowen, guitarist Phil Lee, and drummer Mike Travis are present throughout, while there are three different bassists and two tracks add second keyboardist Pete Lemer. In the collection’s extensive liner notes tracing the band's history, Travis complains about the "boxy and fussy" drum sound on tracks one and two, from the 1973 demo (Gilgamesh's first-ever recording, in which Gowen is heard only on Wurlitzer electric piano), but the balance is good, the recording is clear despite one rough patch, and Gowen's unique conception -- with melodic tunefulness, advanced jazz harmonics, inimitable composing, and able soloing forming a unified whole -- is well displayed.
After an almost regal opening theme and guitar-piano unison bridge on leadoff track "With Lady and Friend," the band thrashes through a midtempo vamp nailed by bassist Neil Murray as Gowen comps jazzily, Travis builds up the energy, and Lee burns through one of his best solos ever. Deep in the following 18-minute, five-part suite, the music rushes forward on the power of Travis' drumming and Murray's buzzing bass, with fine solo work from Lee and a modally shifting Gowen. The sound becomes thin after an abrupt shift to acoustic guitar, but fills out nicely as the band traverses multiple composed and improvised segments -- including a foray into "Phil’s Little Dance," more rocked up than the mildly funky clavinet-driven version on the group's 1975 debut. "Island of Rhodes," from the BBC in 1974, prominently features new member Steve Cook playing a Hugh Hopper-esque bassline that animates the tune -- contrasting with its beautifully spacy incarnation on Gilgamesh -- while Lemer is a second subtle keyboard presence. The nine-and-a-half-minute "Extract," from the same session, is one of Gilgamesh's most organically flowing outings. After those two 1974 mono BBC tracks, the sound expands beautifully on the final four tracks, from the BBC in 1975. These pieces, now featuring bassist Jeff Cline, can all be heard on Gilgamesh (including a reprise of "Phil's Little Dance"), but here sound like the debut album on steroids -- without undercutting the loveliness of "Arriving Twice," a tune deserving iconic status among Canterbury fans. "Worlds of Zin" is on fire, and the multi-layered puzzle pieces of the intense polyrhythmic "Notwithstanding" match anything from Soft Machine's jazz-rock phase. Arriving Twice is a vital document of an underappreciated band that could be far more rousing than many listeners supposed. by Dave Lynch 
Tracklist:
1 With Lady And Friend 4:25
Composed By – Alan Gowen
2a You're Disguised 17:52
Composed By – Alan Gowen
2b Orange Diamond
Composed By – Alan Gowen
2c Northern Gardens
Composed By – Alan Gowen
2d Phil's Little Dance
Composed By – Alan Gowen
2e Northern Gardens
Composed By – Alan Gowen
3a Island Of Rhodes 6:52
Composed By – Alan Gowen, Phil Lee, Steve Cook  
3b Paper Boat
Composed By – Alan Gowen
3c As If Your Eyes Were Open
Composed By – Alan Gowen
4 Extract 9:27
Composed By – Alan Gowen
5a One End More 9:11
Composed By – Alan Gowen
5b Phil's Little Dance
Composed By – Alan Gowen
5c Worlds Of Zin
Composed By – Phil Lee
6 Arriving Twice 1:41
Composed By – Alan Gowen
7 Notwithstanding 4:21
Composed By – Alan Gowen, Phil Lee, Steve Cook  
8 Lady And Friend 4:06
Composed By – Alan Gowen, Jeff Clyne
Credits:
Bass – Jeff Clyne (tracks: 5, 6, 7, 8), Neil Murray (tracks: 1, 2), Steve Cook (tracks: 3, 4)
Drums – Mike Travis
Electric Piano, Synth [Synths] – Peter Lemer (tracks: 3, 4)
Guitar [Guitars] – Phil Lee
Piano, Electric Piano, Synth [Synths] – Alan Gowen