Since he began playing guitar in the early 1960s, through his time with Gong and beyond as a solo artist and one half of System 7, Steve Hillage has shown the world what it truly means to be “progressive.” The sprawling 22-disc Searching For The Spark box set shines a light on Hillage’s prolific career. There’s Hillage’s eight solo albums, System 7’s debut, plus a whopping seven discs of live material, and four more filled with demos and archive recordings. Highlights include Hillage’s alluring cover of George Harrison’s “It’s All Too Much,” the mind-bending, spacey “Aftaglid (Tambura Backing Track Mix),” and a load of stellar live material featuring Hillage and his band at the Hammersmith in London in 1979.
Accompanying the CDs is a beautiful 188-page coffee-table book, written and assembled by Hillage and Gong family expert Jonny Greene. The rest of the package includes three promo posters, two lyric booklets, a high quality enamel badge, a 60-page scrap book containing more photos and cuttings, and a certificate of authenticity signed by Steve Hillage and his creative partner Miquette Giraudy. This one-of-a-kind Steve Hillage set is limited to 2500 copies, so you better hurry if you want one for yourself and or a close loved one.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
