Hugh Hopper & Alan Gowen - "Two Rainbows Daily" 1980

By request, an electric jazz workout on the minimal side from Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, and Soft Heap cohort Alan Gowen on keys. I was very sad to find out that Hugh Hopper died this summer, on June 7th. He had leukemia, which Gowen had died from shortly after they recorded Two Rainbows Daily together. Hopper started out as the Soft Machine´s road manager, and ended up becoming an integral part of their sound from their Vol. II album up through Sixth, after which he started recording his own albums and collaborating with other artists. As you´ll read from many sources (and as you can hear in all his recorded works), he could play with ANYONE and it would always mesh and sound great. He´s particularly famous for his fuzz bass explorations, really the first of his kind of bass players...

"Farewell Hugh, king of the fuzz bass. A true original, a great player and a gentleman." -- Dave Stewart











Rest in peace, Hugh.

Hugh Hopper & Alan Gowen - Two Rainbows Daily
Europa, 1980
CD issued on Cuneiform













Hugh Hopper: Fender Bass, Efx
Alan Gowen: Mini Moogs, Fender Rhodes

A note about the cover: it´s an original Hugh Hopper painting...
This album is great because it shows the wonderful melding of Hugh and Alan´s playing (which can also be heard in the groups Soft Head and Soft Heap), these particular recordings obviously influenced by then-recent ambient explorations and the advent of new-age music. The result is full of Gowen´s typical tinkling tones and Hopper´s softer, meditative stylings. The second half of the album features drummer Nigel Morris from Isotope on some live recordings, which change the mood a bit-- more clangy, less introspective, but still really great improvisational sounds.

From Wayside Music:
"A song from this album was sampled on Common's multi-million selling album "Like Water For Chocolate" album (the song in question was "Nag Champa". We took our part of the licensing fee and reprinted two of Hugh's out of print titles that we wanted to have back again. Hooray!

This is a reissue of a long out of print classic album from 1980 from these two fine composers & instrumentalists (bass & keyboards) who are best known for their work with Soft Machine (Hugh) Gilgamesh (Alan and Hugh) and National Health (Alan). While rich in sound due to overdubs, this doesn't have a full band sound, & this rather stripped-down approach makes for a "intimate" release filled with crafty melodies & subtle tonal colors. Mastered directly off the master tapes, it sounds terrific! As a bonus there is 20' of extra live material & excellent liner notes by Hugh, which tell the story of the making of this disc. This is absolutely a "Canterbury" classic.

“...the coming together of two British jazz-rock giants. ...These gracefully introspective instrumentals feature Gowen's trademark flowing analog synth and Hopper's unique high-register bass work in equal measure.” – muze.com

“...showcases harmonic and compositional sensitivity....” – Revue & Corrigee "

















FILL YOUR EARS

Dedicated to you, but you weren´t listening...
Dedicated to Hugh, and maybe he´s listening.