HUGH HOPPER & ALAN GOWEN: TWO RAINBOWS DAILY

Recorded in the space of a few days, this collaboration from the Gilgamesh bandmates finds both in a quiet and contemplative mood. By and large, the raunchy, fuzzy bass sound Hopper brought to classic Soft Machine albums of years gone by is absent (but for a riotous outbreak on the opening track), and Hopper devotes himself to providing tuneful backing for Gowen's keyboard whimsies, which often stray into sparse New Age territory before skipping back to fusion. An intriguing piece, though I'd say it would be overhyping it to call it a classic of either artist's back catalogue (especially if their band work with the likes of National Health or Soft Machine are taken into account).

The rerelease includes a brace of live tracks at the end which, whilst interesting, have a fairly muddy sound quality and don't really fit the rest of the album; I haven't taken them into account (because I never let bonus tracks affect my rating of albums), but I generally skip them.