ANOTHER FINE TUNE YOU'VE GOT ME INTO

Gilgamesh was among those Canterbury bands that never really made the grade in terms of popularity. Considering the band history, it would have been a miracle if they had. Led by keyboardist Alan Gowen (who had played jazz piano since the 60's, and a participant in the history of NATIONAL HEALTH as well), a gifted keyboardist and composer but who clearly lacked both certain leadership and a will to succeed commercially, it seems. Three years after the forming of Gilgamesh appeared the self-titled debut (1975), produced by Dave Stewart (Hatfield and the North) but the line-up broke even before the album reached the shops. Together with e.g. Stewart, Gowen founded National Health - and left them before finishing the debut album (1977). Then he started to write music for the next Gilgamesh album before he had a band at all.

Only guitarist Phil Lee plays on both albums besides Gowen himself. Drummer Trevor Tomkins was a jazz veteran, and Hugh Hopper is known as a SOFT MACHINE bassist. Gowen tells in the foreword of Another Tune that he prefers to compose for certain musicians and that all the musicians had shaped the final results. Also he informs us that he tries to write music where one cannot really tell the difference between composed and improvised parts. OK, you have already figured out that the music is more jazz than rock, haven't you?

The music bears some complexity but the overall nature is light and airy. Gowen often plays Moog. His keyboards don't steal the show: the emphasis is in the well-crafted band play. 'Waiting', however, is a solo piece for acoustic guitar (written by Lee, naturally). The music is unmistakably Canterbury but surely on its jazziest and the least rocky side. It perhaps lacks the wit and good humour you get in Caravan or Hatfield, instead there's a slight amount of melancholy even with the lightness of it all. The whole album is pretty enjoyable if you like jazz7fusion, but from the prog's point of view it's nothing spectacular. Both Hatfield and National Health have more to offer. Anyway, there has never been too much good British instrumental fusion and this is one of the finest albums in that area. 3½ stars.