Release date: 1978
Label: Charly Records
Production: Gilgamesh
Length: 37:48
Genre: Canterbury scene/jazz rock fusion
Rating: 7.5/10
»Another Fine Tune You’ve Got Me Into« was the second and last studio album from Canterbury scene reps Gilgamesh, who were briefly revived in 1977. Keyboard wizard and band leader Alan Gowen, after a short stint with National Health, brought back Gilgamesh, named after the ancient Sumerian king, with a lineup featuring guitarist Phil Lee, drummer Trevor Tomkins (ex-Nucleus) and bassist Neil Murray (ex-Colosseum II, later Black Sabbath, Whitesnake). Murray was replaced before the new album’s recording sessions by Hugh Hopper, formerly of Soft Machine and Soft Heap.
Sound-wise, Gilgamesh hadn’t gone through any earth-shattering stylistic shift compared to their very good self-titled debut from 1975. They kept playing instrumental jazz rock fusion with subtle symphonic arrangements, complex time changes and a slightly dreamy mood hanging over most of the pieces. Still, most of the arrangements got breezier, the rhythmic nuances less complex and the individual ideas less interesting, which means that in trying to win over a wider audience, they ended up ‘plagued’ by the same problems as most of their jazz fusion peers of the day. Most of the pieces this time round were set to a slower tempo, which only deepened the at times downright sleepy atmosphere.
There’s no track on the album that really stands out in any particular way, but there’s no outright miss either. »Darker Brighter« is a solid opener, more or less in line with the jazz fusion trends of the time, with the electric guitar playing a key role alongside pastel symphonic textures. Luckily, Gowen steered clear of synth-heavy electronic textures, which were a common trend among rock and jazz keyboardists back then, and mostly stuck with the electric piano. »Bobberty-Theme From Something Else« is a still-life of a track, a bit drawn out, with a drowsy pulse where delicate piano arrangements trade off with refined guitar variations. The odd interesting solo pops up here and there, but the dreamy vibe rules throughout. »Waiting« is a short piano requiem steeped in classical-style arrangements, while »Playtime«, with its piercing guitar passages, is the most melancholic piece on the album. »Underwater Song« opens with a jazzy drum solo that later morphs into a thoroughly decent fusion playground.
»Another Fine Tune You’ve Got Me Into« was a slightly less exciting but solid follow-up to the Gilgamesh debut, and it closed the book on a short but fun Canterbury story. The album came out in 1978, when Gilgamesh were already history. Unlike many of their peers, who returned to the scene after years of silence, their farewell was final. Gowen, who worked with National Health and Soft Heap again after Gilgamesh broke up, died of leukemia two years later, in 1981, at just 33, the same disease that took Hopper in 2009. In 2000, Cuneiform Records released a collection of previously unreleased early Gilgamesh tracks called »Arriving Twice«, featuring recordings with Murray in the lineup. Bruce Dickinson, singer of English metal heavyweights Iron Maiden, used an almost identical cover for his solo album »The Chemical Wedding« (1998): William Blake’s painting ‘The Ghost of a Flea’, which shows a devil scattering plagues from a bowl.
by: Peter Podbrežnik
tracklist:
1. Darker Brighter
2. Bobberty – Theme From Something Else
3. Waiting
4. Playtime
5. Underwater Song
6. Foel’d Again
7. T.N.T.F.X.
Gilgamesh:
Alan Gowen – keyboards
Phil Lee – guitar
Hugh Hopper – bass guitar
Trevor Tomkins – drums
