Exposé issue #34 Summary
Features in this issue include:
STEVE HOWE:
Steve Howe’s distinctive guitar playing has captivated progressive rock fans for nearly 40 years. From his time in ’60s psychedelic band Tomorrow to playing with Yes, and now back again in the reformed Asia, Howe has carved a singular niche predicated on an instantly recognizable set of styles that showcases his enduring flexibility. Exposé caught with up him during a recent series of U.S. solo dates.
NELS CLINE:
Nels Cline had been operating just under the radar of popular music in Los Angeles with his twin brother Alex for about two years before getting a phone call from Jeff Tweedy to join Wilco. Since that time his guitar playing has been receiving a different type of appreciation than he had been accustomed to on the West Coast. Exposé caught up with Cline after sessions with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and just prior to his own project on the music of jazz legend Andrew Hill.
THE GONG UNCONVENTION:
November’s full moon saw a convergence of Gong fans from all over the world in Amsterdam’s legendary Melweg (Milky Way) club. History was in the making as the event promised (among other things) a reunion of all of the surviving original Gong members, and also the first performance by the Steve Hillage band since 1979! The Melweg was an ideal location because of a unique set-up that includes two separate club settings, each with an intimate performance space and a great sound system.
CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE OBSCURITIES, PART II:
In issue 27 we published the first half of an article covering lost music from Canada in the 1970s. Due to the immense amount of excellent music from Montréal, the entire first part covered that scene. Part 2 covers the music scenes in Saguenay, Quebec City, the West Coast, and the English Canadian scene, as well as other miscellany that wraps up a comprehensive overview of great Canadian music which has yet to be reissued.
CHRISTIAN DECAMPS:
One often doesn’t know quite what to expect to find in person with such an enigmatic, almost historic character like Christian Decamps. Here is a man who truly becomes his music’s outlandish protagonists to sometimes deliciously bizarre effect. He gained a bit of a reputation for carousing in Baja, but in the lower key atmosphere at NEARfest he was more of a subdued “everyman”. Except on stage of course.
DON FALCONE:
With his hands in numerous projects from spacerock and ambient to ethno-music and electronica and beyond, Don Falcone is one of the Bay Area’s busiest musicians, yet these days he’s spending most of his time in the studio collaborating long distance with other like-minded musicians around the world live performances have become a rare treat indeed. The interview at hand was likewise a rare treat, conducted over several nights during the summer of 2006 as Don took time out of his busy schedule to ruminate on his many endeavors, present and past.
NEARFEST 2006:
The not-so-insignificant significance of NEARfest 2006 cannot be overstated: this weekend will lodge itself violently up the backside of prog festival history like none before it. 2006 was undoubtedly a banner year for this perennial extravaganza, and Mac Beaulieu endeavors to determine exactly what this profound yet elusive significance was via a thorough, and quite probably irritating, retrospective of the weekend in question.
Also included in this issue – as always, hundreds and hundreds of reviews: Roundtables, New Releases, Books, Archives and Reissues.. 92 Pages total.