STEVE JOLLIFFE

Journeys Out Of The Body/Beyond The Dream/ Japanese Butterfly REPERTOIRE

SRemastered trio of 80s solo albums by the ex-Tangerine Dream man.

teve Jolliffe could be forgiven for sighing at always being identified by his brief, opinion-dividing gig as singer and multiinstrumentalist on Tangerine Dream’s 1978 album Cyclone. Not only had Jolliffe been part of a very early incarnation of that band, as well as blues rockers Steamhammer, but he’s recorded over 50 solo albums, though many have slipped under the radar.

Journeys Out Of The Body, from 1983, was conceived as an exploration of other dimensions. Jolliffe’s keyboards and flute, and Jade Warrior guitarist Tony Duhig’s keening fuzz tones, weave around sequencer patterns which range from gentle locomotive to high velocity on Middle Dream State. The highlight is the 22-minute unreleased track Third Reality. With its imaginative sequencer sections punctuated by brooding still life interludes, and Duhig’s guitar fed through effects, it’s the most eccentric and flamboyant track on these releases.

Duhig doesn’t play on 1984’s Japanese Butterfly, but the music has some kinship with Jade Warrior’s Eastern flavour. Jolliffe’s flute, woodwind and occasional piano and saxophone float across a wide palette of synth sounds that evoke courtly chiming percussion, temple bells, harpsichord and koto-like twangs. It’s too active to be ambient and Jolliffe’s flute playing is compelling as it moves from repetitive cadences to rhapsodic melodies. The strange electronic currents of Ko Chi No Shi create a mood similar to David Bowie’s Moss Garden from ‘‘Heroes’’.

From 1985, Beyond The Dream opens with the song Captains Of Fate and its purring fretless bass, synthetic drums and glossy keyboards seem to portend a quintessentially 80s-sounding pop album. But it turns out to be a curious mix of songs, such as Madman with its mesmeric synths and flute, and instrumentals like Dance With Me with jazz ballad sax immersed in electronics. It’s stylistically uneven, but it’s precisely this variety that holds the attention.