Clearlight Symphony is a progressive rock album released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK. It is the first in a series of albums by a project led by pianist Cyrille Verdeaux with the participation of other musicians, including in this case three members of Gong on one side, and two other French musicians, Gilbert Artman (of Lard Free and later Urban Sax) and Christian Boulé (formerly with Verdeaux in the band Babylone, and a later Steve Hillage sideman) on the other. Primarily psychedelic, but also serving as a forerunner of new-age music, the album's musical style manages to blend seemingly contrary elements: the symphonic rock concept is flexible enough to permit extensive jamming in both rock and jazz fusion styles.
Clearlight is a French progressive rock band from the 1970s, although their best known work was produced in England, and released by a major British record company. While progressive rock is an appropriate overall genre for the band, much of their work delves into other genres including psychedelic music, jam band music, symphonic rock, space rock, jazz fusion, and new-age music.
The second album of CLEARLIGHT 1975. The original LP was released on Virgin Records. Guest musicians: DAVID CROSS (KING CRIMSON), CHRISTIAN BOULE, GILBERT ARTMAN (LARD FREE, URBAN SAX)…etc. Including remixes in 2000 and unreleased tracks from 1980/81 as bonus. "Forever Blowing bubbles" sounds a lot less like Gong and more like a symphonic version of Steve Hillage's solo works. Great progressive rock music with beautiful keyboard, guitar and saxophone solos.
A generous sampling from a generous box, The Best of R.E.M. at the BBC culls 34 highlights from its parent eight-disc/single-DVD set. This means this double-disc is swift, passing quickly through the group's various incarnations, as it offers a disc of sessions accompanied by a disc of BBC broadcasts.