Steve Hillage is the cosmic, glissando-guitar hero of the Canterbury Scene — a guitarist whose fluid, echo-drenched playing carried the scene’s psychedelic wing into the stars. After a celebrated stint in Gong, he launched a solo career of uplifting, space-faring rock and, later, pioneering ambient and electronic music. Across six albums of cosmic guitar and shimmering synthesizers, he remains one of progressive rock’s most distinctive and joyful voices.

The short version

A guitarist and composer active solo from 1975, Steve Hillage is one of the Canterbury Scene’s most distinctive figures — famous for his soaring, cosmic glissando guitar. After playing in Khan, Kevin Ayers’s band and Gong, he made a string of psychedelic space-rock albums, gathered here from “Fish Rising” (1975) to “Open” (1979). Joyful, spiritual and endlessly melodic, his music later helped to pioneer ambient and electronic dance.

From Gong to a solo flight

Steve Hillage’s roots run deep in the Canterbury Scene. As a schoolboy he formed Uriel with keyboardist Dave Stewart, whose other members went on to become Egg; he later led Khan, played in Kevin Ayers’s band, and in 1973 joined Gong, where his echo- and delay-drenched guitar became central to the celebrated “Radio Gnome Invisible” trilogy. It was in Gong that he met his lifelong partner, synthesizer player Miquette Giraudy. In 1975 he stepped out on his own, beginning one of the scene’s most distinctive solo careers.

Cosmic glissando guitar

Steve Hillage’s music is space rock at its most joyful and cosmic. At its heart is his unmistakable glissando guitar — fluid, soaring and drenched in echo — weaving through uplifting melodies, spiritual themes and the shimmering synthesizers of Miquette Giraudy. From the long psychedelic suites of his early albums to the tighter, song-based work that followed, his sound is always melodic, warm and otherworldly. With the ambient “Rainbow Dome Musick” he reached toward pure atmosphere, foreshadowing the electronic music he would later make.

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Six albums of cosmic rock

The six albums gathered here capture Steve Hillage’s remarkable solo decade. The Gong-adjacent debut “Fish Rising” (1975), recorded while he was still in the band, unfolds in long, psychedelic suites. “L” (1976), produced by Todd Rundgren with his band Utopia, brought a brighter, more accessible edge, while “Motivation Radio” (1977) tightened the songs. “Green” (1978), co-produced by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, returned to cosmic form. Then came two very different 1979 albums: the beatless ambient landmark “Rainbow Dome Musick” and the rockier “Open.”

Album by album

Six albums of cosmic, glissando-driven space rock. Tap any title for its guide.

The collaborators

Steve Hillage’s solo work is, above all, a partnership with Miquette Giraudy, whose synthesizers shape every album and who would later co-found System 7 with him. His debut “Fish Rising” reunited him with keyboardist Dave Stewart and drew on his Gong colleagues, including drummer Pierre Moerlen. For “L” he worked with producer Todd Rundgren and his band Utopia, with jazz trumpeter Don Cherry guesting, while “Green” was co-produced by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. Through it all, Hillage’s cosmic guitar — a glissando style learned alongside Daevid Allen in Gong — remained the constant. Happily, he is still active today, recording and performing both solo and with Gong.

Where to start

Begin with “Fish Rising” (1975), Hillage’s ambitious debut and a glorious bridge between Gong’s cosmic playfulness and his own vision — long, suite-based and full of dazzling guitar. From there, “L” (1976) offers his brightest, most accessible songs, while the ambient “Rainbow Dome Musick” (1979) reveals the meditative, pioneering side of his art. Three very different albums that together capture his cosmic range.

Why he still matters

Steve Hillage matters as the Canterbury Scene’s cosmic guitar hero — the player who carried its psychedelic spirit to the furthest reaches of space rock, and then helped invent whole new forms of ambient and electronic music. Through his unmistakable glissando guitar and his lifelong partnership with Miquette Giraudy, he created some of the most joyful and visionary music the scene produced. For anyone drawn to its psychedelic, star-gazing side, Steve Hillage is essential listening.

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