Description
Label Review.
1977 album remastered with 3 bonus tracks. Esoteric.
Our Overview.
UK born and France based composer and keyboardist Tim Blake started his career way back in 1970 as a sound and light artist. And while some will associate him most for his numerous stints in renowned bands Gong and Hawkwind, it is as a solo artist he made a name for himself.
Although Tim Blake never joined Hawkwind until 1979, their paths crossed many years earlier. Tim had met Doug Smith of 'Clearwater Productions' in 1970, and got to know house bands 'Trees', 'Skin Alley' and 'Hawkwind' fairly well. At this time, Tim was a glissando guitarist and occasionaly jammed with the Clearwater bands. Tim was known as Gollum for one reason or another and soon struck up a friendship with Hawkwind's sound wizard Dik Mik, becoming increasingly interested in engineering and the proto–type synthesisers, that in those days were audio generators with various bits joined on to widen the scope of the electronic noises they produced.
By 1971, Tim was working as an engineer in the Marquee studios and shortly after met up with Daevid Allen of 'Gong' as he came to record his solo album 'Banana Moon'. Later in the year, following a brief spell within the depleted ranks of 'Musica Electronica Viva', Tim moved to France and soon became the sound engineer for 'Gong'. It was here that Tim's interset in synths grew and he spent a lot of time in Paris demonstrating the uses of the EMS synths. He had purchased one of the first EMS machines, had it revamped and personalised and thus was born the "Crystal Machine".
The name came because the team were swallowing a lot of crystals, together with the fact that the lasers being used to accompany the music, ate up crystals at astonishing rates. The sound too had a certain crystalline vibration and feel, so the name was more than relevant.
His first solo album 'Crystal machine' was issued in 1977, and 'Crystal Machine' is also the name most often associated with Blake by keyboard and light effects aficionados. Together with lights expert Patrice Warrener they have performed under this moniker numerous times, enchanting and enthralling audiences for decades.