Magick

Released in 1991, Magick was former Gong and Hawkwind keyboardist Tim Blake's only recording in a nearly 20-year stretch of virtual retirement. In his liner notes, Blake claims that these eight home-recorded songs were never meant to be heard outside of his immediate circle, and indeed, the record has a rough-edged, homemade charm that makes it sound like a casual demo. Perhaps surprisingly, this effect is actually in the album's favor, as it keeps the album's space rock explorations from sounding overly slick or garishly pretentious. The 12-minute "The Strange Secret of Ohm-Gliding" is an almost funky instrumental with a sequenced bassline that suggests that Blake had been listening to some of the acid house records that were popular at the time. The handful of vocal tracks reminds listeners that Blake has an uncanny vocal similarity to the young Peter Gabriel, but that his lyrical sense doesn't quite keep pace with his composing and arranging abilities. They're not bad, just kind of slight, and in truth, that slightness is in keeping with the offhand quality of the album as a whole.