Motivation Radio is the third studio album by British progressive rock musician Steve Hillage, released by Virgin Records in September 1977.
Whilst touring in the United States in promotion of his previous album L (1976), Hillage grew disillusioned with the progressive rock tag attached to him by the media and fans, and disliked their attitude towards funk music, which Hillage was a big fan of. Hillage wanted to create a funk-influenced album as he was predominately listening to artists such as Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire. Originally written as The Red Album in early 1977, it was retitled Motivation Radio prior to recording.
Hiring electronic innovator Malcolm Cecil, formerly of the pioneering Tonto's Expanding Head Band, to produce and engineer the album, Motivation Radio introduces Hillage's new rhythm section of drummer Joe Blocker and bassist Reggie McBride and was primarily recorded in Los Angeles, California in July 1977. The album presents a much more funk and dance-orientated sound than his previous albums, and relies more so on synthesizers, including T.O.N.T.O. (The Original New Timbral Orchestra), Cecil's large handbuilt polyphonic synthesizer, the first of its kind, that Cecil had played with the Expanding Head Band as he does here. Nonetheless, Hillage's glissando guitar remains at the centre of the album.
The album was released by Virgin Records in September 1977 and features a manipulated image of Hillage holding a Stratocaster in front of the Parkes Observatory on its album cover. Only entering the UK Albums Chart at number 28 and receiving little success in the United States, the album was not as much a commercial success as its predecessor, which Hillage believes was due to its funk influence. Nonetheless, it received praise from music critics and has continued to do so over time, and today is seen as a milestone in Hillage's career, establishing the electronic direction he later became known for. The album was remastered for CD on several occasions, most recently in March 2007 with the addition of bonus tracks.
Background Hillage's second album, the Todd Rundgren-produced L (1976), had proven to be his biggest commercial success to date, entering the UK Albums Chart on 16 October 1976, where it stayed for 12 weeks, hitting a peak of number 10.The Guinness book of British Hit Albums, 1983, page 80. The success of L was largely due to the fact that Hillage had formed a band to promote the album in concert, extensively touring England and France for the remaining months of 1976. The concerts were well attended and well received, and news that L was also selling strongly in the United States led to Hillage and his band opening for Electric Light Orchestra on their 1977 tour of the United States. Hillage recalled that "the reaction we got was very encouraging and we went down well."
During his time in the United States, Hillage was seen by the media as "another" English progressive rock artist, much to Hillage's dislike. Hillage explained "I did have mixed feelings about the perception that surrounded my music," adding that "I must admit I never liked the term 'progressive rock'. I felt it never applied to Gong and it certainly never applied to me either. I felt that the music I was making was somehow out on its own, and although it had a quintessentially English feel and possibly it had a 'Canterbury sound' to it, I never considered my music or most of the so-called 'Canterbury' music for that matter 'progressive rock.'" Hillage felt he was far removed from the music of bands such as Yes and saw himself and his band as more like a psychedelic blues band with complex arrangements, with Hillage later saying that "we didn't have a label and I'm not into rigidly labeling music, and that was how [his songwriting partner and keyboardist Miquette Giraudy] and I felt."
Someone with eclectic musical tastes, Hillage had increasingly become a fan of funk bands such as Parliament and Funkadelic. During the American tour, fans would come back stage to meet the band and ask Hillage of his musical tastes, expecting him to list progressive rock artists, but Hillage would reply that he was "quite into" the new Earth, Wind & Fire album Spirit (1976) and his fans would react in horror, telling Hillage, as he recalled it, "What? You're into disco music?" Hillage recalled; "We had all these fans coming to us and saying 'aw Steve, I really love your work, and I really love Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson and all your British rock, tell me what are you listening to at the moment.' I’d say 'well I’m really into Bootsy's Rubber String Band and P-Funk,' and they’d say 'what, you like disco?' It’s like I’d killed their pet cat."
The mislabelling of Hillage's music as progressive rock and his fans' attitude against funk and disco music would inspire him to change direction when preparing material for his next album. Hillage said his fans' "attitude annoyed me and I began to realise quickly that there was some sort of musical apartheid going on and it truly shocked me. I found myself wanting to do something more funky, partly to escape the 'progressive rock' tag." Speaking to Terrascope, he similarly recalled that "I got this feeling of musical apartheid over there, and I thought sod all that, and this sort of propelled me further down that road."
Conceiving and production
Whilst based in Los Angeles, Hillage and Miquette met the influential synthesiser pioneer Malcolm Cecil, who had come to prominence in the early 1970s as half of the innovative Tonto's Expanding Head Band, recording the influential electronic album Zero Time (1971). He would then begin a successful career producing, engineering and programming, most notably with Stevie Wonder for four albums between 1972 and 1976.Stevie Wonder & TONTO, the funk synthesizer Hillage was a huge fan of Cecil and had listened to Tonto's second album It's About Time many times during the recording of L and was fascinated by the album and their work with Wonder. After telling a journalist in LA that he liked Cecil, Hillage was surprised to find the journalist knew Cecil and offered to arrange for them to meet. Cecil's electronic and dance textures were of interest to Hillage who was looking for a producer for his new album. Hillage recalled that "I thought that if I wanted to head into funkier territory then Malcolm was the man to help me achieve that on my next album."
Hillage and Giraudy wrote enough material for two albums during an "intense period" in spring 1977; Hillage recalled "when we were coming back from our first American tour we were on a creative high and a lot of music came out." Hillage's original idea was to release the material on two separate albums, The Red Album and The Green Album; however, the plan was abandoned and instead The Red Album was reworked to become Motivation Radio. Following a series of negotiations, Cecil agreed to produce and engineer Motivation Radio, and work began on the album in July 1977 in Los Angeles with a rhythm section consisting of drummer Joe Blocker and bass guitarist Reggie McBride. The album was recorded throughout July at Los Angeles' world-famous Record Plant studios, Westlake Audio studios (also in LA) and Cecil's own studio, T.O.N.T.O., in Santa Monica.Back cover. Ron Alvarez worked on the album as an assistant engineer at Record Plant, whilst Dion Forrer was an assistant engineer for the sessions at T.O.N.T.O.Liner notes. The album was also mixed at Westlake Audio. The sessions at Westlake Audio were to record the glissando guitar, the hallmark of this album, intentionally on 7 July 1977 (7/7/77), to give the record mystical relevance.Steve Hillage - Motivation Radio (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs
Cecil's large handbuilt polyphonic synthesiser, TONTO, which stands for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra", was played by Cecil on the album, although "never in any great capacity."STEVE HILLAGE – Motivation Radio | Real Gone The first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world, designed and constructed over several years by Cecil for usage in Tonto's Expanding Head Band, it started as a Moog modular synthesizer Series III owned by record producer Robert Margouleff, although by the time of the recording of Motivation Radio, a second Moog III was added, then four Oberheim SEMs, two ARP 2600s, modules from Serge with Moog-like panels, EMS, Roland, Yamaha, etc. plus several custom modules designed by Serge Tcherepnin and Cecil himself - who has an electrical engineering background. In their review of Motivation Radio, Real Gone Rocks said that although the instrument was a great leap forward for music, it was not especially practical, "since it was the size of a static caravan."
Music Presented as "a multidimensional window,"Motivation Radio music writer Mark Powell noted that, true to Hillage's wishes, Motivation Radio was "funkier in nature" than his previous material, although "still undeniably Hillage." Inspired by funk, disco and dance music, Motivation Radio sees Hillage extensively employing the synthesiser for the first time, as well as a guitar technique that gives much of the music here a mystical atmosphere.Buyer's Guide: Steve Hillage - Classic Rock Hillage recalled that Motivation Radio was "the moment where the dance/funk thing began to manifest itself and even then that came out of an unusual and interesting experience." Although the album is more dance-orientated than previous works, it still features Hillage's trademark glissando guitar work at its core. Billboard said the album was "a further extension of [Hillage's] unique rock vision consisting of electronic galactic-seeming mind excursions filled with heavy synthesiser and a philosophy built around ancient Eastern culture," and noted that this fusing of disparate elements produces a "startling overall spacy sound."Billboard – Google Books Although not a concept album, the album has been described as possessing a trademark sound that is carried throughout its nine tracks.
Dave Connolly of Allmusic characterised the album as the "light side of the moon," referring to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), saying it draws the listener into its "own astral plane with a glossy and gauzy sound similar to Pink Floyd without the darkness, or Alan Parsons Project without the dorkiness." He said that Hillage's guitar work is "typically transcendent," Giraudy's keyboards "a vital component" and Joe Blocker's drums "a frequent breath of change." The new age/space ideology on the album has been said to be not far removed from Gong's "original alternate reality" which has been said to be "spelled out best during the album's true point of transmigration," "Saucer Surfing." Hillage said there was a definite Funkadelic influence on Motivation Radio and recalled that his excursions into funkier territory had begun with Gong, considering "Isle of Everywhere" from You (1974) to be a good example.
Songs "Hello Dawn" opens the album with heavily processed guitars, whilst both electronic and acoustic drums back Hillage's multi-tracked vocals as "he greets a new day with optimism." According to Real Gone Rocks, Hillage's multi-tracked guitars have "their signature sound" and they noted that during the vocal sections, they are used as "striking punctuation;" for example, during the brief instrumental break in the song's ending, "their chorus of sound dominates." With a track length of under three minutes, its brevity was a complete departure from the extended jams that dominated Hillage's previous work.
"Motivation" sees the band opt for a funk groove and features positive lyrics and, although dominated by Hillage's guitar work, Giraudy's keyboard fills are "supportive" whilst Blocker's drum patterns are "superb" and McBride's bass work shows "complexity without losing sight of his anchoring role."