Gary Boyle — Light Again-The Recordings 1977-1978

Light Again is a two-CD set bringing together the two albums released by talented British Indian fusion guitarist Gary Boyle in the late 1970s. He’s best known for setting up the four-piece fusion/ jazz rock band Isotope- though he also did session work with the likes of Keith Tippett, Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, Stomu Yamashta, Bert Jansch and Norma Winstone.

The release is presented in a six-panel glossy foldout digipak, with a bright & light beige, yellow, blue, and black colour scheme. It comes with a sixteen-page booklet, taking in full album/ track credits, a six-and-a-half-page write-up by Sid Smith, cover artwork, and pictures.

The set takes in the two albums Boyle released on Gull Records in the late 1970’s, plus three tracks he recorded in 1977 for a John Peel session. Both albums are relatively varied- though I’d say the first, 1977’s The Dancer, offers the most in terms of memorability/ variation. Its follow-up, 1978’s Electric Glide, is fine if a little overtly showy/ cliched in places.

So, on the first disc we find eight tracks from The Dancer, along with the three Peel tracks. We open with “Cowshed Shuffle” with its blend of taut ‘n’ bounding bass tones, wailing-to-baying guitar lines, skittering ‘n’ darting percussion, and light touches of both mini moog & electric piano. The track rather gave me Zappa vibes, around say the Zoot Allures album. As we move through the album, we have the light funk meets mellow electric piano/ synth glide & drift of “Lullaby For A Sleepy Doormouse ( For Georgie)” with Boyle unfolding some beautiful Spanish guitar lines. Or there’s “Apple Crumble with its darting bass line, squidgy Arp synth tones, electric piano key runs, and baying to sailing electric jazz rock tones of Mr Boyle's guitars. All in all, The Dancer is a decent & mood varied fusion/ jazz rock.

Over onto the second disc, and we have the Electric Glide album. This takes in eight tracks- these go from dartingly structured, bounding bass, and strutting to waling jazz rock of “Hayabusa”. Onto “Gaz”, with its steady tip-tap percussion, slinky bass guitar tone, and mellowly swooning to rock-strut guitar tones. Through to the mixing of strumming and Spanish-picked guitar shimmer ‘n’ glide of “Brat No2”, which finds Ken Shaw playing the other guitar. As I said earlier Electric Glide is a passable enough second solo album from Boyle - it just feels largely like he’s focusing more on showy playing and less on melody, changing mood, and rewarding genre shifting.

If you enjoy either more guitar-based fusion or Jazz rock from the late 70s, then I’d say as a collection Light Again will appeal- though I’d say you’ll have a more consistent/ better ride with the first disc.