snobb One of Soft Machine co-founder Hugh Hopper in 1978 played with Elton Dean (another Soft Machine veteran) on his Soft Head project,where National Health/Gilgamesh keyboardist Alan Gowen collaborated as well. After that Howard left music for two years, and this duet album with Gowen is evidence of his return to music.

Album was recorded in few days live, with minimal overdubs, and in fact sounds more as demo tape. Just bass and Moog,very intimate and relaxed sound,but with light melancholy or even sadness in atmosphere all around. By its mood,this album is very much Gowen's album (similar to his last ("Before a Word Is Said") album, released next year), one of his last work (he dies of leukemia very soon after this recording).

Sound is stripped,demonstrating great tunes and Gowen's typical tinkling tones, Howard's bass is very meditative, softer than usual. There are some modern influences in this album's sound (but I would say more ambient,than new age, as is mentioned in some album's reviews),but by it's nature it is still very jazzy work.

On later Cuneiform re-release there is added extra live material (5 songs from duo's rare gig ,with Isotope's drummer Nigel Morris)as bonus, which is very different by it's atmosphere and sound from original album. It demonstrates few great electric fusion pieces and some quite raw improvs as well.Interesting material for collectors, but has nothing to do with original half of album.

Warthur Recorded in the space of a few days, this collaboration from the Gilgamesh bandmates finds both in a quiet and contemplative mood. By and large, the raunchy, fuzzy bass sound Hopper brought to classic Soft Machine albums of years gone by is absent (but for a riotous outbreak on the opening track), and Hopper devotes himself to providing tuneful backing for Gowen's keyboard whimsies, which often stray into sparse New Age territory before skipping back to fusion. An intriguing piece, though I'd say it would be overhyping it to call it a classic of either artist's back catalogue (especially if their band work with the likes of National Health or Soft Machine are taken into account).

The rerelease includes a brace of live tracks at the end which, whilst interesting, have a fairly muddy sound quality and don't really fit the rest of the album; I haven't taken them into account (because I never let bonus tracks affect my rating of albums), but I generally skip them.

Sean Trane This album could’ve been Gilgamesh’s third, had they decided to add more musicians or even another Soft Heap album, but with the notable absence of Elton Dean. . But then again, seeing (or more like hearing) the tracks present here, it surely wouldn’t have a hopper Solo or a Gowen solo, as they are way too accessible for the fans of such complex artistes. Don’t get me wrong I said “accessible”, not easy-listening.: a whole album of just Gowen’s keyboards and Hopper’s bass (no tapes doodlings) is not that easy to absorb, especially that the tracks are all laid back. Is not that easy to absorb, but compared to 1984 or the first Gilgamesh, this should go down easy. With a superb and colourful artwork gracing its cover, the album was recorded in June 80

Gowen’s keyboard palette includes synths (mostly MiniMoog), but mostly he’s still with his old Fender Rhodes and Hopper’s layered basses are gentle and not too complex or fuzzy. The two buddies wrote the tracks together except for one each, and the tracks sound relatively similar, although the moods range from the laid back to trhe furiously laid back, the whole thing being a typical jazzy Canterbury album.

In the Cuneiform Cd reissue, they found a bunch of tracks recorded live some two months after the Rainbows album’s recording date (and probably before its release as well), where they played some very similar music with ex-Isotope drummer Nigel Morris , nd it actually adds to the overall accessibility of the their music. The five tracks, adding up to some 21 minutes are perfect companion to the album, and had you not been told they were of a different stock, you’d probably wouldn’t have know. Sadly Gowen would die the next spring, these two rainbows being for his posterity. Recommended for Canterbury fans, but it might seem a bit of an anecdote to casual fans.