Alan Gowen, Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Trevor Tomkins - Before A Word Is Said (Reissue) (1982/1995)

The 'Gowen, Miller, Sinclair, Tomkins' project has a sad background. Alan Gowen, a highly gifted keyboarder and composer ('Gilgamesh', 'National Health') was diagnosed in the beginning of the 80's with a fatal leukaemia. Knowing that he had only months too life, he invited befriended musicians (Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair and Trevor Tomkins ) with whom he had played formerly in bands from the Canterbury scene to his house to record his 'musical testament'. The sessions took place at the end of April and beginning of May 1981. Sadly Gowen passed away only weeks later on the 17th of may 1981. The sessions were released in 1982 as 'Before A Word Is Said'.
The compositions on the record, mainly written by Gowen and Miller, remind strongly 'Gilgamesh' and 'In Cahoots', the respective bands of Gowen and Miller. The most touching Gowen composition is the title track, 'Before a Word Is said', a slow funeral dirge foreshadowing his death with sounds of kids playing and laughing at the beginning and end of the track. Life goes on!