OFF: Gong :)

[Ian R Fines]

>Hi all!
>Just had to say that I got "Angel's Egg" tonite:) WoW! I'm going to be
>getting the other two-thirds of the trilogy as soon as possible.
>Excellent is just too short a word for this cd. Stupendous would be
>better!! If these guys got really serious, they'd be even more
>frighteningly good:) whoa!! Is the rest of their stuff as well done?

Well, that is a hard question.  First you must know that there are many
versions of the band "Gong".  It all started when Daevid Allen was kicked
out of England, and forced to leave Soft Machine (bummer, since they went
on to tour with Jimi Hendrix shortly after that).  When he got to France,
he founded Gong with Gilli Smyth.  Before the first part of  the Radio
Gnome Trilogy got under way, Gong had already mutated many times.  Their
first release ever was recorded on an old movie camera mic, and sounded
like it was too.  i've forgotten what this is called, but it has a really
strange line-up, probably only Gilli and Daevid are the only ones from
this that are present in the trilogy.  The next, I think, was called
_Continental Circus_, and was a soundtrack for a film of the same name.
Since I haven't heard it, I can't comment.  _Camembert Electrique_, their
next release, was their first real "Gong" record.  It is really good in
my opinion, and also has some great riffing in it by good old Divided
Alien Allen.  Also, some of the terminology that pops up in the trilogy
is first seen here (ie. Selene, etc.).  What came next was the first part
of the trilogy, Flying Teapot.  This is also very enjoyable, but
noticably less well-produced as the next two albums.  Flying Teapot is
the sort of introduction to Daevid's mythilogical world of Radio Gnome,
which incidentaly all came to him as a vision while under the effects of
some very heavy acid.  Up next was Angel's Egg, which will always be my
favorite Gong album...it is a masterpiece.  Steve Hillage blossoms to his
full potential, while Pot-head pixies and teapot taxies make for some
really far out songwriting.  My favorites are "Oily Way", "Sold to the
Highest Buddah"...oh, forget it, they're all my favorites.  Anyway, the
third part of the Trilogy seems to explore new territory, and makes for
longer, stretched out jams with a steady bass line and the always spaced
out synth thanks to Hi T. Moonweed, aka Tim Blake.  "Perfect Mystery" is
a song much like songs off of the past albums, while "Master Builder",
etc., are even more spaced out than prior Gong.  At this point, Gong
sort-of reached it's breaking point, and Daevid and his psychedelics went
one way, while Pierre Moerlen and straight jazz-fusion went the other
way.  This jazz version turned into "Pierre Moerlen's Gong", while Daevid
sort-of stumbled about and eventually formed New York Gong, plus some
went the way of Mother Gong.  I'm happy to say that the days of the
space-Gong are back, with most of the band from the Trilogy era back
together (maybe not any more, but they were last year).  I happened to
see them last fall here in the US...it was amazing.  Daevid really is a
strange individual, real entertaining on stage.  Oh yeah, Gong released a
new CD last year called "Shapeshifter", and in my opinion it is very well
done.  Get it!