 | Camembert Electrique (1971)Genres: progressive rock, space rock, psychedelic rock |
review by thomas
Here it is in all its charming naïve originality – the first album in the Radio Gnome trilogy. Not officially of course, but “Camembert Electrique” is in reality the starting album, where most things part of the Gong universe show up for the first time. The line-up for the album is Daevid Allen (a.k.a. Bert Camembert) on vocals and guitar, Gilli Smyth (Shakti Yonti) on space whispers and lady voice, Pip Pyle (Pip the Heep) on percussion, Christian Tritsch (Submarine Captain) on bass, Didier Malherbe (Blumdido Bad de Grass) on saxes and flute, and at last a person on keyboards known only as Venux de Luxe or The Switch Doctor.
The music is wild, energetic, spacey and anarchistic with plenty of quirky sax sounds from Malherbe. Here is almost no sign of the space-jazz that ruined Gong later on. Such Gong classics as the love/hate syndrome song “You Can’t Kill Me”, the weird “Tropical Fish: Selene” and the space-rock song “Fohat Digs Holes in Space” are here. Let’s not forget the half-minute extravaganza of “Wet Cheese Delirum”, the funniest half-minute in music history? However, all is not well in wonderland. “Dynamite: I am Your Animal” is just annoying when they sing “Dynamite” over and over and over again and the “fuck section” may seem a little lame or ambiguous regarding its purpose today and “I’ve Bin Stone Before” doesn’t really feel like a song as much as a provocation try; such a try can “Dynamite…” also feel like. But I guess you have to try and look at it through the eyes of 1971.
For those of you who only see Gong as a silly band with silly names and silly lyrics and because of that haven’t tried ‘em out I suggest you rethink and give it a try. There is more than what meets the ear. Just get this album and you have the test: either you hate ‘em or you are gonna love ‘em.
 | Angels Egg (1973)Genres: progressive rock, canterbury, space rock |
review by thomas
What the hell is this? I’m waiting on the magic of “Camembert Electrique” to appear and all I get is proto-“You” instrumental space-jazz (“Other Side of the Sky”, “Castle in the Clouds”) and short little tunes by mostly Daevid Allen (“Givin’ My Love to You”, “Selene”, “Love is How You Make it”) were he seems to already have thrown in the glove. So on this album it’s actually the other band members that comes up with the, few, really good songs.
Nevertheless, there are some nice tunes, like the “Oily Way”/”Outer Temple”/”Inner Temple” suite and Gilli Smyth’s “Prostitute Poem” with its France laden music and lyrics, and I confess that “Castle in the Clouds” and “Sold to the Highest Buddha” are rather good, especially the saxophones. But the real ignition doesn’t appear until the end of the album. I’m talking about Steve Hillage’s “I Never Glid Before” and Malherbe’s “Eat That Phone Book Coda”, this is Gong to me. With those pothead pixies, Zero the hero and of course the quirky saxes. Classically trained Pierre Moerlen really impress behind the kit, but often to no use since a lot of the songs are pretty weak. His playing on “Eat That Phone Book Coda” and “Oily Way” is outstanding, well his playing is outstanding on the entire album, the only thing that is excellent all the way through.
On this record we find songs for both the Gong camps. Lovers of “You” will find good things here, likewise will lovers of “Camembert” or “Flying Teapot”. Lovers of both Gong styles will perhaps find a masterpiece? Honestly I don’t think so since several tracks are weak regardless of whose eyes you are looking with. By the way: I don’t think this album cover is the same as the original LP one.
 | You (1974)Genres: canterbury, space rock, jazz rock |
review by daniel
On this, the final chapter of the radio gnome trilogy, Gong starts to change their sound. The success of Gong lies in the balanced blend of their two sides; the serious jazzy side and the playful side with the whimsical lyrics and the catchy melodies. Early records are more playful while the pothead pixies are killed off on later releases (Pierre Moerlen’s Gong). On this record the serious side is dominating for the first time. The pieces are long (with a few exceptions), mostly instrumental and performed with great skill. Space jazz might be a suitable tag.
To be honest I don’t like it that much. Hillage’s guitar and Blake’s synths are the lead instruments, while Didier Malherbe unfortunately assumes a passive role. His sax work is mostly limited to laid-back and sophisticated jazz, as opposed to his usual quirky stuff (which I miss a lot). The old Malherbe (or should I say Bloomdido Bad de Grass) can be heard on “A PHP’s Advice” and “Master Builder”, incidently the best tracks of the album. Allen is passive as well; he seems to lack the inspiration and imagination he demonstrated on previous efforts and is clearly on the way out. The parts where he sings are thus not better than the space jazz instrumentals.
The overall result is interesting and impressive at best ("Master Builder"), and boring and sterile at worst ("The Isle of Everywhere", "A Sprinkling of Clouds"). If you are interested in the jazzier and more serious side of Gong start with this. If you are not, start with “Camembert Electrique” and work your way forward. This album might, however, appeal to you either way.
 | Floating Anarchy 1977 (1977)Genres: space rock |
review by daniel
While Pierre Moerlen's Gong did their best to develop/deteriorate into a jazz rock outfit, Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth toured with the new Gong offshot Planet Gong. This is a live recording from that tour.
Do not expect Allen and Smyth to just continue their old space trip, though; the best parts of the album do not sound nostalgic at all. There are some rather stale tracks in the middle of the album that sound like leftover material from an early Gong album, but the freshness and youthful enthusiasm of tracks like ”Floating Anarchy” and ”Ali Baba” more than make up for it. ”Ali Baba” sounds like an attempt to out-Hawkwind Hawkwind (Hawkwind would not have the patience for the gradual build-up, though) with its crunchy repetitious guitar, manic chanting and general energetic roughness. A great space rock track.
I do miss Didier Malherbe's saxes, since I think he is an essential part of the Gong sound, but that is only an issue on the earlier mentioned nostalgic tracks. I do, however, not miss Pierre Moerlen or Pip Pyle behind the drums, because the new drummer does a great job throughout. He avoids fancy stuff in favour of really busy and straightforward drumming that suits the roughed-up Gong perfectly.
To sum things up; no space jazz, minimal presence of pothead pixies, no sax, a lot of energetic, guitar dominated space rock. And a good album.
