Gong: C/D; S/D

'camembert electrique' is my fave though.

"floating anarchy" has the lineup of here and now playing on it, i think? i really like the here and now "past masters" cassette that was floating around on slsk for a while.

Of the Radio Gnome trilogy: Flying Teapot is whimsical fun, Angels Egg reaches a musical peak (and remains my most played of the three), while You suffers from way too much interminable Steve Hillage noodlings (you sense that Hillage was launching a power coup at this stage).

Then Allen, Smyth & Hillage all leave, leaving Malherbe, Howlett & Moerlen to usher in a radical change of direction with the unique and quite wonderful Shamal - after which the band morphs into an arid and frightful jazz-rock techno-flash outfit.

Meanwhile, Allen makes two utterly delightful solo albums - Good Morning and Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life, before the "Gong-goes-punk!" shock of "Opium For The People" and the space-rock longueurs of Live Floating Anarchy 77. After which I lose track for years on end, until the recent-ish Allen/Smyth/Howlett/Malherbe/Travis reformation (the newly recorded material is good-natured and perfectly servicable), and University Of Errors (too improv-freeform for me on record, but terrific live, where they cover old Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt & Kevin Ayers numbers).

Of the pre-Camembert stuff: Magick Brother is quaint but patchy, Banana Moon is wildly uneven with some great moments, and Continental Circus is one extremely long and extremely good lost biker anthem "Blues For Findlay" (which missed its ideal audience of Steppenwolf hairies), plus three soundtrack fillers.

Gong Live Etc is also excellent, and a good introduction. However, if it's OPO, then it's Camembert by a country mile.

I gather they're a very different proposition now 'though, aren't they?

Mike-t diva, you may want to check out Acid Motherhood, Gong and AMT's collaboration. Bits of it don't work, but it all comes together in a brief Negativland-esque send up of GeorgeBush Caesar and then from there on out channels pure timelessness. Trhoughout it's also the most disciplined I've ever heard Kawabata Makoto and Cotton Casino on record.

gazeuse! always makes me think of a chrome-plated kitchen-top appliance (ie it is trim not flash)

Was recommended 'You' the other day, which I duly bought s/h and really loved. I'm not one for too much gnome and tea-pot silliness, so it went down very well as a pretty rocking psychedelic slice of action.

Just picked up 'Angel's Egg' today also s/h, which I'm hoping will similarly suit.

Is this the best Gong thread going? Please point out other useful reads. Thanks.

Is New York Gong 'About Time' worth a punt at £4? Passed that one up today, but may go back...

I did get New York Gong's 'About Time' those 4 months ago and it was worth it.

Also picked up 'Expresso II' for £3 the other day and am just spinning that for the first time tonight. It's different to flying teapot stuff I'd been mainly listening to, much more jazzy and smooth, less oddball, but I like it so far.

This sounds a lot like Tortoise, but more fun.

am sure there is another gong thread but i can't find it just now.

This is the main one:
where is the love for GONG?

Downloaded Camembert Electrique on mike t-diva's recommendation way up thread. Better be good!

it's not good. it's doubleplus good.

It's great, and Flying Teapot is perhaps even better, imo.

Acid motherhood from 2004 is really good. the best for me is still between camembert or angel's egg

hey gong fans, are here & now any good at all? they're obviously collaborators on planet gong, but i only really know them as the hippy band that keith from world dom was in. saw a few of their records knocking around so was seeking opinions.

Hmm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EOHEqjzGR8

although I admit I'm not a Gong fan

i saw them a ton of times as a teenager and they were always incredible but i don't think they ever fully captured that on record - i always used to listen to the live tapes they'd sell over the records. but, "give and take" is pretty good and contains one of their almost classics in the form of "what you see is what you are". the only other ones i still have are the live one with ATV which is ok and "fantasy shift" which has another of their near classics. "jacques cousteau" on it. there must be some well recorded live releases as the tapes they sold were always recorded off the mixing desk and were of very high sound quality.

thanks, that's helpful! that song matt posted - i'm not sure if all the elements in it quite work for me (kind of a funk metal thing going on in there isn't there?) but on the whole it's alright i thought

yup, the production on that studio version let it down a bit imo. live they was a lot more space in their music and while they had zero funk there was something about it that really made audiences move. that could also have been because 99% of the audience were stoned out of their gourds. first time i saw them i must have been about 14 and left the gig extremely passively stoned.

there was a lot more space

http://poorfromcro.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/give-take1.jpg

^ i would never have guessed they were pot smokers