I have spent all of my musical life never hearing a note by the band Gong. Many of you might be able to say the same thing. What makes it strange for me is that I am a fan of both Steve Hillage and Pierre Moerlen, particularly Hillage's first solo record, "Fish Rising," which sounds like an early Yes record if it had the oppportunity to explode into some aggressive jazz fusion, while never losing a sense of melody. And, Moerlen is the drummer. A monster drummer.
At the very top of this week's to-do list, is to listen to Gong's "Camembert Electrique." I am hoping to love it and open a window to a new catalogue of undiscovered music. But first, I must take "Fish Rising" out for one more spin. Prog and fusion isn't everybody's cup of tea, but if you have ever been a fan of Yes, King Crimson or the Mahavishnu Orchestra, I suggest giving "Fish Rising" a chance. It's all of those things and occasionally more.
7 comments:
the early Gong albums are a treat - lots of surprises from song to song. "Shamal" was the transition album (laid back instrumentals), and the Moerlen-led albums (Expresso, etc) are straight fusion, but pretty good for that sort of thing.
I'm having a really hard time getting this to work. All those deleted comments are me.
I have two Gong albums I've never played. "You" (1973), and "Shamal" (1976)
I also have two by co-founder Daevid Allen, which are also mostly unexplored territory.
Here is "White Neck Blooze" from "Banana Moon" (1971) featuring an uncredited Kevin Ayers vocal. Also on board are Robert Wyatt, Pip Pyle, Archie Legget (Bananmour), and Maggie bell.
(OK this time for real:)
http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/white neck blooze.mp3
Whilst freely confessing I never did get my ears or head around Gong, the 70s output of Steve Hillage is something else again: I'm with you on "Fish Rising", plus in no particular order "Motivation Radio", "L", "Green" - all blessed with excellent guitar work, a proggy-hippy weirdness & some of that fusion stuff you either like or, er, don't. Enjoy the fish!
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