brandx@ihlpl.UUCP (h. weisberg) (05/02/85)
(Album titles and approximate date of recording) Magick Brother (1969) Banana Moon (Daevid Allen) (1971) Camembert Electrique (1971) Radio Gnome Invisible (1973) Angel's Egg (1973) You (1974) Gong Live (unreleased live & studio 1973-75) Shamal (1975) Gazeuse (released as Expresso in US 1976) Gong est Mort/Vive Gong (reunion 1977) Now is the Happiest Time of Your Life (Daevid Allen) (1977) Mother (Gilly Smygh) (1977) Live Floating Anarchy 1977 (Planet Gong) (1977) Expresso 2 (Pierre Moerlen's Gong) (1978) Downwind (Pierre Moerlen's Gong) (1979) Live (Pierre Moerlen's Gong) (1979) Time is the Key (Pierre Moerlen's Gong) (1979) About Time (New York Gong - w/Daevid Allen, Bill Laswell, Michael Beinhorn, Fred Maher, etc) (1980) DividedAlienPlaybax80 (Daevid Allen spliced together some NYGong stuff into tape loops for this one) (1982) Good Morning (Daevid Allen & Euterpe) (around 74 or 75) Continental Circus (maybe 72)
ryan@fremen.DEC (Mike Ryan DTN 264-8280 MK01-2/H32) (05/06/85)
---------------------Reply to mail dated 2-MAY-1985 10:52--------------------- I have Expresso II and Downwind, but had no idea Gong had that much history behind them. Were all those albums released in the US? What label(s) were they on? I like Expresso II very much, and love the instrumentals on Downwind (although the vocal songs are total garbage - it's an incredibly schizophrenic album), and am interested in finding more. Could someone tell me what king of personnel/stylistic changes they've had over the years? What of their association with Mike Oldfield (if I'm not mistaken, they backed him up on the live portions of "Airborn")? Mike Ryan decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-fremen!ryan
sherouse@unc.UUCP (George W. Sherouse) (05/07/85)
The early gong (pre Gong est Morte) were the vehicle for the drug-crazed rantings of one soft and cuddly Daevid Allen. Allen was a founding member of Soft Machine (along with Robert Wyatt) but soon saw his destiny more along the lines of musical lunacy. He collected around himself a vast array of fine jazz/rock fusionists, a fair number of them percussionists. One of them was Pierre Moerlin. They set out to simultaneously set the standard for "space-rock" with their backdrop of whining synths, and to tell the story of the Pothead Pixies in three parts. This is classic stuff. Start with "You" and work backward until you can't stand it. After the demise of early Gong (that is after Allen moved on to do solo work) Moerlin picked up the pieces and carried on without the whining and bubbling synths and without (most of) the lunacy. What's left is to my mind the best fusion band of the period - particularly if you like percussion. (Other contenders are Passport and maybe Brand X.) If you want this stuff look for "Pierre Moerlin's Gong" on the cover. Allen's solo work is amazing. Not for the near-sighted. This could go on indefinitely but let me close by mentioning that Allen reemerged briefly with a band called "Planet Gong" who toured but didn't record as best I know. Good tunes to you, George W. Sherouse <decvax!mcnc!unc!godot!sherouse> "I wish I was somethin'. I wish I was good. I wish I was made of mahogany wood."
wfi@unc.UUCP (William F. Ingogly) (05/09/85)
> ... rantings of one soft and cuddly Daevid Allen. Allen was a founding > member of Soft Machine (along with Robert Wyatt) ... The name Daevid Allen didn't ring a bell, so I checked out my Soft Machine albums. The personnel on the first two albums are: Soft Machine - Kevin Ayers, guitar; Mike Ratledge, keyboards; Robert Wyatt, drums Soft Machine Volume Two - Mike Ratledge, keyboards; Robert Wyatt, drums; Hugh Hopper, bass As I recall, personnel on their third album was the same as on the second. I can't remember the personnel on the fourth album, or whether they had any albums after the fourth. I saw Soft Machine in concert twice in 1968 prior to the release of their first album; the group consisted of Ayers, Ratledge, and Wyatt. Ratledge's high-volume manic organ solos had to be heard to be believed. Was Allen associated with the group prior to their first American tour, or maybe later in their career? By the way, Kevin Ayers put out a few solo albums after leaving Soft Machine; I still have his first solo album, "Joy of A Toy," on Harvest label. Definitely an enjoyable album and un-Soft-machine-like. I think Robert Wyatt also put out a few solo albums, and also formed another group after S.M. broke up, but can't remember its name. -- Bill Ingogly
sherouse@unc.UUCP (George W. Sherouse) (05/09/85)
In article <unc.180> wfi@unc.UUCP (William F. Ingogly) writes: > >> ... rantings of one soft and cuddly Daevid Allen. Allen was a founding >> member of Soft Machine (along with Robert Wyatt) ... > >... Was Allen associated with the group prior to their first >American tour...? yes. Check the SM family tree in "Triple Echo" for amusing anecdotes involving miners' helmets. >I think Robert Wyatt also put out a few solo albums... There are 3 major Robert Wyatt albums, each of which a rare jewel. They are, chronologically, End of an Ear, Rocky Bottom, Ruth is Stranger Than Richard. The first is a very early effort and rare in the sense that it is very difficult to find. The second was apparently a recuperative tool after his accident (in many ways similar to Eno's post-accident ambient experiments). It features droning instrumentation as a backdrop for typically Wyattish lyrics on many cuts. Richard, as it turns out, is stranger than Ruth, each being a side of the third record. This one is much more upbeat and features a more jazz-based ensemble. On both RB and RiSTR, the main appeal for me is Wyatt's incredible use of his voice as an instrument - the droneschool version of scat. There are other minor albums, primarily compilations, and a herd of singles. The most recently highly visible single was "Shipbuilding" also done by Elvis the C. I forget who wrote it. Two other albums of interest are "The Hapless Child" wherein Wyatt sings 6 Edward Gorey tales (great stuff) and "Silence" wherein Wyatt and somebody sing a Harold Pinter play - music by Carla Bley. Definitely pick up Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard if you have any interest in the Soft Machine school. Good tunes to you, George W. Sherouse <decvax!mcnc!unc!godot!sherouse> "Second cousin to a poor relation Holding last week's ticket in this week's train station Relegated to the third division On the lunatic fringe"
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey) (05/10/85)
> I have Expresso II and Downwind, but had no idea Gong had that much history > behind them. Were all those albums released in the US? What label(s) were > they on? I like Expresso II very much, and love the instrumentals on > Downwind (although the vocal songs are total garbage - it's an incredibly > schizophrenic album), and am interested in finding more. Could someone > tell me what king of personnel/stylistic changes they've had over the > years? What of their association with Mike Oldfield (if I'm not mistaken, > they backed him up on the live portions of "Airborn")? [Mike Ryan] Gong was originally formed by Daevid Allen (yes, that is his spelling). Steve Hillage was also a member of that original Gong. Gong became a rather loose collection of band members, both English and French, that soon split up into two Gongs. Pierre Moerlen continued the original Gong and kept it going along a more jazz oriented path than Allen's original hippydippy psychedelic vision. I believe this is the Gong that Bill Bruford played with for a brief stint after the disbanding of the original King Crimson (1973). Allen's Gong, later called Paragong so as not to confuse it with the Gong that "kept going", resurfaced some time after Pierre Moerlen's Gong blazed its own path. Allen has resurfaced from time to time in various musical contexts. Steve Hillage, Gong's original guitarist, has been a solo artist for several years, having a few of his albums produced by Todd Rundgren. I believe Hillage also produced the double album package by the Simple Minds some years ago (the one that was two albums for the price of one, where one of the albums was "Sons and Fascination"---contained "Theme for Great Cities", "Love Song",...). That was one of the high points of Simple Minds' early career, following on the heels of the two superb albums "Real to Reel Cacophony" and "Empires and Dance". Sorry I couldn't provide more explicit info on Gong, but I'll see what I can dig up if reuqested. My friend has most of their early records including Allen's original solo alubm that was supposed to have been the first Gong album. Recorded entirely on a TEAC 3340, for you studio gear buffs. -- "If you offend everybody, you're doing a good job." --David Steinberg on the subject of satire Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr