Gong
Album: I See You
Label: Madfish
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.planetgong.co.uk/

Parents everywhere should buy their children Gong albums as a warning not to do drugs. Governments should probably free issue them to schools. "If you smoke pot, my boy, then the mythology of Gong might make sense to you."

I'm not sure whether "I See You", carries the mythology forward. The album, when it is released on the 10th of November, will come with an illustrated 28 page media pack, which might give clues as to whether the story of Zero the Hero has been abandonded or progressed. The latter seems most likely, given that there are tracks on this album called "The Eternal Wheel Spins", "Pixielation" and "A Brew Of Special Tea". For those who haven't kept up with the story, I'd love to give a brief overview, but not having blown my mind on "tea", I'm at a bit of a loss. The plot, I'm fairly sure, involves Pothead pixies who live on the Planet Gong, fly around with propellors on their heads, and travel around in flying teapots (flying saucers being so 1950's). Radio Gnome Invisible, a pirate radio station on Planet Gong, can be heard on Earth via a Magick Ear Ring. During a drug induced sleep, Zero visits Planet Gong and is given instructions to organise a global festival druing which The Switch Doctor will turn on everyone's third eye and herald in a new age on Earth. When this happens, everyone on earth is enlightened apart from Zero, who got missed out as he was out out the back at the time. A Shaman then offers to take him to the next level of consciousness, but Zero dies in Australia. Zero then becomes an out of body spirit called Zeroid.

Australian, Christopher David Allen, changed his name to daevid allen, (lower case), and became a founding member of Soft Machine. After a European tour, he was not granted re-entry to Britain owing to having over stayed a previous visa. As a result, he formed a band in France along with his partner Gilli Smyth and a flautist Didier Malherbe, who, according to legend, they found living in a cave. Gong has since undergone many line up changes, and spawned many daughter bands, Paragong, Planet Gong, Mother Gong, New York Gong, Pierre Moerlen's Gong, Gong Maison, Acid Mother Gong and daevid allen and Gong Global Family. The band has broken up several times, once because daevid allen (also known as Divided Alien, Bert Camebert, Dingo Virgin, Ja Am and Dada Ali) was prevented from going on stage by a "wall of force."

The current line up has reverted to the name Gong, but only retains daevid allen from the original line up, though Gilli Smyth appears as a special guest, with her inimitable "sprinkled space whisper", and she co wrote one of the tracks on the album. The line up also includes Orlando Allen, (daevid and Gilli's son), on drums and vocals on "The Eternal Wheel Spins".

daevid is now in his 70's. So has age brought a degree of conforming? Of course not! This album is still wonderfully experimental. As you'd no doubt expect for music about pixies from another planet, "I See YoU" is very psychedelic. Very few tracks remain in the same time signature throughout. It's a fusion between jazz and prog rock, with influences drawn from many sources. "This Revolution" seems to have been drawn more from a political speech than from any previous musical genre. "Zion My T-Shirt" starts with a burst of choral singinging accompanied by a harp and "A Brew Of Special Tea" sounds like it was formed from various news clips.

"Pixielation" refers to invisible pixies that look just like us. In any other context that would sound like a contradiction, but in the Gong Universe it makes perfect sense.

The more you listen to this album, the better it gets. There's some fantastic bass riffs, some gorgeous flute breaks, but overall, it just screams innovation. Sadly, "Thank You", (the penultimate track), feels like a valediction to me and the last track, a beautiful ethereal instrumental, is called "Shakti Yoni & Dingo Virgin", pseudonyms for Gilli and daevid, which seems to me to imply that they have been on this mythological adventure through time, space, and the spirit world, and ended where they started with their love for eachother, implying that this could be their swan song.

The album is available on CD, and as a double vinyl LP. Roll up some special brew tea, and enjoy.

Pete Bradley