Gong
Album: The Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy
Label: Charly
Tracks: 29 + bonus CD
Website: http://www.planetgong.co.uk/

This could be quite a tricky review for me to write. I don't like the idea of not recommending a release I am reviewing, particularly when I like the band, and particularly when I like the music.

I have always loved Gong, ever since I saw them live in the 1970's, but I'm afraid I haven't been a totally dedicated fan, and haven't yet bought all of their albums. So when I saw that Charly were releasing a box set trilogy of "Flying Teapot", "Angel's Egg" and "You", the three main Gong albums concerning Zero The Hero and his relationship with the Pot Head Pixies from the Planet Gong, then I was really keen. There are two options: the three albums on vinyl, along with reproductions of original daevid allen graphics; or the three albums on CD, along with a fourth bonus CD of hard to obtain material along with a sixty page booklet, all in a package wonderfully titled as an "ear-book".

Not only that, the box set is being released to co-incide with a Gong tour! A Gong tour? I would have thought that that was impossible after daevid allen passed away last March, but the band released an album last year called "I See You", and had lined up a 42 date tour to promote it. When daevid got ill, the band were committed to the dates so Kavus Torabi, who featured on "I See You" agreed to step in, but had not intended to carry on after those dates. But the band were well received, Kavus enjoyed it, and agreed to continue, so they are touring again!

I was sent a promotional sampler to review for Fatea, comprising eight tracks, two from each of the three albums, with two tracks from the bonus CD. As I expected, I love all of the tracks. I love Gong's zaniness, their unconventional approach to just about everything, and I love their musicianship. This was going to be an easy review for me to do.

Then I looked at Gong's website and saw the following:

We, the surviving members of Gong, do not support Charly Records upcoming reissue of the Radio Gnome trilogy.

None of the surviving members of the lineups that created those recordings were ever signed to Charly Records.

The truth is that during the making of Flying Teapot in January 1973, the band learned that the record company - BYG Records (also known as Promodisc) - had gone bust, it's Paris office stripped bare, no phones working. The band was abandoned at the Manor Studios midway through the album. Virgin - at the time just a chain of record stores and The Manor studios - was about to launch their record label.

Faced with an unpaid recording bill, they decided to cut their losses and release Flying Teapot as the second release on the new Virgin Records label. That's the true story.

The booklet advertised as accompanying the Charly/BYG Release is full of untruths, lies and falsehoods claiming to represent Charly and BYG Records as some sort of poor victim of Virgin's wickedness. The truth is that none of the musicians on those recordings has ever received a penny of royalty payments for the Charly/BYG releases, or even a statement. This is understandable because we NEVER signed to BYG or Charly Records as Gong.

Meanwhile, forty years later, we still receive statements from Virgin and, for those of us who cleared our advances, royalty payments, even though Virgin has since been sold to EMI and now is owned by Universal Records.We know and can confirm as a 100% corroborated fact that the Original Masters of these albums reside in the Virgin Records Archive, and that Charly has never at any time been given access to them, so Charly's claim to have used the Original Masters is false.

Charly has been brazenly abusing our rights as artists for decades. None of us are rich or powerful enough to sue them. All we can do is to let you, our lovely Gong fans, know that we do not support this release. We will be supporting a new boxed set to be released by Universal in a few months with our full collaboration.

DO NOT BUY THIS RELEASE

Thus, sadly, I must concur with the musicians. Wait for the new boxed set to be released by Universal, or do what I should have done forty years ago and buy the original albums.

Pete Bradley