Progressive Rock
53 musicians have passed through Gong since Daevid Allen founded the band in 1967. And since his passing in 2015, he left his legacy to a group of musicians who have since brought stability and some very good records.
Currently, Ian East handles the horns, Fabio Golfetti guitars and backing vocals, Cheb Netless drums and percussion, Dave Sturt bass and backing vocals, and Kavus Torabi vocals and guitars.
Wikipedia has the history of this band, fundamental to psychedelic and progressive rock. Their entry makes for a genuinely fascinating read. I’ll just name a few titles in case you don’t know them yet, or haven’t dug into their discography: “Camembert Electrique” (1971), “Flying Teapot” (1973), or “You” (1974), the latter with its iconic cover art.
The album opens with the delicate track they chose as the single: “Tiny Galaxies”. A gorgeous, calm composition recalling bygone eras when psychedelia was making its way through underground London clubs. Worth highlighting is the lovely drum rhythm played through the verses, and the guitar’s delicate delay.
And staying in the early seventies, they offer us “My Guitar Is a Spaceship”. A classic-rock feel with vintage ideas, probably because the band knows full well who their most die-hard followers are, and it’s better to make something quality and familiar than risk innovating and falling flat. There’s nothing to criticise if you write a song like this — good and entertaining, with an interesting conclusion where the horns take the spotlight, hitting a note of real class.
The bongos, cowbell and claves from the previous track fade out to make way for a relaxing, calm sonic atmosphere, putting us in just the right mindset for “Ship of Ishtar”. Honestly, if you put this on during my yoga sessions, I’d believe I was the reincarnation of Satyananda Sarasvati. If you’re not much into meditation, you’ll probably hit next, but I find it interesting, at the very least.
More conventional is “O, Arcturus”, which doesn’t have much to stand out beyond a lovely ending in 11/8, anything but conventional — witty, clever, and it leaves you wanting to listen to it again.
And if there’s one thing that always characterises Gong, it’s that you’ll find a fun track with very rhythmic guitar-and-horn playing. That honour falls to “All Clocks Reset”, which, though a fairly classic progressive-rock composition unlikely to be inscribed in gold letters in the history books, will still slip pleasantly into our ears and give us plenty of enjoyment.
Less typical of the band, though, is finding a riff as intense as the one that opens “Choose Your Goddess”, leading us into a verse where drum toms and bass create a dynamic counterpoint to the ethereal vocals, the delicate guitar, the subtle flute and some biting horns.
“Lunar Invocation” returns to more yogic, hippie paths, paying tribute to its own title. Ambient and contemplative, though repeating the same kind of composition probably wasn’t necessary. Still, it ends up being a lovely transition into “Asleep Do We Lay”, where a mellow double bass, chosen with wonderful production judgement, leads us into a state of harmony and a strong urge to go out onto the street holding a sign reading: “Free hugs”.
In short: a good, classicist progressive album from a band that has known how to regenerate itself with new members without losing the essence that made it a genre reference point, and which, luckily, knows how to honour its entire history.
Writer: David Sàez