SHAMAL

If you are hoping for an "gong" LP, that follows from "YOU" this is a great disappointment. However if you are willing to listen this turns out to be not half bad at all. Howletts vocals are competent and his bass playing is solid throughout. Didier 'Bloom' Malherbes sax's are a highlight as you would expect. Hillages contributions (two tracks only) are OK. The rest of the lineup are excellent musicians. All of the numbers are pretty decent Jazz rock and "wingful of Eye's" also has a decent melody. Bambooji has some very pretty flutes and remains a choice cut, closer to classic Gong that anything else. Really Pierre Moerlen's claim to the Gong name can be traced to this LP. The production is better than any Gong LP before it and gone is the muddy muddle and also thankfully the silly and embarrassing lyrics. However also gone are david allen gilli smyth and most notebly Tim blake, Hillage is also on his way and left part way through the recording. The fact that this is called a Gong LP is really down to the music industry and quite rightly some people felt very cheated by this record. Putting the politics of band names to one side. We are left with an excellent example of Jazz rock that will please all fans of good music. I recommend this LP and rate it fairly highly.