2032

So last year when this album came out, I was incredibly excited. Almost the entire "greatest" Gong lineup (in my opinion, at least) were releasing a new album tying into the Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy! Naturally, I HAD to pre-order the album so I'd get it right around when it was released. I've been listening to the album semi-regularly since then, and while it is good I must say it is a bit of a letdown. It's still got some of the Gong zaniness I love, but something's missing, and the band decided to make up for that missing bit by making the album just about as long as it could be (75 minutes!). Unfortunately, the quantity of material almost works against the album. There are some tracks I would have specifically cut to make it a bit shorter (namely the Gilli Smyth solo bits, I like them on the RGI trilogy but here they're unexciting). So far I've managed to say why I don't like the album, I suppose I should move on to why I DO like it. Most of the non-Gilli tracks are anything from good to great; generally the longest songs were my favorite, especially "Escape Control Delete", "How to Stay Alive" (Daevid Allen is secretly a rapper as well, apparently) and "Portal". Most of the members don't show their age very much (especially Daevid Allen, I'm pretty sure he could keep making music for the next 50 years and not sound any worse). Steve's back with his great guitar playing, which is a plus to any album. Like everyone else, I'm sure, I miss Pierre Moerlen's drumming on the album, though. Unfortunately he was taken from us too early.

So because of the excessive length and the few undesirable tracks, I don't think this is a good starting point to the wonderful planet of Gong, but if you like their style in general you'd probably enjoy the album. As of now it's getting three stars from me. I think that's the most fitting rating for it (Good, but not essential).