RADIO GNOME INVISIBLE PART 1 - FLYING TEAPOT

As known,Australian Daevid Allen was a founding member of THE SOFT MACHINE,but was forced to remain in France after his visa expired during a tour of the band.There he met Gilly Smith,with who he formed GONG along with sax player Didier Malherbe.GONG released three albums between 1969 and 1971,''Magick brother'',''Camembert Electrique'' and ''Continental Circus'',all of them having a hippie/psychedelic sound deeped into somewhat jazzy improvisations.Despite not being of significant prog interest,these albums show traces of where the band was heading to.In 1973 GONG record and release the first part of a three part trilogy,the album ''Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1-Flying teapot''.Now on board have only remained Allen,Smith and Malherbe from the first line-up with guitarist Steve Hillage and keyboardist Tim Blake joining.

STYLE: Jazzy spaciness?Psychedelic Jazz?Space Psych?Whatever you wanna call it,''Flying teapot'' is an album with its own style,a sample of Allen's unique personality.The concept refers to planet Gong,a fantastic planet where creatures with the name Pot Head Pixies live.The flying teapot is their transport thing,where some of the tracks of the album refers to separate characters of the album.While starting more in a psychedelic manner with ''Radio Gnome Invisible'',soon ''Flying teapot'' shows the real new face of the band.A spacey background of keys is blended with a jazzy musicianship with nice sax parts and an improvisational mood around a solid catchy thythm.''Pot Head Pixies'' is more of a funny Psych/Vocal track which helps the concept to unfold,while the short follower ''The Octave Doctors And The Crystal Machine'' is an instrumental VCS3 synth journey of Tim Blake.''Zero The Hero And The Witch's Spell'' sounds a lot like early FLOYD in the first notes with Malherbe taking over with some fine sax playing,before the track falls into a Space/Jazz chaos with Hillage's schizophrenic playing.''Witch's Song/I Am Your Pussy'' closes the album with Psych/Jazz sound,finding Malherbe on the front,Blake offering obscure electronics and Gilly Smith on sarcastic vocals.

INFLUENCES/SDOUNDS LIKE: GONG are GONG no matter which influences the band may had.Barrett-era PINK FLOYD along with SOFT MACHINE had definitely an impact on the band's style.Add some spacey synths and jazzy mood in the mix,but you have to listen to the band to fully understand the style here.

PLUS: First of all comes the trully original music of GONG,which has been a guide for many bands in the future.Longer cuts are trully interesting with a superb atmosphere created by the spacey keys and the excellent saxes of Malherbe.Improvisational parts are also very interesting and last as much as they should.

MINUS: The shorter cuts are where the band stucks in the past albums with Psych Rock being the main reference,which I do not like.Vocals come from another world,sometimes work well with the concept,but some other can be quite funny.Mediocre production.

WILL APPEAL TO: Mostly fans of Psychedelic and Jazz Rock,as well as to those into electronic sounds.

CONCLUSION/RATING: Back in 1973 ''Flying teapot'' could have been trully a shock to me with its psychedelic roots.With today's standards though,the album sounds very dated at moments,with only the two long tracks of the album sounding as a really nice prog experience to my ears.A fine mix of Psych,Space and Jazz overall.3 stars for this uneven yet important album.