CONTINENTAL CIRCUS

I really liked this album but I'm biassed and should explain. First I am a huge Gong fan having gone to many of their gigs and collected all their albums and offshoot albums as well as G.A.S. bootlegs. They were like a religion to me! Second, I used to race bikes and whilst I never actually saw Jack Findlay, he was a sort of boyhood hero. (I'm still a keen and mad biker after all these years.)

Continental Circus is essentially a collector's album and one that, despite the special place it holds in my heart, I hardly ever play. I guess it would appeal to those that like the highly improvised, experimental ("what's happenin' man?") style of synth, layered on glissando, layered on ..blah blah...evolving into new riffs in the classical (almost Beethoven like) way Daevid Allen seemed to pioneer in concept albums. A motif introduced out of nowhere in one track comes in to become the theme of the next. Yes the riffs are repetitive and, taken on their own, uninteresting but that's actally the point. There's a manic "can't let go" feel to the piece. Yes, it's trippy and confusing. It's also quite beautiful and soothing. You can hear connections in this album with later works, e.g. the intro to the Om Riff in You and Gong Est Mort.

The album's second side is a repeat of the first without the words, which is probably why one of the reviewers thought he only listened to one side.