GONG LIVE, ETC

The prestigious AMG calls this album "essential". And I agree with them: anyone interested in Daevid Allen's Gong can find here a great introduction to the strange world of Allen and his Gong. Picking up most of the highlights from the Planet Gong Trilogy and featuring some obscure tracks, "Gong Live Etc." serves both as an introduction to newcomers, and a great document to fans. Surely this album isn't for everyone, but it has enough great moments to please open-minded prog-rockers interested in unconventional tunes. The version of "You Can't Kill Me", which opens this album, is a true rarity: a live track that sounds better than its studio version. "Flying Teapot" features a marvellous guitar solo by Steve Hillage, "Radio Gnome Invisible" shows Didier Malherbe (A.K.A. Bloomdido Bad De Grasse - a great nickname)) at his best, and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" spots Tim Blake playing harmonica on a tune which is surprising bluesy. The percussive talents of Mireille Bauer and Pierre Moerlen are shown at the fantastic "Isle of Everywhere". In a word, this album is plenty of everything that made Gong so beloved by some prog-rockers: musicianship (very few bands had so much great musicians at the same time - Malherbe, Moerlen, Hillage, Blake, Howlett), poetry (the major fault of "Gong Live Etc." is the lack of song's lyrics) and fantasy. I will not give 5 stars to this album, since Gong is a difficult band to most prog-rockers. But 4,5 stars is really a great rating.