BREAKTHROUGH

This is a rare Gong release I picked up during my travels in Europe. A fan of Pierre Moerlen's. I was intrigued by the drastically different line-up here. On this album Moerlen and Rowe collaborated with Swedish prog band TRIBUTE, a band that has a handful of somewhat mediocre Symphonic Prog albums under their belt.

Admittedly, I am heavily into largely instrumental Jazz-Rock and care very little for Gong with Daevid Allen. Well, "Breakthrough" has become an instant hit with me. Dynamic pieces presented here with tastefully arranged instrumentation where every note is in the right place whilst none appear to have been left out. Tight delivery by Moerlen (as usual), this album is pure delight to my ears and I rarely put it away until after three consequtive spins. (That is also true for the follow up release "Second Wind", another treasured rarity.)

To my great surprise, even the odd vocal track (sung charmingly and in French) is pleasant and I would probably miss it . Now, if it's not a "breakthrough" for me, then I don't know what is! In my books, this is a solid 5 star job I wouldn't want to be left without.

A word of caution. It took me a long time, but I managed to track down the TRIBUTE releases with great expectations. Pleasant enough work, but largely lacking the tightness of a Moerlen delivery and somewhat on the boring side. Indeed, I sold my copies as they would have just gathered dust without another spin as long as I have other choices to listen to.