GAZEUSE!

I was living in the United States in the first semester of 1977 as an exchange estudent in California. Among the various Lps I bought on that trip was an album I found with the name Expresso by british/french band Gong. I eagerly bought it because their previous efford, Shamal, was one of my favorites in the year of ´76. When I got home and played i was quite disappointed: with some major line up changes their musical style changed a lot from one work to the other. In fact, with addtion of ex Soft Machine guitarrist Alan Holdsworth and bassist Francis Moze, they became a jazz rock /fusion band. A good one, by the way, but far from what one should expect from their name so far.

Gone were the psychodelic/spaced out experiments and the so called Cantenbury sound connections. Surely Pierre Moerlen´s jazz tendencies were highlighted here with the addition of Holdsworth´s guitar playing style. Fortunatly excellent percussionist Mirelle Bauer was still on board, and it is her creative use of a vast array of instruments that makes all the difference. As usual on these kind of records, the technique is impeccable, even if the compositions lack some originality, especially if you remember their earlier CDs (including Shamal). Vocals were also totally wiped out by now. But the overall sound is nice, with no fillers, a good production and it is a bit too short for my taste (just under the 40 minute mark).

Conclusion: not bad at all. If you´re into jazz rock/fusion, you should not miss Gazeuse/Expresso. But it is not Gong as we used to know. Be aware fo that. Because of the terrific musicanship displayed by all involved and the creative use of percussions I cannot rate this album with less than 3 stars. But I can´t afford it four because it is obvious something was lost along the way. So 3,5 stars is quite fitting. Very good, but not really essential.