GAZEUSE!

This record is often seen as a renaissance of the band and a visionary album of the jazz-rock genre. It's swirly cover is one of the best I've ever seen. This record is by no means a Canterbury record and it has none of it's typical musical elements, this is 100% jazz rock played by a super-group consisting of Pierre Moerlen on drums, Malherbe on wind-instruments and Allen Holdsworth on electric guitar among other lesser known professional musicians.

The main features of this recording are the up-tempo jazz rock compositions with vibraphone and drums playing a central role. The unbelievable, technical but emotionless guitar-solo's of Allen Holdsworth are particularly interesting on this album. Percolations on side one shows a focus on worldmusic-fusion with lot's of percussion and a an astonishing technical drum-solo of mister Moerlen. On side two we get some more up-tempo jazz rock, but the ending track shows a sensitive and intimate side of this super-group. This leaves us with a good impression of all qualities of this band.

Conclusion. Jazz-rock had left the free-jazz and bebop of Miles Davis and others and had become a genre on it's own with it's own licked productions and compositional values. A reference to Romantic Warrior seems to be a good one, although this record less emotionally involved. Still it's a pleasant affair, a bit disappointing for your own guitar playing motivation, but a great effort of this GONG reincarnation. For me this record could never be as interesting as the Radio Gnome trilogy and a feeling of emptiness arises from the lack of conceptual vision this record has when compared with early GONG music. This comparison is however totally uncalled for and even in-logical, this is an other band! Gazeuse is interesting for people interested in jazz rock with a focus on the technical aspects of the genre. For be-bop enthusiasts this might sound a bit too clean. Fans of the symphonic/eclectic progressive sub- genres might find an astonishing performance of this super-group. From me this get's thee stars because of the lack of an emotional attachment I experience while listening to the record.

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