CAMEMBERT ELECTRIQUE

Armed with an actual band lineup for the second studio album, Gong released their fabulous 'Camembert Electrique' in 1971 and adopted the smart sales strategy of selling the album for the price of a single (taking the example of Faust and Virgin Records from the year before), expecting greater exposure to their work. Daevid Allen, Gilly Smyth and Didier Malherbe are joined by drummer Pip Pyle and bassist Christian Tritsch, forming the first proper incarnation of Daevid Allen's Gong. In comparison to the trippy debut album, 'Camembert' is a much heavier, focused, and risky release, with a greater focus on guitar work, composition, texture and album flow, as Gong released their first true classic in terms of overall quality and impact of the music. We have a much more diverse array of influences, with a taste for hard rock and avant-garde mixed with a spacey ambience. We must also mention the obvious focus on songcraft and the drastic improvement in production from 'Magick Brother'.

The silly short opener leads to the energetic and heavy track 'You Can't Kill Me', a playful piece that offers a very dynamic atmosphere contrasting with the mellower passages from the second side of 'Magick Brother'. Adopting more peculiar guitar techniques, a wider range of instruments and elevating the taste for the absurd even more, the album passes through the shapeless track 'I've Bin Stone Before' and the delirious 'Mister Long Shanks'. Another surreal entry follows in the face of 'Dynamite/I Am Your Animal' where the idea of creating noise and chaos prevails, allowing the listener to breathe in some of that psychedelic madness that surrounds Gong. The extended lengths of the songs is also noteworthy, with some of them reaching five or seven minutes, and while the winding fusion-y chops are not yet present, there is an idea of the experimental that is simply daring and unique. The tracks 'Fohat Digs Holes in Space' and 'Tropical Fish / Selene' exemplify exactly this, with the whole of 'Camembert' being a rather whimsical and fantastic introduction to the more serious musical side of Gong.