Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Gong
Label: BYG Actuel
Release: 1970
Runtime: 43:52
Rating: 3.5/5
Of all the prog rock pioneers who came out of nowhere like lightning from a cloudy sky in the sixties of the last century, Canterbury scene champions Gong were without a doubt among the weirdest, which in the world of experimental music was certainly no small feat. For most of their existence, especially in the incarnations led by eccentric Australian guitarist/vocalist Daevid Allen, Gong operated less like a regular rock band and more like an international musical family, a global community. That was one of their defining quirks, but far from the only one.
One of the key bands of progressive rock, psychedelic rock and space rock actually came into being by pure chance. In 1967, the British authorities banned Allen, who was still a member of Soft Machine at the time and had played on their first single, from entering British soil for three years, because his visa for the country had expired. Soft Machine happened to be on a French tour just then, so Allen was forced to leave these prog rock pioneers behind and stay in Paris. There, together with his partner, the no less eccentric English-born musician Gilli Smyth, who was a lecturer at the Sorbonne in Paris at the time, he began laying the foundations of Gong music.
After taking part in the Paris protests of 1968, the eccentric couple briefly ‘skipped town’ to the Spanish island of Majorca, before returning to Paris at a friend’s invitation and starting work on Gong’s debut »Magick Brother«. The album came together in chaotic circumstances: bassist Christian Tristch never showed up at the studio on time, so Allen, who was a guitarist for most of his career, had to play all the bass lines himself. Drummer Rachid Houari did make it to the sessions on time, but after just one year Allen swapped him for the far more reliable and skilled Pip Pyle.
Saxophonist and flutist Didier Malherbe was the only one of the three musicians Allen and Smyth originally hired for the »Magick Brother« sessions who quickly became a fixture of classic Gong, and he still occasionally plays with the modern incarnation of this cult band. And what were the musical duties of Allen’s partner? Producing grimacing voices, one of the essential ingredients of Gong’s musical weirdness, was always the main job of this psychedelic witch, who, despite her at times annoying vocal style, never became an overly distracting element the way, say, Yoko Ono, who is far worse in that department, did.
»Magick Brother« was stylistically closest to psychedelic rock and the occasional bit of psychedelic pop, and only now and then reached toward Allen’s later, much more ambitious space rock adventures, when he built a Gong mythology entirely his own across the cult Radio Gnome trilogy. Even though the debut suffers from typical newcomer growing pains at times, it has some thoroughly fun and interesting moments. The album is split into two parts: the ‘day’ and the ‘night’ side. The opening experiments »Mystic Sister« and »Magick Brother« already reflect the dual nature of the record well; on one side, Allen’s psychedelic pop with melodic arrangements and his distinctive, slightly mocking vocal approach, and on the other, psychedelic freak-outs with instrumental improvisations and the annoying giggling and moaning of the resident psychedelic witch.
At this stage of his career, Daevid’s poetry wanders from eccentric musings (»Fable of a Fredfish /Hope You Feel OK«) and hippie mantras (»Rational Anthem«) to humorous debauchery (»Pretty Miss Titty«), while on »Gong Song« he discovers planet Gong for the first time and lays the groundwork for the Gong mythology of parallel dimensions, radio gnomes, the good witch Yoni, a failed hero named Zero the Hero, and flying teapots. The tracks »Ego« and »Gong Song«, which contain some jazzy elements thanks mainly to the piano and the saxophone respectively, already count among the more representative works of Allen’s gang. Every single composition, much like on the early Pink Floyd albums, makes it clear that certain intoxicating substances were at work during the creative process and that most of the pieces were created completely spontaneously.
Despite plenty of ‘stoned’ moments that leave you wondering whether they’re the product of genius or addiction, probably a bit of both, Allen and Malherbe were already excellent musicians back then, while tracks like the melancholic ballad »Glad to Say to Say« signaled that Gong would be far more than just another one of the countless short-lived psychedelic rock outfits that popped up in the second half of the sixties. Anyone who can fight their way through chaotic psychedelic orgasming like »Princess Dreaming« without harming their mental health will love Gong for life. For some unknown reason, the CD version of »Magick Brother« has a different track order and different track lengths.
Gong’s debut »Magick Brother« was a solid start to a long and turbulent musical journey for Allen’s psychedelic crew, even if it was still a relatively simple affair compared to their later space rock-flavored adventures. Their artistic progress showed very soon, and today, alongside Soft Machine and Caravan, Gong are the most respected band of the stylistically hugely diverse so-called Canterbury scene. Gong made their live debut in 1969 with a show in Belgium, where they were introduced on stage by none other than the mischievously inclined Frank Zappa.
Line-up
Daevid Allen – guitar, bass guitar, vocals
Gilli Smyth – space whisper
Didier Malherbe – flute, soprano saxophone
Rachid Houari – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Barre Phillips – double bass on 4 & 10
Earl Freeman double bass on 8, piano on 9
Burton Greene – piano on 8
Dieter Gewissler – bowed double bass on 2 & 9
Tasmin Smyth (Gilli’s daughter) – voices on 1 & 10
Production
Jean Georgakarakos and Jean-Luc Young
Track list
– Early Morning –
1. Mystic Sister / Magick Brother (4:44)
2. Change the World (aka Rational Anthem) (4:10)
3. Glad To Sad To Say (3:35)
4. Chainstore Chant / Pretty Miss Titty (4:38)
5. Fredfish / Hope You Feel OK (3:18)
– The Late Night –
6. Ego (3:55)
7. Gongsong (4:05)
8. Princess Dreaming (2:55)
9. 5 & 20 Schoolgirls (4:23)
10. Cos You Got Green Hair (4:58)
