Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Gong
Label: Virgin Records
Released: 1973
Runtime: 37:02
Rating: 4/5
»Flying Teapot« was the first part of the space-rock »Radio Gnome« trilogy of albums, which together made up the key work of Gong’s one-of-a-kind mythology, one that today only its psychedelic creator understands down to the last detail: the legendary Australian singer and guitarist Daevid Allen, a man whose mind is still sailing somewhere far off in parallel dimensions. Under the influence of various psychoactive substances (and later without their ‘help’ too), the chieftain of Gong’s ‘traveling space teapot’ went through a ‘close encounter of the third kind’, which in 1973 he set to music in the first part of the famous »Radio Gnome« trilogy, one of the finest moments in the history of this cult prog rock band and a must-have ‘souvenir’ in any space rock fan’s collection.
Even though in the first half of the seventies, under Allen’s leadership, Gong looked and acted like a bunch of eccentric ‘stoners’ abducted by aliens from some hippie, ‘alternative’ commune in an Indian cave and subjected to all sorts of risky experiments, every last one of them was an excellent musician, with the exception of Allen’s wife, the resident ‘witch’ Gilli Smyth, who with her screeching voice and off-putting presence made sure there were never too many ‘pretty’ people gathered below the stage. That goes especially for guitar master Steve Hillage, keyboardist Tim Blake and saxophonist/flutist Didier Malherbe.
Those three were also the most responsible for incorporating jazz rock fusion elements into Allen’s crazy psychedelic world, something that only intensified on their albums over the following years. At the same time, it meant Gong were slowly becoming interesting to jazz fusion fans too, people who had previously been put off by Daevid’s eccentric, psychedelic universe with its peculiar antics. So with »Flying Teapot«, an ever-widening circle of people, some of whom may once have mocked them or marveled at Allen’s bizarreness, slowly started to appreciate Gong.
Every single composition on »Flying Teapot« takes the listener on a wild intergalactic journey, born in the winding meanders of Allen’s thoroughly fragmented mind. The opening piece »Radio Gnome Invisible« is a spaced-out psychedelic experiment with crazy vocalizations, tied together melodically by Allen’s charismatic vocals, while complex improvisations make sure that something unusual and totally unpredictable is always going on amid the jazzy rhythmic twists. The wind parts add a nicely playful wit, while Blake doesn’t hold back on laying down electronic keyboard textures. That’s especially obvious on the title track, which at the start sounds like music from some psychedelic horror flick, for which Gilli’s dissonant squealing is generously ‘to blame’, followed by sly jazz fusion rhythmic meanders and Daevid’s usual vocal ‘daydreaming’. Even though the central motif with its main verse ‘constantly’ repeats in the final stretch, something is always happening in the background, while bizarre vocal ‘skits’ tie together the space-psychedelic concept.
»The Pot Head Pixies« is an autobiographical song with a mocking saxophone arrangement that captures that incarnation of Gong in the best possible way, especially when it comes to the word ‘crazy’. The short instrumental »The Octave Doctors And The Crystal Machine« is marked above all by Blake’s electronic variations and easily sends the listener off on a space-rock ambient trip. The epic, hysterical adventure »Zero the Hero and the Witch’s Spell«, which through its frenzied arrangements and lyrics tells of the meeting between the protagonist of the »Radio Gnome« trilogy, Zero the Hero (Daevid Allen in the lead role), and a witch (Gilli Smyth in a supporting role), is undoubtedly the central work of this album. Funnily enough, ten years later the legendary Black Sabbath remembered the strange escapades of the aforementioned »Flying Teapot« protagonist on »Born Again (1983) in the song »Zero The Hero«. »Flying Teapot« closes with the seductive experiment »Witch’s Song/I Am Your Pussy«, where, amid extensive use of guitar wah-wah and saxophone shenanigans, the ‘teapot witch’ takes the central role as the narrator of perverse fantasies, and with her wild, grating laughter she bewitches her ever-wasted little ‘wizard’ of a husband too.
The first part of the »Radio Gnome« trilogy was one of three peaks of Allen’s eccentric genius within the Gong family, who were then at the height of their creative powers and managed to push their cult status to the extreme in an era when experimental music was flourishing like crazy. With »Flying Teapot«, Gong finally made it into the league of the greatest prog rock bands in terms of quality and vision, even though Daevid’s space voyage with the psychedelic teapot lasted only two years, before after his (temporary) break they began mutating into a jazz fusion band.
Lineup
Daevid Allen – vocals, guitar
Gilli Smyth – vocals
Tim Blake – keyboards, backing vocals
Didier Malherbe – saxophone, flute
Steve Hillage – guitar
Christian Tritsch – guitar
Francis Moze – keyboards, bass guitar
Laurie Allan – drums
Rachid Houari – percussion
Production
Giorgio Gomelsky
Tracklist
1. Radio Gnome Invisible (5:33)
2. Flying Teapot (11:49)
3. The Pot Head Pixies (2:59)
4. The Octave Doctors And The Crystal Machine (1:44)
5. Zero The Hero And The Witch’s Spell (9:37)
6. Witch’s Song/I Am Your Pussy (5:05)
