The trilogy just gets better and better, Doug. Hillage integrated more into the band and revealed himself to be a truly sensational guitarist (Isle of Everywhere from You (part 3) has one of the most sublime guitar solos you will ever hear). They also acquired a sensational drummer, Pierre Moerlen. The percussion work on Angel's Egg is astonishing. Please continue through the trilogy.
Absolutely agree. All three are sublime albums, but the finale "You" is a masterpiece surpassing the other two in its musical motives and structure. It just builds and builds, like a Master Builder. It's a Perfect Mystery to me how they managed to put it all together into this insane infusion until all the characters of planet Gong leave you with this last and little song. You'll never blow your trip on "You". Why don't you try?
I've loved Gong since I was a teenager, I'm in my 60s now and I still love them. The world needs more Pothead Pixies and their Teapot Taxis. Gong always had a fantastic line up of musicians including such people as Steve Hillage, Pierre Moerlen, Mike Howlett, Pip Pyle, Didier Malherbe.
I am a Gong freak since I was 12 ( that was in 1974) and this music has been with me all my life And I must confess I do not care for reaction videos but you actually enlightened me Clearly you feel the music AND have the knowledge of analyzing it in a thoughtful intriguing manner Thank you so much
I must say Gong is in my top 20 music groups. I have Origanal copy of same album you played; its a kind of Heaven 😊. I saw Gong play in Nottingham in their later years,was a good memorable evening & night. I would have like to have been at more of their live performances 😊 I even imagined a couple more albums they never made; maybe they'll be eventually made in Gong.......we will seeeeeear some days ahead😊
Steve Hillage was so amazingly influential and inventive. I saw Gong perform several times and have all their albums but I think future jazz may sum it up. 40+years later! LOL 🤩
Yeah, I saw them a couple of times, they gave me a copy of Camembert Electrique, vinyl, of course .. I was only a school kid but I loved it and have remained a fan ever since... :-)
Steve Hillage is still going as strong as ever...On top of his amazing solo albums and the work he did with Gong, he launched his System 7 project and has been raving ever since..He also has had a recent spell with the mighty Hawkwind (another band that people need to inform Doug of ,as they are one of the most important bands ever, and indeed Gong and Hawkwind ,and all their offshoots, were the 'core' of the ongoing 'counter culture' throughout the 70's , 80's, 90's and into the 00's and up to present day)
This was so joyously entertaining, to watch Doug trying to make heads or tails of Gong, like I once did many moons ago. It's a deliberate deprogramming process they set us up on, which I initially fought, myself. But the mind that already believes it has the answers is not exactly open to receive what life truly offers. The joy Gong shares becomes infectious and we recognize it's intentionality as deeply loving. Oh, and they can play!!! The RGI trilogy is essential Gong. Many blessings on your "Gong journey", Doug. For sure, it will be light. Banana nirvana mañana!
I got introduced to Gong just as I became fully tuned into Hawkwind's amazing back catalogue (from 1970 to mid 80's) , and as someone highlighted to me , 'Gong are about 'inner space'......Hawkwind were / are more about 'outer space' and what's physically happening in the world) ..very true when you hear both bands work from when they began and certainly throughout the 70's and into the 80's even with Hawkwind....both bands are legendary and played from the heart and wanted people to wake up to the importance of living in 'real community' in harmony with Mother Nature , and to not fall into the traps of 'corporate consumerism' and the ensuing 'corporate dystopia' being spewed out everywhere by the corrupt establishment !
Met him hours before Gong's concert in Skien, Norway 1974. He and his girlfriend asked for a place they could eat dinner. Around 40 years later I met him again before Gong's concert in Oslo. He did not remember me, but I remembered him, he had just shorter hair haha.
Flying Teapot isn't the best album, YOU is the best of the trilogy. Then check out their jazz rock Expresso 1 (Gazeuse) and Expresso 2 both featuring guitarist Allan Holdsworth.
underneath all the craziness theres a killer jazz fusion band in Gong. Mike Howlett and Piere Moerlen are easily one of the most legendary rhythm sections ive heard. "You" is when they really get their chance to shine
If you haven't already, you must check out Steve Hillage and his amazing run of albums after he left Gong. Green, Motivation Radio and Live Herald are definitely worth starting with. Steve wrote the book on trippy guitar, but his playing and compositions are incredibly original and sophisticated. And what a great live act too! Another totally unique band to check out is the one and only Magma, who even invented their own language!
Fantastic band. Great Reaction. Please do the whole trilogy. It gets even better. Nothing I enjoy more than listening to the whole trilogy in one sitting in the small hours, but I understand you can only do one side at a time. Daevid Allen and Gilli Smythe were visiting Robert Graves, the writer, in Mallorca when they stumbled upon Didier Malherbe living in a cave and they decided to create Gong, so the story goes.
@@OAlem Many british and german hippies went to Mallorca and Ibiza and the Sun Coast during the 60s and 70s. Nowadays brits and germans keep coming to Spain, but no more hippies, just drunken sods 😆🤦♂🙄
Gong Live, Etc. is one of my all-time favorite albums. It elevates these songs and many others and showcases some superb musicianship throughout. Been listening to it for 45 years and literally never get tired of it. It's kinda hard to find streaming but if you can pick up the vinyl or a CD grab it with both hands. It's a remarkable piece of work. And Steve Hillage is underappreciated (though totally appreciated by those who have heard him))
Listening this Gong and then Steve Hillage was what eventually led me to buy my first slow techno based record, which was The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld as it had Steve Hillage playing on it.
Was so lucky to see them live in 2009 at The Picture House, Edinburgh, Scotland with most of the classic line up. Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett and Daevid Allen were simply outstanding. The whole band were superb musicians. No comparable band exists today.
Oh man..was at this show too with Hillage opening.... probably one of the most transcendental and emotional trips of my life. At one point both me and my mate felt "elevated" into another realm. A full day of toking and trying to make our own music prior to gig probably helped.....☺️🤭✌️🙏🏽
The drummer Pierre Moerlen’s Gong is also an incredible experience - anything off the album Shamal (produced by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason) is a stone cold masterpiece
Gong is much better than Zappa. Much more light-hearted and funny; don't forget Zappa was an (humanist) conservative and totally anti-drugs and many of his songs are misogynist; antichurch or politics. Same music but def. not the same vibe :)
Gilli was Welsh. Certainly opened my mind musically, back then. Pierre's (Pierre Moerlen's Gong) later efforts with Alan Holdsworth, Hansford Rowe etc, are more than worth a listen.
A bit tenuous, but, the current incarnation of Gong includes the guitarist Kavus Torabi. He was previously in the band Cardiacs. Well worth a reaction! "Tarred and feathered", "R.E.S.", "Dirty Boy".
You talk of their musicianship and composing/arranging skills. In my opinion each of the albums tops the previous one. And side B of part III (You) is simply a beautiful way to finish. Hope to see more Gong on your channel. btw "Have a cup of tea" is slang for having a reefer. And here's a quote about Gong (if memory serves, from The KLF) when they first started listening to the band. "Gong were a cheesecake, in a world seemingly only filled with baked beans."
The teapot is fueled by 'shrooms' 👌😎🪐🌛🌻 And everyone will enjoy the rest of the journey on the rest of this album and onto 'Angels Egg' , then onto 'You' 👌🙏
I don't know how long I've waited for someone to react to Gong - and you are exactly the right Person to do it 👏👏👏 I love Gong, but for wierd the krautrock band Faust's first album called Faust is not bad. They use a cement mixer as an instrument for heaven's sake 😆
I saw FAUST in concert about 10 years ago in Asheville, North Carolina! One of the best shows I have ever seen. I have most of their albums. Love them.
I have seen Faust here, in San Francisco, a few times in the past several years. They also utilized the occasional "knitting Needle clanks", up front and Center. (A Woman of similar Age, knitting, God who knows what, sitting on a Chair, there, for no apparent reason.)
You missed the best Gong track, which is on Live Floating Anarchy 1977, "Allez Ali Baba Black Sheep Have You Any Bullshit / Mama Maya Mantram", a 15 minute epic that is like an audio version of a mushroom trip. Honestly blew my mind when I heard it in 1987.
Great to hear the mighty 'Gong' are being reviewed by Doug here 👌👌👌....Surely we are now finally closer to him being recommended the mighty Hawkwind (and please don't recommend Silver Machine ffs) ...The whole 1st side of The Warrior On The Edge Of Time album would be a highly interesting place for Doug to start with Hawkwind..it has a bit of everything in it (as do most Hawkwind albums from their golden years of 1970 to mid 80's)PS ; Tim Blake and Steve Hillage also played with Hawkwind more recently and the original Hawkwind band members hung out alot with Gong members from the late 60's onwards... The 'cat with the groovy silver face' that Jimi Hendrix spoke of on stage ,during pretty much his last live gig at Isle Of Wight festival in 1970 , was indeed Nik Turner of Hawkwind and the guy standing next to Nik and hanging out with him was Tim Blake of Gong. Hawkwind pretty much launched their career at that festival and became known as the ultimate 'people's band' as they played for free outside the gates of the Isle Of Wight festival in a large inflatable marquee, and shared out LSD everywhere.
The current incarnation of Gong are very good, maintaining the legacy that Daevid Allen was happy to pass on to them before he died. Gong isn't a specific group of people, it's a state of mind. I will also take this opportunity to once again encourage you to check out Cardiacs for a Weird Wednesday band, specifically their track Dirty Boy with it's quirky key changes, epic build-up and preposterously protracted ending.
I'm always a bit conflicted recommending a "first" Cardiacs album... any one of the following common recommendations have their own positives: "The Seaside" (original edition, obviously), "A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window", or "Sing to God". And it gets harder picking a single song: some people insist it must be "R.E.S.", some "Is this the Life?", some "Dirty Boy", etc. Each very different, and each with a very different appeal to people who haven't heard Cardiacs before...
@@philrichards7240 I think Sing To God is the most complete (double) album. My favourite track is Fiery Gun Hand, which I would love to see Doug react to, but I think Dirty Boy would probably be the best introduction because of the almost classical structure and the vocal arrangement. Glad that some people have backed me up at last. We have to get Doug to listen to Cardiacs.
The Radio Gnome Story underpins a trilogy of Albums - Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg and You and pops its head up in other places. The band mutinied against the obsessive storyline after You. There is a strong influence from Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism as well as authors like Gurdjieff and Blavatsky. They were incredibly well-read, so there are lots of literary references. Her name is pronounced "Jilly" soft "g" - Hard "g" in "gnome" though. They were incredibly musically literate - they loved those chromatic thirds, check "Isle of Everywhere", they were also extremely talented players. I'm glad you're listening to the 2018 remaster, the original mix wasn't so good (apparently sounded great in the studio). The eery violin-like sound in Flying Teapot is Daevid's gliss technique on guitar - bowing it with a metal bar through lots of effects. The story here is this is the first visit of the flying teapot to earth at Easter 1966. They meet Laurence the Alien in Tibet and everyone gets groovy, that's Laurence freaking out at the end. It gets more complicated later. There is a small amount on RU-vid of this era - "Never Glid Before", just search "Gong live". Watching you mind blown by one of my favourite pieces of music was such a joy! Thank you
Great stuff- you have to listen to the whole trilogy- especially the last album “You” - one of the best albums of the 70’s with 2 epic guitar solos. More to the point Gong always make me smile.
Welcome aboard the Teapot, Doug. I've loved this band forever. Also still going with the musicians who were working with Daevid up to his leaving this place - led by Kavus Torabi of The Cardiacs fame, and they are absolutely sensational. Daevid insisted Gong is a more about the philosophy than the people, and the Teapot definitely still flies high in 2023. ✌️
Hey Doug , I've been a pot head pixie for way over 40 years i can tell a fellow pixie anywhere 🔘😊 Welcome to the family GONG . PLEASE do a reaction vid to Planet GONG live FLOATING ANARCHY 1977 ; Here And Now Band , on shrooms . i think that might be the best thing ever . You might never be the same again . IN A GOOD WAY . Much LOVE .
SAX: Bloomdido Glad de BRASS Compare to the Coneheads of SNL: (french, pointy heads, "mepps" is a french trout lure! Saw steve hillage band open for ELO @ COW PALACE Daevid Allen solo in Berkeley!
That title track is simply a masterpiece. It's been a long time I've heard this trilogy. Actually, my favourite Gong is when Allen had just left, to be more exact, first two albums after his departure: Shamal and Gazeuse! They're basically a much saner version of jazz-fusion. Musicianship on those albums are unbelievable. Really looking forward to more Gong reactions in the future.
Hey Doug, please react to Utopia’s “The Ikon”, mind blowing 30 minute long prog rock epic. Todd Rundgren pushed the limits by cramming an hour of music onto one vinyl record.
Gong is the band you listen to when you wake from your Pink Floyd coma, realise there's enough for another smoke, fire it up and begin taking the evening a stage further. 😎
Thanks for doing this one. Gong is awesome. Even if you don’t do the whole trilogy, I would recommend listening to the album “You”. It is a lot more approachable. Also, you really need to take a dive into Steve Hillage’s solo work at one point. He guitar playing is just amazing.
I love the way he keeps deciding to have another puff to make more sense of it lol The "eerie sound" you noticed was a technique Hillage invented called "glissando guitar" - if you take a metal tube such as you'd use for slide guitar or blues guitar, and rub it gently back and forth (quite fast, like semiquavers or faster) _across_ the strings of an amplified electric guitar, i.e. transverse to the strings, rather than up and down the strings (as you'd do if you were doing slide), you get this eerie glistening, shimmering sound. And then you can combine the two things - do the transverse rubbing _while_ sliding up and down the strings as well, as you'd do with slide guitar - then that eerie glissando sound ensues. Add echo and other fx to taste you and you have an amazing, rich sound made really quite simply. Re. the musicianship - I think a fair few in the band were jazzers as well, so they had chops and they were able to interject the use of modes and occasional complex harmonic structures.
All very accomplished musicians. Live on stage they would really show their chops, despite the whimsical lyrics. In my opinion, Daevid's best work is his later solo stuff.
Gong is pure art. Jazz, rock, fusion, world music, call them what you may. Formed in paris, but with musitians from pretty much all around the world... english, aussies, brit, french, italian, japanese, you name it. Allan Holdsworth and Don Cherry just to name two killer jazz cats... whatever you play from Gong is solid gold and diamonds, just one awesome album that I recommend outta all the great Gong albums is Gazeuze... cheers.
Very true, and Gong and Hawkwind always had a strong bond with each other...they both fought for the same 'counter culture' to try and make the world a better place...just did so using different musical styles and each style was unique and genius with amazingly powerful and important lyrics...they never wanted fame nor riches..they were / are the soundtrack to a wholesome alternative to the corrupt corpoate dystopian consumerist bullshit around. 😎👌✌✊🙏
Gong have connections to the underground ‘Canterbury Scene’ in the UK, and some great musicians (check out Steve Hillage) and music has come our way ever since. Daevid Allen was a complete enigma.
Gong has a record called Espresso II that never gets mentioned by anyone.. It's awesome. That's all I know about them really. LSD band that went more percussion/fusion later and brought in some serious ringers like Bill Bruford (or The Police before they made it apparently).
I went to see Gong in about 1975 at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. A very entertaining concert with probably the best drum solo I've ever witnessed!
At the very beginning, "invisible" is pronounced the way it is in French, approximatively "arnveezeebl" to an english speaker. The bass plaxer here, Francis Moze, can also be heard on Magma's first two albums.
More Gong please! The whole trilogy. Love the middle one, Angel’s Egg. Very looking forward to your thoughts on Prostitute Poem. And after the trilogy there’s Steve Hillage to explore! Such levitating music. So have a cup of tea, have another one… 🙏👍🤩
The album titles 'Radio Gnome Invisible' and 'Camembert Electrique' reflect their years long residence in France. Behind the weird and wacky baccy stage image are solid, accomplished musicians. Jazz afficionados will appreciate their freeform improv skills. Comparisons with Frank Zappa and the MOI are fully justified. Yes, watching their live performances on RU-vid is entertaining! R (Australia)
20:15 Not so much caffeinated, but psilocybinated. That's not normal tea in that pot. It was made from some groovy mexican or hawaiian mushrooms. I speak from experience, it'll take you lightyears.
One of the most underrated bands of all time. They sold millions of records and got paid fuck all. If you want to witness how good they were as musicians, watch the black and white film of them playing " I never glid before". This album was the second record ever released by Virgin records, Tubular bells being the first.
Yep, totally!! The Canterbury school and their influence in rock; prog, etc. music is so underrated. Their album sold millions because of Virgin market strategy, selling these at low cost; if not at lost. BTW check the BBC live Tubular Bells, beautiful video.
Love all the Gong family…..Daevid Allen solo work, Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe…..and Tim Blake work….wow, how lucky were we, are we are you….nice to know there are still many Pot Hed Pixies..
Doug , I would love to hear your opinion of the album " Pawn Hearts " by Van der Graff Generator ! To me this was modern blues , not the 12 bar format , but the meaning of feeling alone and expressing it ! 1971 , cheers .
No doubt !.....GONG listened carefully to Syd Barrett's songs...i.e. "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" (1967) + "A Saucerful of Secrets" (1968)...and to the double album "Ummagumma" (1969) !!!!!.....P.S.: the best Pink Floyd ever, to me. Oops...and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention !!!.....After all...it's all about kosmic debris !
Enjoyed your reaction to Gong, Doug. - This band are an incredible and under-rated institution. The albums get weirder and better as the mythology progresses. I first heard this album in the early 70s. I saw the latest incarnation of the band in York UK last year and they were utterly brilliant . As you say the musicianship is amazing and the whole myth/story /culture is enticing and beguiling - hope you enjoy them as much as I have over the last 50 years !
I remember buying Camembert Electrique from Virgin Records in Birmingham, England when I was 17 (I’m now 66) on the recommendation of a friend on the basis it only cost 50p - mighty cheap for an LP even back then! And so my journey began. Mind blowing how many awesome musicians and bands grew out of Gong. Saw the current lineup as the last band on The Glade stage at Glastonbury a couple of years back - far and away the best experience of the festival. My son-in-law is now hooked and so the Gong family forever expands. What a journey!!
My college roommate turned me on to Gong back in the early 80's and I've been hooked ever since, probably my favorite band of all time! after getting my degree in audio engineering I was lucky enough to meet and do some work with Daevid Allen, such a wonderful and unique human being, love you for ever and ever, RIP Daevid!
There are few trilogies which get better from part to part. IMO Gong’s trilogy starts from a high point and gets higher and higher. I can’t even think of musical comparisons but, with films, you have Godfather and Superman (2, 1, 3), and Toy Story (3, 1, 2 … later 3, 4, 1, 2).
The band centred around the fantasy visions of Daevid Allen... a kind of Australian beatnik, who morphed into a wigged out hippie freak. He was probably responsible for birthing 'The Canterbury Scene'... A bunch of related bands and musicians with quite far reaching impact on European prog-jazz- Soft Machine were the spark.. and Allen was a founder member of that band. You also had Caravan, Hatfield and the North, National Health, Matching Mole, Robert Wyatt... Egg... It's a history that runs back to the early 1960s, and may still just be hanging on today among elderly survivors. The sax player, Didier Malherbe / Blumdido was a very special component of Gong. When he wasn't in the band, something vital was missing. Just wasn't the same. Gong somehow attracted the most excellent musicians. They also have an early history from the late 60s that's more obscure, raw, crazy, primitive, far less virtuosity, but never the less, still in a class of its own. Attached to that too, the first 3 or 4 solo albums by Allen are also something special and highly original
You should also take for weird Wednesday Soft Machine II (second album)also ,another one would Family Music in a Doll's house...txs for examining this one...I am a huge fan of Gong ...You should also try french experimental band Magma...
Amazing, thank you Doug! Great video, as always. I got to meet daevid once - we danced 😅 a real gentleman Any chance of getting their album ‘You’ on a Weird Wednesday?
The Drums on this album OMG :) I used to be a fan when i was high up in my teens in the late 1990s, i even saw them live in a Reunion tour in EU with their prodigy the Ozric Tentacles... They did some good free/fusion jazz albums later also. More down to earth stuff... Just amazing Musicians. The "whalling" continious sound (sounding like strings) is made by stroking the strings on the electric guitar with a metal circular piece (screw driver, beer can) , it's just like a violin bow.
Weird Wednesday you hit the Nail on the Head Doug' I Heard these albums many years ago thinking that they were on another planet. Gong certainly made me stop and think a bit so great to hear them again Fabulous.🤡 The look on your Face at the End was priceless there is loads of Gong Live on YT
