Gong was never a band to do things by the book. Throughout the seventies they released a succession of psychedelic, progressive rock albums that could be considered outlandish – some might say stark raving mad – and avant-garde even by the standards of those insane times.
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Think the arthouse stylings of The Soft Machine (of whom Gong founder Daevid Allen was also once a member) corralled in with the French New Wave madness of a Jean-Luc Goddard film and you might just find yourself skirting close to the same solar system that Gong inhabited.
41 years on from the band’s inception and Gong have a new album coming out, 2032, and it’s one that’s billed as the next instalment in perhaps the most celebrated of works in their considerable canon, the “Radio Gnome Trilogy” – consisting of the classic albums: Flying Teapot (1973), Angel’s Egg (1973) and You (1974).
2032 brings things bang up to date, reuniting Allen with another core member, Steve Hillage, for the first time since You. It takes a more “conventional” sound than earlier works and infuses it with a variety of different elements, incorporating both past and present.
Of course, “conventional” for Gong is never going to be the same “conventional” the rest of us abide by and 2032 is awash with their style of eccentricity, albeit delivered with a more modern sound. This means the capsules within which Gong fire us out to the further reaches of space rock now have a polished surface that wouldn’t have existed during the seventies. It’s only a personal opinion but I feel this type of balls-to-the-wall, squeaky-clean production lacks a certain character that exists on recordings from that era.
That’s not to say that the album is no good. Quite the contrary in fact. Aside from an ill-advised rap at the end of ‘City of Self Fascination’ and throughout ‘How to Stay Alive’ (which immediately conjures up images of aging Trustafarians “getting down with the kids”), 2032 is a pleasantly surprising listen with enough things going for it to cancel out these minor, and most probably personal, gripes.
Fair enough, it was never going to top the triumphs of the first half of the seventies, but by broadening their brush whilst maintaining the off-the-wall essence of what the band were originally about, they might just succeed in bridging the divide between then and now.
With songs such as ‘Dance with the Pixies’, ‘The Year 2032? – apparently the year when the peaceful planet Gong will finally make contact with us barbaric earthlings?!? – and ‘Portal’ keeping the psych and progressive flags flying throughout, as well as that sixties and seventies ideal of attainable world peace remaining pretty much the album’s galvanizing motif, 2032 should keep old and new fans of the band happy until EMI get around to issuing a digitally remastered and expanded box set of their Gnomic three-part magnum opus.
Tracklisting : 01 - City of Self Fascination
02 - Digital Girl
03 - How To Stay Alive
04 - Escape Control Delete
05 - Yoni Poem
06 - Dance With The Pixies
07 - Wacky Baccy Banker
08 - The Year 2032
09 - Robo-Warriors
10 - Guitar Zero
11 - The Gris Gris Girl
12 - Wave And A Particle
13 - Pinkle Ponkle
14 - Portal
Rapidshare :Part 1Part 2
If We Don't Know Where We're going, We'll Probably Get There.
Gong, Progressive rock /Psychedelic rock/Art-R
