UNENDING ASCENDING

This is the fourth album issued by the current incarnation of Gong - a line-up hand-picked by Daevid Allen to keep the band's legacy going into the future - and it's the third they put out without significant involvement from Allen himself, who died after contributing to I See You. With Rejoice! I'm Dead! and The Universe Also Collapses, Sturt, Torabi and the gang proved themselves an interesting musical prospect in their own right, working in a style combining the modern approach of the members' other musical projects with the ethos of classic-era Gong.

They lack the distinctive sense of humour Daevid Allen brought to proceedings, but frankly that's for the best - the last thing they should be trying to do is imitate Allen's inimitable persona, which was the main thing which sold the jokier side of classic Gong anyway. Instead, they're offering a trip through the spacier side of the Canterbury, or perhaps the jazzier side of space rock - in this part of the musical map, the boundaries get fuzzy.

If The Universe Also Collapses was their take on the approach of You, erring as it did towards longer compositions, this takes a different approach, focusing more on shorter songs which are nonetheless part of a song cycle. It's a terse release at less than 40 minutes, but that just suggests they're applying sensible levels of quality control rather than jamming endlessly, and certainly I found the whole thing enjoyable. It's not as eye-opening as the band's classics, nor is it as ambitious as The Universe Also Collapses, but it certainly suggests that the creative spark is still flickering away at the heart of Gong.

'Unending Ascending' is a new and one of the countless Gong albums - the third post-Daevid Allen record released by the mythological psychedelic rock band formed in Paris back in the late 1960s. The current incarnation of the pothead pixies' crew is led by Persian guitar player and singer Kavus Torabi, who alongside his great bandmates makes sure to carry the spark of one of the most beloved old bands. Now, all three albums post-Daevid Allen so far have been recorded and performed by the same lineup of musicians and both the 2016 and the 2019 Gong releases have been sounding naturally very similar. 'Unending Ascending' is no exception, in fact, it is like a continuation of the former, as the band engage in the same psychedelic exercise, expanding but not necessarily evolving the sound of Gong, to be honest.

Nevertheless, all necessary Gong elements are here - the blissful gliss riffs, the psych-prog meanderings and the occasionally goofy and catchy lyrics, and much like the latest Yes album, 'Unening Ascending' is more of a celebration of what Gong is all about, rather than an attempt to showcase how much their sounds has progressed or expanded. Some great moments on here (which would include 'My Guitar Is a Spaceship', 'All Clocks Reset' and 'Choose Your Goddess') and some more derivative ones, as the band recaptures some sounds they had already presented on the last couple of albums by this lineup. Still, this is a fun listen but not necessarily an excellent highlight of their expansive discography.

It's hard to believe that Daevid Allen would ever leave his Earthly domain and join the great pixie tribe in the sky but on 13 March 2015, he took the radio gnome transport to that other realm that teased him throughout his amazingly productive and creative artistic lifetime. With his blessing, the newest rendition of GONG was immediately sort forth into action following Allen's last gasp of whimsy on the ultimate farewell party carried out on the 2014 album "I See You." Yes the GONG family will continue for time immemorial and amazingly beginning with the 2016 first post-Allen GONG album "Rejoice! I'm Dead," the newest chapter of the GONG universe has remained intact for three albums in a row. UNENDING ASCENDING is the third installment in the newest rendition of GONG which retains the lineup of Ian East (saxophones, woodwinds), Fabio Golfetti (guitar, vocals), Cheb Nettles (drums, vocals), Dave Sturt (bass, vocals) and Kavus Torabi (guitar, vocals).

Long abandoning any traces of the classic Canterbury sounds of yore and sorely missing the unpredictable zaniness and whimsy of GONG's founder, the new GONG has fallen firmly into the camp of psychedelic space rock and in the span of eight tracks, UNENDING ASCENDING tackles the concept of a pan-galactic suite and draws upon the most tripped out spaciness of the former GONG playbook only under the guise of a carefully crafted reincarnation of the band's past glory. Granted this is GONG in name only and an entirely different beast that rightfully should have found a secondary appellation attached however moniker quibbles aside, the new GONG handpicked by Allen himself does a decent job in crafting its own brand of unique space rock that throws enough nods to Allen's roots while remaining steadfastly looking towards innovating the band into a distinct musical force in its own right.

This modern version of GONG showcases a wide variety of sounds ranging from the punchy instantly lovable hooks of the opening "Tiny Galaxies" to the more cosmic excursions that immediately follow with "My Guitar Is A Spaceship," "Ship Of Ishtar" and "O, Arcturus," however a conscious effort seems to be a mandatory ingredient for the new GONG as if the members are always on alert to pay tribute to its now ascended mentor as if Allen is constantly peeking through the veil and supervising the entire affair. This seems most pronounced on "All Clock's Reset" with an almost forced obligatory bouncy groove and jazzy sax / woodwind section that harkens back to some of the moments on "The Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy." But these moments are fleeting if not a tad awkward as the band has no problem moving on with heavier doses of guitar rock as heard in the riff-heavy "Choose Your Goodess" which takes on a funky bass groove accompanied by a guitar glissando backing and propensity for abstract mystical lyrical deliveries.

The album does work on many fronts. The tracks are diverse, the musicians are talented and the passion to keep the GONG experiment alive is evident. The diversity of the dynamics, tempos, musical styles and balance between innovating the future while offering homage to the past is also presented in a respectable manner. In many ways the album feels more like a Steve Hillage solo album than anything from the GONG playbook and the band does succeed in crafting a stylistic approach that is all its own. As far as a psychedelic rock album with progressive elements woven in throughout, UNENDING ASCENDING is quite fluid and well-rounded in its approach and offers a mix of elements more out of the Pink Floyd, Ozric Tentacles or Hillage heritage than GONG itself, however the one big problem i have with the NEW version of GONG is that without a charismatic singer / frontman the album sounds deflated a few notches and therefore doesn't resonate as highly on my radar as i would hope. While Allen is sorely missed a more dynamic frontman would serve this new version of GONG substantially. Overall this is a not a bad album but ultimately it falls short of something that really beckons for a return visit. Pleasant but not quite up to speed.