ZERO TO INFINITY

Zero To Infinity is a surprising return of the classic Gong and equals the quality of the Allen fronted early 70's albums. It doesn't shed a new light on this band but the inspiration ran high during the recording of this album. For artists this late in their career it's an amazing album really.

Foolefare, a transcription of Faut Le Faire (You got to do it), opens the album. If they wanted to hint at the 'tour the force' they are doing here with their sudden return to form then this self-appraisal is deserved. The excellent Magdalene kicks of the album for real, it's a space-rock classic that sits comfortably next to Dynamite or You Can't Kill Me. The Invisible Temple is one of their typical space-jazz jams. This simply sends the Ozric Tentacles packing.

Gong not only brought back the trippy excellence of yore, they also continued the eclectic/inconsistent (pick your choice) character of their early albums, Zeroid is a good track still but a step down from the opening. Wise Man In Your Heart continues on the same level, good, but this trip-hop excursion refers too much to the superior Massive Attack in this style of music. With The Mad Monk we're right back with 1967 psychedelic rock.

Yoni On Mars wins me over more easily with its gloomy lounge jazz feel. It comes close to one of my avant-garde post punk favourites, Tuxedo Moon. (It's just a similarity of course, Tuxedo Moon were probably inspired by Gong and certainly not the other way round). Damaged Man is a bit of weird filler that I could do without. It ends in an interesting jazz-noise chaos though. Bodilingus and Tali's Song shouldn't even have made it onto the album maybe, although they're not that different from the silly stuff on their classic albums. There's one more gem at the end, Infinitea, a classic space-jazz-jam.

3.5 stars, but leaving out the tracks that I would discard as filler, there's still a good 44 minutes of 4 star space matter. Recommended to all Radio Gnome Trilogy fans.