DOWNWIND

A patchy album. The songwriting, for the most part, is not up to that of Shamal or Gazeuse!. Having said that the title track is a standout and would be worth the price alone if not for the fact that the CD is hard to get and not cheap.

As some of the other reviewers have said there are a couple of pedestrian tracks on here - Aereoplane and What You Know. Well worth skipping.

When I first bought this album on vinyl (far too) long ago I was disappointed. Then I teased out the strong tracks and realised what we had was an inconsistent album that ranges from the very ordinary to the not bad to the absolutely wonderful.

Now ... the title track. It starts innocently enough, reminiscent of Shamal's basic funk. This progresses to a classic Gong-esque vibes/xylophone line and then Mike Oldfield's melodic, fiery guitar solo, hitting some memorable high notes. Then the flutes lead to a musical drum solo from Pierre, a reminder of how much this wonderful percussionist will be missed. The latter part of the solo is remarkable for its precision, impact and power. At this point the atmosphere is smoking.

Then back to Mike's guitar melody and another beautiful, soulful solo before more classic Gong Eastern melodies and a typically classy Didier Malherbe sax solo. It builds until reviving the opening funk melody, with some funky slap bass by Hansford Rowe and more sax soloing until an earlier melody is revived to its finish.

Any review of the album should include a note about Ross Record's fiery guitar soloing. His work on the Ponty-esque Xtasia is superb. Apparently he wasn't comfortable with stage work so you don't hear much of him, which is a shame because he's good - not Allan Holdsworth (who is?) but an excellent replacement nonetheless with his soulfulness and biting, ballsy tone, reminiscent of Paul Kossoff in full flight but with more chops.

I would have given this three stars, but the title track is worth an extra star in itself.