CAMEMBERT ECLECTIQUE

For information only

I do not have, nor have I heard this album, but as it is unreviewed in the archives, this review is intended to provide brief background information on what it contains. (The star rating therefore represents the fact that it was intended for collectors/fans only, rather that being an opinion of the musical content).

While Gong's output in 1970 was limited, they were still working. The results of those efforts are contained on this album. These tracks however lay unreleased until 1994, when they were gathered together for a belated release.

With Pip Pyle not yet on board (he would join in 1971), the line up was somewhat changeable, and even live performances were rare. Consequently, this album must be seen as being a sort of equivalent of "The Faust tapes", containing as it does material which was never intended for commercial release. In 1971, the line up stabilised considerably, being Allen, Pyle, Tritsch, Smyth, and Malherbe, and "Camembert electrique" was then released (with which this album should not be confused).

This album can be seen as a piece of collection for fans of the original Gong. The line up features Daevid Allen's first musical family, including Raschid Houari (on drums), Christian Tritsch who rapidly joined the band in 1969 and off course Didier Malherbe, the founder and "heart" of Gong. "Camembert Eclectique" is a kind a compilation featuring unreleased songs as "Take a little Trip", Dynamite...written during the 60's. Despite that this one can be considered as an important effort for completionists I continue to think that if you want to hear coherent, consistent music played by intelligent & brilliant musicians you need to look for somewhere else. As often in Gong, the compositions put the stress on the humorous, incompetent side of their music, providing short rock & roll parodies with many "comical" sax parts, electronic collages and silly vocals (in French and English). Only for true first Gong fans, others must avoid this sloppy record.

This is a special fan-club release containing some rare odds and ends from the very early Gong lineups. The top of the cover warns "Not what you think", probably because the cover is very similar to the similarly titled "Camembert Electrique". So do not be misled by the cover. On the other hand, don't ask for your money back just yet, because there is some neat stuff on this disc.

One bit of Gong history I learned from this is that the song "Jungle Windo(w)" from the late 70s "New York Gong" album (with Bill Laswell and Fred Maher) is actually a much older song, listed here as "Big City Energy", and sounding quite similar to the minimalist funk of the later rendition. Another thing I learned is that the "Gong Live" track called "Est Que Je Suis?" also had an earlier rendition, here titled "Garcon au Fille".

Two other tracks are of interest here: "Haunted Chateau Rehearsals" is a 12+ minute, creepy collage of spooky improvisations that will really get you out there. And to close things out, there is one of Daevid Allen's early pre-Gong tape manipulation experiments ("Gongwash Indelible"), a welcome look at Daevid's early avant-garde days.

Definitely for fans, but there's enough historically cool stuff that you probably won't find elsewhere to make this worthwhile for the fan. I give it an extra star for "Gongwash Indelible".