PENTANINE

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Pierre Moerlen's last album, sadly. Recorded in 2002 but not released until 2004. This one's a bit of an oddball release in and of itself. Daevid Allen had long taken back over the helm of Gong. Pierre had stuck to the Gong name when Daevid departed and eventually, officially became an offshoot under the moniker, Pierre Moerlen's Gong. Gong is something of a hydra headed thing. Some of the guys in that outfit split off into Gongzilla and here's Pierre in a totally new outfit with Russian musicians. Recorded in St. Petersburg, Russia no less. Where as Gongzilla has been doing things in a less electronics style, these guys don't shy away from the synths.

The opening Flyin' High is almost a little tribute to DA's Gong. Airway To Seven is more in the style of songs on Expresso II with a little '70's cheese fusion tossed in, but not too much. Pentanine part one, ah the hypnotic vibes or xybes, not sure I've ever learned to tell them apart, dreamy. Au Chalet sounds rather unique to this version of PM's Gong, it's got a lot of that Gong's elements, but the stamp of one of their own inventions.

Trip a la Mode, nice, very Crimson Discipliney or maybe Trey Gunn-ish. Reminiscence starts off with an odd synth whooshing and then Pierre launches into a nice vibing a nice track for letting your mind wander back into the past. Interlude, just that. Classique's another one very close to some of the old PMsG. Pierre holds down a great groove on the drum kit and shows why that drum machine craze of the '80's was so regrettable. Lacheur is another song to satisfy your PMsG craving you may have been having, most of the songs being somewhat laid back, this one is a bit more heavy Has a nice section for the keyboardist to synthesize at the end.

Bleu Nuit brings to mind some Bruford material from a while back. The guitarist definitely has some Holdsworth in him. Pentaine part two a little PMsG meets Shamal. Montagnes Russes the Russian Mountains has a special guest on muted trumpet doing an impression of Miles. Troyka wraps things up spiraling vibes or is it xibes once again?, ends with the sounds of a light rain and some odd clips of voices.

There's just so much of what I liked about the old Gong/Pierre Moerlen's Gong present here and it's not stale rehash. I wouldn't have been surprised to see this lineup still making good albums to this day.

According to a 1995 interview with Benoit Moerlen on the Calyx website, Pierre Moerlen's Gong (which in GAZEUSE and ESPRESSO II recorded two of the very best "progressive fusion" albums) was just on the verge of being reformed with most of its late 1970s members taking part, until at the final moment Pierre pulled out, leaving Benoit to establish Gongzilla instead.

I wonder if Gongzilla's artistic success then inspired Pierre to reform Gong using a bunch of Russian jazzrock players - but the fact remains that PENTANINE (which dates from 2002) sounds considerably more varied and energetic than early 1980s Gong efforts such as TIME IS THE KEY or LEAVE IT OPEN.

It's true that the first half of PENTANINE in particular contains a lot of anonymous jazz-funk and "fusion lite", but Pierre's playing on vibraphone and his highly individual way of drumming make for moments of wonder and true excitement. A few of the early tracks are surprising: the opener, "Flying High", mainly consists of spacy synths, and the fifth track, "Trip a la Mode", sounds like a relaxed little brother of King Crimson's "Elephant Talk".

From the eighth track onward, the quality of the music noticeably improves. There are some standout solos on Moog, electric guitar and Hammond organ, and the compositions are denser, more imaginative than before, more similar to ESPRESSO II. The final track, "Troyka", is utterly charming chamber jazz played mainly by a trio consisting of synth, vibes and bass; it wouldn't have been out of place on any of the classic "Canterbury" albums of the Seventies.

As far as I know, this Russian incarnation of Gong wasn't meant to last. Just before his untimely death, Pierre Moerlen seems to have considered forming yet another band with his brother Benoit.

Gong's discography always was a difficult one. But if speaking about their early albums, Trilogy or jazz-fusion period, many listeners can divide and perfectly know, what kind of music is recorded on each list of albums, latest period is not so clear.

I have no intention to make musicological researches there, but just to make fans life easier, would like to declare one rule: if you see "Pierre Moerlen's Gong" written on the album's cover, just run away! It's sad fact, but after Gong became "Gong's Tree", with many different teams and one-time projects, Pierre Moerlen just used his right for brand name for recording of all the line of albums with strangers. Starting from late 80-s, all Pierre Moerlen's Gong's albums fluctuate between weak and not so weak.

Only common thing between them is jazz-fusion is used as base material for music recorded. Pierre Moerlen is playing with very different, often unknown musicians of very average level, and recording albums with cheese lounge fusion. This one is just another Pierre Moerlen's Gong's album, so you know , what to expect.

Exotic moment there is album's line up. Besides Pierre Moerlen himself, all other team is unknown Russian jazz-fusion musicians. The album even was recorded in Russia, but only relation with real Gong is borrowed name and project manager Mr. Pierre Moerlen. Music is usual to this project cheese jazz fusion, with plenty of electronics this time. At least ,they didn't recorded Russian folk.

To be correct, music there is even slightly better than some previous recordings, so you can use it for cocktails party ( if your guests wouldn't be shocked by some Russian spoken lyrics at the level of bad movie from 90-s). OK, I understand that musicians should pay their bills as well, but it's a bit pity, when someone using great band's fame for such understandable, but not very respectable reasons.

Can't imagine any reason why one could pay for this album.