CONTINENTAL CIRCUS

• Oily Way Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 2 - Angel's Egg, 1973
• The Isle of Everywhere Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 3 - You, 1974

A UFO in their carreer . If you enjoy this than listen to Obsolete from Dashiell Hedayatt as GonG delivers some the wildest music ever . Mind-boggling and highly energetic. This album is the soundtrack to a motorbike race in southern France (I think Le Bol D'Or ) , and it is even weirder that this hippy commune that Gong was at the time (a little like the Greateful Dead were in the US) must not have been well accepted by speed-BIKERS.

Send comments to Sean Trane (BETA) | Report this review (#27588) | Review Permalink
Posted Thursday, February 05, 2004

Admittedly, I've only heard this album twice (once in the early 90's, once in the late 90's), but it did absolutely nothing for me. Nothing like any other Gong album, it obviously was recorded under the influence of way too much "COIT". All I remember was a lot of dense, impenetrable jamming. Hey, wait a minute! Now I know where Acid Mothers Temple stole their sound!! Seriously, I don't think I even heard the whole album, so I may be wrong on this one. But I sure didn't like what I heard.

Send comments to soundsweird (BETA) | Report this review (#27591) | Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, February 08, 2005

This was my very first Gong purchase back in 1989, and it floored me then, and still floors me now. I love the manic riffs, and relentless jamming within the lengthy tracks, Pip Pyle's tasteful drumming (sadly recently deceased - aint life unfair?) and Daevid's Glissandos can really catapult one's mind into the far reaches of the cosmos without ever leaving the bed- room. And no, I don't partake in herbal or fungal abuse either. Didier Malherbe's awesome sax playing has an unusual sound quality to it on this recording, kind of 'clicky' and thin. The album is built around 4 tracks, of which 'What do you Want?' is a variation of 'Fohat Digs Holes in Space' from the hilarious Camembert Electrique album a year earlier. Blues for Findlay comes in vocal and instrumental versions and niether out-stay their welcome. A way-cool space-rock album with touches of Canterbury - highly recommended.

Send comments to Tom Ozric (BETA) | Report this review (#89368) | Review Permalink
Posted Sunday, September 10, 2006

Continental Circus is the third album from psychadelic Canterbury influenced rock band Gong. The first two albums from Gong was IMO good allthough not excellent and Continental Circus continues the style even though it´s a bit more jamming than the previous two albums.

The album consists of only four tracks and even though the opener Blues for Findlay is over 10 minutes long the album is very short. Out of the first three Gong albums this is my least favorite one, but it´s still good. The trademark weirdness is there of course, but the emphasis is generally on the instrumental parts with lots of soloing from sax and guitar.

The musicianship is great. Gong is a very tight band.

The production is pretty raw, but still enjoyable.

The cover art isn´t the most beautiful thing, but as I understand from previous reviews the album is a tribute to a french car race and as the cover depicts a racecar driver it´s probably very suiting.

If you´re a Gong fan this will undoubtedly be in your collection, but if you´re new to the band I wouldn´t start here. Start with Camenbert Electrique or one of the Radio Gnome albums first. If you enjoy those this one will probably also be enjoyable to you even though it´s basically jamming all the way through. 3 stars will be my rating.

Send comments to UMUR (BETA) | Report this review (#179371) | Review Permalink
Posted Monday, August 11, 2008

Continental Circus is probably best regarded as a short demo EP showcasing the band's sound immediately prior to the recording of Camembert Electrique, since it includes one song later rerecorded under a different song title on that album, one song which is just quotes from the movie spliced together with musical extracts from here and there on the album and with a little Gilli Smyth space wailing added, and one original song (Blues for Findlay) which, whilst good, isn't so good that it deserves to be on the album twice (once in an instrumental version). If you're a full-on Gong scholar it's worth a listen, but it's not really for anyone who isn't a collector.

Send comments to Warthur (BETA) | Report this review (#480565) | Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The same band of counterculture bohemians better known at the time for an album with a namesake track titled "Mystic Sister/Magick Brother" may not have been the best choice to score a film about the rough-and-tumble world of competitive motorcycle racing. But a job's a job, and even the most dedicated hippies have to pay the rent.

The obvious highlight here is the twin bookend "Blues for Findlay", and not only because it takes up 60% of the finished LP. The tune kicks into gear using a little old-school rock 'n' roll energy (surprising for 1971, when Jazz and Classical were the fusions du jour), lots of exciting psychedelic guitar work courtesy of the inimitable Daevid Allen, and even a homeopathic dose of girlfriend Gille Smyth's patented 'space whispers'.

Too bad the song itself is often lame enough to make you cringe ("Hey, mister factory man, biding my time"...etc), making the separate instrumental version a welcome addition to the disc. Elsewhere, the punchy "What Do You Want?" fills the gap between the two "Findlays" with some attractive and suitably groovy Space Rock. But the title track is nothing more than a collage of movie sound effects, thus effectively turning an already abbreviated album into little more than a two-song EP.

Strictly speaking, the album was always a throwaway effort for Gong completists only. But let's be generous and award it a second star for discriminating collectors of Euro-Prog esoterica. Otherwise, file this one away as an earthbound detour from a band better suited to songs about extraterrestrial pothead pixies buzzing around in teacup UFOs.

Send comments to Neu!mann (BETA) | Report this review (#791355) | Review Permalink
Posted Friday, July 20, 2012

Well, this is a difficult one. A soundtrack to a French motorracing movie. If that movie really exists, I would like a copy. Or is the movie the Le Mans movie I already got ? Half of this album is good. That's when Daevid Allen does what he knows best. Creating a soundscape between naive pop ... (read more)

Report this review (#256586) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Thursday, December 17, 2009 | Review Permanlink

I only have the LP, which has the 4 tracks originally released. Only the Giacomo cd has the 2 extra live tracks, I think, and I heard that is a boot. 2 monster riffs, probably better said as 2 monster rhythms form the backbone of this album. They are the basis of 3 out of the 4 tracks (track ... (read more)

Report this review (#102196) | Posted by Caveman | Friday, December 08, 2006 | Review Permanlink

This Lp was for a number of years very hard to obtain in the UK. It had an almost legendary status among gongs fans possible because of that fact. We finally got a shipping from the continent and were not disappointed. Although this lp is clearly a soundtrack the music is certainly gong and fa ... (read more)

Report this review (#91308) | Posted by burgersoft777 | Saturday, September 23, 2006 | Review Permanlink

This could of been a great album,but unfortunatley it isn't.Blues For Findlay is the best track on the album,and one of my favorite songs from Gong,but they could of easilly shortened it to a 6 minute song instead of 11+ minutes. The rest of the album has it's moments,but unfortunatley,that's ... (read more)

Report this review (#60867) | Posted by Hendrix828 | Monday, December 19, 2005 | Review Permanlink

I really liked this album but I'm biassed and should explain. First I am a huge Gong fan having gone to many of their gigs and collected all their albums and offshoot albums as well as G.A.S. bootlegs. They were like a religion to me! Second, I used to race bikes and whilst I never actually saw J ... (read more)

Report this review (#40274) | Posted by | Monday, July 25, 2005 | Review Permanlink

This record is the soundtrack of a film by Jerome Lapperousaz, "Continental Circus". This beautiful film about GP motor bike races in Europe is centered around biker Jack Findlay. It shows races of course, dramatic accidents, funny incidents, but above all life on the road for these passionate ... (read more)

Report this review (#27592) | Posted by | Saturday, May 14, 2005 | Review Permanlink

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