GONG LIVE, ETC

this is the classic GonG live in 77 and doing the Radio Gnome Invisible thing and does it ever rock. The fourth side is full of rather strange and obscure stuff. It has most of the tracks that outline that trilogy, and can be considered a good intro to the neophyte, but confirmed fans will not consider this option satisfying as too many essential tracks are missing; Delicious cut-out cover with interchanges scenes with the inner sleeves.

For the connaisseurs, The Sheffield 74 and GonG Est Mort have mostly the same material from the Radio Gnome Trilogy . The choice is yours but this one existed as a vinyl.

Live Etc is an erratic ensemble of live cuts, sessions and some studio out take tracks, or at least under developed studio cuts including the ridiculously titled "Obby-Sccoby Doomsday Or The D-Day DJ'S Got The D.D.T. Blues", which was to be issued as commercial type singles as if the band needed that to tarnish their image and make some money by such endeavors. While the Daevid Allen line up is regarded as the definitive Gong, I personally get more satisfaction for the last side of this double album. The Steve Hillage line up which played tight funky fusion and without the zany and at times annoying lyric assaults of Allen which were distracting at the best of times. Sure singing about gnomes, pothead pixies and flying teapots is fun, but it's also fun to hear some good grooves without any outrageous drug influenced nonsense. "Isle Of Everywhere", recorded live at the Marquee, is free from any vocals and is all the better for it. It groves on for just over 10 minutes and is more entrancing and hypnotic than any of the so called lysergic which fuelled Allen's lyrics, "Mater Builder" also from the same Marquee gig gets included. But then most of the You album, from which this also originally appeared, was strong, well constructed material which could be seen as the bands peak as they soon started to fragment. Much of the sound quality is average, lacking a dynamic which only diminishes the talent and textures of the band and though Live Etc does come across as a half thought out mess. It is still worth a listen and for Gong first timers it gives an account of changes the went through regarding line ups and development from the early days right though to 1977.

Athough interesting, I would certainly recommend to start with some of the excellent Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy studio albums - because this one is a bit messy. Nothing particularly wrong with it - all the GONG ingredients are here - long trippy jams, spacey keys, sax solos, space whispers and psych vocals. But I'm missing the magic of captured moments on studio albums: this one is madness half-revealed. There's a lot to be appreciated, but at the end it lacks the story. Listening to someone playing stoned could be amusing but it could be also annoying; Gong could certainly do much better.

Not bad, at the moments brilliant, but avoid it if you're not familiar with the studio albums.

Live Etc is one of the only live albums of Gong and works as a kind of 'Best of Gong' encompasses three years in the life of the band. Angel's Egg highlights are here as well as tracks from You and Radio Gnome Invisible, the three best studio Gong albums in my opinion. The live versions of Going material encapsulates the high strangeness that we know and love about the group, sometimes they border on the satirical, at other times try to be serious, without success. Throughout we are treated to the driving rhythms that are present, notably from Hillage's guitar and Malherbe's saxophone and flute. This is definitely worth a listen and features some of the weirdest versions of beloved Gong tracks, for instance there is the lyric-less version of 'The Isle of Everywhere', and 'Oily Way' sounds even better than the original, with kookiness unprecedented on a stage, since Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention days.

Other highlights include 'You can kill me', 'Zero the hero & the witch spell', 'Flying Teapot', 'Ooby-scooby doomsday or the D-Day DJ's got the D.D.T. blues', 'Radio gnome invisible', and 'Inner temple'.

Gong are eternally surreal cosmic adventurers who always strive to produce the wackiest spaced out music on the planet and once again a live stage is the perfect venue for unleashing experimental music and bizarre lyrics, that have cemented the band's reputation as essential for prog rock fans. They have notably been referred to as 'an invisible ideological empire' more than a band and the live versions of their repertoire is no exception, approaching the improvisational at times, spiralling wildly out of control yet maintaining a calm insanity, if that were possible. Notably 'Ooby Scooby Doomsday' and 'The D-Day DJ's got the DDT Blues' are finally available after years in the aborted can, and were worth the wait in every respect.

If you are into Gong or prog that is totally off-kilter but brilliantly executed by virtuoso musicians don't bypass this CD.

If I am not wrong, "Live Etc." was the only official live set released during the band's career in the 1970s. It is a very good collection of stage performances focusing on the most important aspects of the "Radio Gnome Invisible" trilogy + two important tracks from "Camembert Electrique" - "You Can't Kill Me" and "Dynamite/I am Your Animal".

The original double LP set was perhaps too loaded with crazy psyche jams and D. Allen's extravaganza that is not meant for average listener, even not for average GONG fan. The entire package may be difficult to digest at first listen, particularly if you are not prepared by having earlier tasted a portion of RGI trilogy for a starter. However, the live renditions of the tracks taken from "Flying Teapot" and "You" albums in particular are simply amazing. If you are a fan, get this album, if you are not - try first to listen to studio albums.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5

This is one of those archival releases which was a must-have back when it was first came out but whose star has somewhat faded next to subsequent archive releases. Back when it came out, there was a scarcity of officially-released live Gong material from the Radio Gnome Invisible period out there, plus the two studio tracks here (Ooby Scooby Doomsday and Where Have All the Flowers Gone?) were floating around without a particular home.

However, with the Love From the Planet Gong comprehensively hollowing out the Virgin vault, Live Etc. is now a bit redundant. In particular, that boxed set has the complete recordings available from the concerts this set is drawn on. That's particularly important because Gong concerts incorporated a large amount of improvisation tied closely to the mood the band was presently in and the atmosphere at the venue, so you get more out of listening to the live sets in the form they were originally delivered, rather than cherry-picking songs from a great swathe of live performances.

The fact is that Live Etc., drawing from as many sources as it does, ends up feeling a bit disjointed, an issue exacerbated by the fact that major lineup changes were happening all across the period covered. (Hell, Daevid Allen himself isn't on some of these tracks, hailing as they do from a 1975 Marquee appearance from after his exit.) If you just want a glimmer of what the band from this era were like live, it'll still do the job - but if you want a better idea of the live Gong experience, the Love From the Planet Gong boxed set (or, if you can't shell out for that, the bonus discs on the new deluxe editions of the albums from Flying Teapot to Shamal, which offer extracts from concerts from the era of the album in question) will do a substantially better job.