PENTANINE

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.