RADIO GNOME INVISIBLE PART 1 - FLYING TEAPOT

Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 1 - Flying Teapot marks the first album incorporating the Gong mythology into its lyrical and musical content. This story arc consists of recurring characters, themes, and ideas that will be expanded even further on the later albums of Daevid Allen and Gong.

I definitely recommend reading up on the basic storyline before actually listening to this music since many of the themes will make a bit more sense after that. This is also the first Gong album to feature Steve Hillage on guitar. Together with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and the rest of the band Hillage will play an important part of Gong's sound over the years especially recently, in 2009, when the band released a new recording featuring many of the familiar names off this release.

The album is divided into six tracks with one longer track on each side of the vinyl record. These two longer tracks are the 12 minute Flying Teapot and the 10 minute Zero The Hero And The Witch's Spell. Both of these pieces are the most developed and coherent instrumental performances that beg the question of why the band just couldn't drop the shorter pieces all together or combine them into much more coherent performances. Clearly the rest of the material just isn't on par which is probably why this album is the lowest rated album of the whole The Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy.

Eventually the band would make a few more adjustments to their lineup and return with two much more interesting albums. In comparison with those albums Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 1 - Flying Teapot is just an uneven start of the trilogy. Considering that it includes an important chunk of the storyline I definitely recommend this album to fans of Gong, but to everyone else this is a good, but non-essential release.

**** star songs: Radio Gnome Invisible (5:33) Flying Teapot (11:47) The Octave Doctors And The Crystal Machine (1:51) Zero The Hero And The Witch's Spell (9:38)

*** star songs: The Pot Head Pixies (3:01) Witch's Song/I Am Your Pussy (5:09)