PULSING SIGNALS

This is the first live album to be put out by the Gong lineup responsible for albums like Rejoice! I'm Dead! and The Universe Also Collapses - albums which emerged after the death of Daevid Allen, and saw Torabi, Sturt, and the gang take up the mantle from the previous generation and carry it into the future. As one might expect, there's a lot of emphasis on material from those albums - all but one song from The Universe Also Collapses is performed here - and the deepest dive we take into the band's back catalogue consists of an improv-heavy take on You Can't Kill Me (a song which becomes more menacing than humourous in the new group's hands, but which thematically could handle that) and a spin of Master Builder from You. 1974's You was the Gong album which, in its exploration of spacey, jazzy Canterbury soundscapes comes closest to what the current incarnation of Gong is going for, so picking Master Builder - one of the choicest cuts from it -t o perform was an excellent call.