WILD CHILD

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For those unfamiliar with the GonG story, during the late 70's, Daevid Allen and his partner Gilli Smyth parted company for some time, Allen following his muse in various Gong-related projects, and Gilli releasing a solo album (Mother) and shortly after assembling the band MOTHER GONG with her new partner Harry Williamson. After a most wonderful album which fused some well arranged Space-Rock with child-like stories narrated by Gilli (Fairy-Tales), the 'Robot Woman' trilogy followed. The trilogy was a lot of fun, though marred with much of what we all dislike within music of the early-to-mid 80's. 'Wild Child' was recorded during 1989, and received a vinyl release on Dave Anderson's 'Demi Monde' label. The LP features 7, mainly 6-8 minute cuts, as opposed to the 10 tracks which appeared on the CD. The overall production is a lot smoother and cleaner, the band well-honed players, including Robert Calvert providing some excellent sax work (not the famous Hawkwind member, but the less famous guy from the great CATAPILLA), Rob George on drums, Conrad Henderson on basses as well as Harry (gtrs/keys) and Gilli on voices and space-whisper. She can't really sing, but rather 'speaks' her texts, and that is possibly an acquired taste for many. Her space whispers are never an issue. Compositionally, we're not far away from what made up Robot Woman 2 and 3, the notable difference here is that the music veers toward a more jazz-prog form with some psychedelic twists and quirky turns, and without some of the New-Wavey elements which infected those earlier albums. No one track stands out over the other so it's a fairly consistent listen, but nothing overly wild or spectacular which really reaches out and shakes you. A very good album - 3.5 stars !!