WINGFUL OF EYES

The sampler of Gong the jazz rock band, based on a goodly choice of sampler tracks taken the post-Hillage 70's line-ups. Released by Virgin Records along with half dozen other compilations of some of their poorer selling bands, with the intent of putting their back- catalogue back into the public's mind. It worked for me because I then went out and bought "Gazeuse" (and Van Der Graaf's "H to He") - and I don't listen to this sampler much any more!!!

Also recommended to those who have found Gongzilla's 4 or so albums in the last decade and wish to discover the band's roots.

This excellent mid price compilation gathers together the cream of the 3 post Daevid Allen Gong albums (sometimes credited to Pierre Moerlen's Gong) on Virgin. None of them could be called essential, but they are often unfairly dismissed. Following Allen's departure, Gong developed a jazz fusion sound that featured some superb playing, but which lacked the quirky humour and psychdelic touches of the previous incarnation. 'Shamal' was probably the closest in spirit to Allen's Gong, and four pieces are on here, including the title track (which also features this CDs only vocals). The remaining tracks are taken from 'Gazeuse' and 'Espresso 2', and it is on these tracks that Pierre Moerlen's leadership is stamped. They feature a percussion heavy sound, with vibes, marimba and glockenspiel playing intricate interlocking patterns. The other players, especially the excellent Allan Holdsworth, get to play complex solos above it all. If you like the kind of jazz fusion purveyed by the likes of Brand X, Mahavishnu Orchestra or later incarnations of Return to Forever there's a lot to enjoy on this collection. Just don't expect any pot head pixies or flying teapots.

While I like and appreciate Daevid Allen's lineups of this band, I love Pierre Moerlin's much more. I just enjoy the percussion based tight fusion much more than Allen's loose, pixie gnome fantasy silliness.

This collection takes all of it's tracks from the first three Moerlin led Gong albums, Shamal, Gazeuse (or Expresso) and Expresso II. When I purchased this collection, none of those albums were yet available on CD. This is a fine introduction to this version of Gong. The songs are all fantastic fusion, as good as any the famous fusion bands of the seventies were creating. Who says you have to come from a jazz background to be really good at this style? The Expresso album particularly are in a tuned percussion style that Bill Bruford also excelled in with his Holdsworth/Stewart/Berlin band around the same time.

So while I recommend getting the full albums, for a tight budget this is a good replacement.