CAMEMBERT ELECTRIQUE

Camembert Electrique is often considered to be the first proper release from Daevid Allen and his Gong. The band were still in the beginning stages of their development of their The Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy storyline that would be properly introduced on the next album. Still there are quite a few hints of this transition featured on this particular release.

Both sides of the record begin and end with sound effects that might have lost some of their purpose with the transitioned to the digital format but the rest of the album is still quite a fun little ride nonetheless! The music here might be labeled as Canterbury but this is material is far from anything that can be connected to Soft Machine, Egg or even Caravan. This is psychedelic rock at its finest. Starting with the catchy You Can't Kill Me the listener is transported to a new exciting world of sounds and experiences filled with humorous moments and general quirkiness.

From what I could gather this album was originally distributed by Virgin Records at a price of a single. This plan was originally used to promote Faust's compilation studio album, The Faust Tapes, and it did expose the band to a much wider audience. Since this type of pricing didn't allow the albums to be charted on the regular music charts the whole idea became useless in the long run. In case of Gong this tactic proved to be quite successful especially since the band only began introducing their artistic vision to the audience and having an already established fan base to do this to might be considered a dream come true for any new rising artist.

Personally I've never been a big fan of Gong and their trippy storytelling but Camembert Electrique definitely caught my attention ever since I've heard it for the first time and still enjoy it up to this day. This is a good, but non-essential album for everyone interested in exploring the early taken on the band's sound.

**** star songs: Radio Gnome Prediction (0:27) You Can't Kill Me (6:18) I've Bin Stone Before (2:36) Mister Long Shanks/O Mother/I Am Your Fantasy (5:57) Squeezing Sponges Over Policemen's Heads (6:36) Fohat Digs Holes In Space (6:22) And You Tried So Hard (4:38) Tropical Fish/Selene (7:36)

*** star songs: Dynamite/I Am Your Animal (4:32) Wet Cheese Delirium (0:31) Gnome The Second (0:27)