Monday 19 October 2020

Gong - The Universe Also Collapses (2019)

The 24th album from these British legends.

The band was now a quintet with a lineup of theremin, drums, percussion, saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, synths, guitars, bass, harmonium and vocals.

The band had moved a long way from the early beginnings in Paris, France where the Australian citizen was stranded after being denied re-entry to United Kingdom. Hence, he also lost his position in Soft Machine and had to set up his own band.

The band was Gong..... and a solo career.

Daevid Allen left this planet some years ago and is not physically involved in this album. Spiritually.... that is another thing. 

Gong is more an idea than a proper band. The idea "Gong" is very much alive here and more alive than on most other albums. 

That idea also includes a lot of Steve Hillage's ideas he had in Gong. This album therefore takes us back into the early 1970s.

There is a lot of the Steve Hillage era Gong and solo career in the first piece of music here, the twenty minutes long Forever Recoccuring. A great piece of music.  

A shorter and whimsy track follows before the band goes off tangents again on the thirteen minutes long My Sawtooth Wake. A shorter track takes us to the end of the album.

Gong, the idea, is very much alive on this album and this is one of the best Gong named albums out there. Long live Gong and this concept and idea.

3.5 points

 

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