Daevid Allen

Gong slowly came together in the late '60s when Australian guitarist Daevid Allen (ex-Soft Machine) began making music with his wife, singer Gilli Smyth, along with a shifting lineup of supporting musicians. Albums from this period include Magick Brother, Mystic Sister (1969) and the impromptu jam session Bananamoon (1971) featuring Robert Wyatt from the Soft Machine, Gary Wright from Spooky Tooth, and Maggie Bell…

22 tracks, double CD collection of all aspects of the Gong Family. Solo tracks, unreleased and live tracks. Selected by the musicians themselves and compiled by Daevid and all wrapped in one of the best Gong covers he has ever produced. Even if you have everything by the Gong Family you will not have over half these tracks.

Gilli Smyth first started performing with Soft Machine in the sixties when the band played their mixture of poetry/music gigs. Gilli became more active as a performer following the formation of Gong with her partner Daevid Allen following his departure from the aforementioned Soft Machine in 1968. Following her departure with Allen from Paris following the Paris riots of late 1968 Gilli along with Allen decamped to Spain although the duo once again returned to France in 1969 where the second edition of Gong became a reality. Gilli was the only female in the band originally and developed her "Space Whisper" which became an integral part of the Gong sound.

This is a classic, the epitome of the band's early Daevid Allen phase with Ph.P.'s (pothead pixies) in full, blazing glory. In its infancy, Gong was a unique prog rock band that branched out in all directions at once while most other prog bands chose simply one path or another. Camembert Electrique is a testament to that. The band's eclectic "electric cheese" rock is a mixture of psychedelic rock, spacy atmospherics and lyrics, and doses of jazz often presented with a pop sensibility, yet always intense. From the first cut on Camembert, you are transported to planet Gong via the voice of a "radio gnome" who drops in intermittently to remind you you're not in Kansas anymore. Daevid Allen leads the band through several compositions musically (not lyrically) reminiscent of, and possibly influenced by, early King Crimson – a hard, raw-edged sound propelled by a strong guitar-sax-percussion combo.