The Mandrake Project

This album found Klaus Doldinger ditching the old lineup, so effectively a brand new Passport. This album is a mixed bag, there's a couple of numbers that throw you over the edge, and several experiments that are untypically Passport. Much of the Latin influence of Iguaçu is gone here, some of the songs here leans towards the instrumental Alan Parsons Project side of things, one electronic piece, couple that sounds like classic Passport, and a couple of more lightweight numbers. By the way, Ataraxia and Sky Blue are the same release. For some strange reason, Atlantic Records in the States felt it would be better titled Sky Blue, while the international release is called Ataraxia.

This album found Klaus Doldinger ditching the old lineup, so effectively a brand new Passport. This album is a mixed bag, there's a couple of numbers that throw you over the edge, and several experiments that are untypically Passport. Much of the Latin influence of Iguaçu is gone here, some of the songs here leans towards the instrumental Alan Parsons Project side of things, one electronic piece, couple that sounds like classic Passport, and a couple of more lightweight numbers. By the way, Ataraxia and Sky Blue are the same release. For some strange reason, Atlantic Records in the States felt it would be better titled Sky Blue, while the international release is called Ataraxia.

After the departure of founder Daevid Allen the group Gong went through a rapid series of personnel changes with drummer/percussionist Pierre Moerlen becoming the de facto leader. The music evolved away from the psychedelic sound of the Allen-led era into jazz/rock fusion. By the time Expresso II (1978) was recorded Moerlen had assembled an almost entirely different group with a very different sound. With the completion of Gong's contract with Virgin Records the group name was changed to Pierre Moerlen's Gong to differentiate it from the other Gong offshoots and the original band.