Gong is a progressive/psychedelic rock band formed by Australian musician Daevid Allen. Their music has also been described as space rock. Other notable band members include Allan Holdsworth , Tim Blake, Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Gilli Smyth, Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett and Pierre Moerlen. Others who have, albeit briefly, played in Gong are Bill Bruford, Brian Davison and Chris Cutler. The various incarnations of Gong, its spin-offs and related bands have become known as the Gong Global Family. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For space rocks, see asteroid. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Pierre Moerlens Gong is a progressive jazz-rock outfit which is very different to that of the first incarnation of Gong (band), the psychedelic space-rock act led by Daevid Allen. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Gilli Smyth is a musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong and Planet Gong as well as several solo albums and albums in collaborations other members of Gong. ... Steve Hillage is a English musician, associated with the Canterbury scene, who has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. ... Mark Hewins (born 24 March 1955) is a UK jazz guitarist known particularly for his connections to the Canterbury scene. ... Mike Howlett (born April 27, 1950) is a Fijian-born musician and producer based in the United Kingdom. ... Didier Malherbe was one of the founders of the band Gong. ... Pip Pyle is a British-born drummer now residing in France. ... Laurie Allan (born London, 19 February 1943) is a drummer best known for stints in Delivery and Gong. ... Tim Blake, keyboards, instrumentalist with Hawkwind, and Gong. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... System 7 is a band working in the dance/ambient scene. ... Theo Travis (born 1964 in Birmingham) is a british saxophonist. ... Formed in 1973, ZORCH were Englands first totally electronic band, pioneering integrated performances of synthesizers and lightshow. ... Kawabata Makoto in performance Kawabata Makoto is a Japanese musician and founding member of the band and soul collective Acid Mothers Temple. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music Musicians can be classified by their role in creating or performing music: A singer (or vocalist) uses his or her voice as an instrument. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For space rocks, see asteroid. ... Allan Holdsworth (born August 6, 1946 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British jazz guitarist and composer. ... Tim Blake, keyboards, instrumentalist with Hawkwind, and Gong. ... Gilli Smyth is a musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong and Planet Gong as well as several solo albums and albums in collaborations other members of Gong. ... Steve Hillage is a English musician, associated with the Canterbury scene, who has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. ... Mike Howlett (born April 27, 1950) is a Fijian-born musician and producer based in the United Kingdom. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Bill Bruford on the cover of his album, Feels Good to Me William Scott Bruford (born May 17, 1949 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England), better known as Bill Bruford, is an influential British drummer known for his forceful, highly precise, polyrhythmic style. ... This article is about the drummer. ... Chris Cutler (born January 4, 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. ...

History

Early years

Gong formed in 1967, after Allen—then a member of Soft Machine—was denied entry to the United Kingdom due to a visa complication. Allen remained in France where he and a London-born Sorbonne professor, Gilli Smyth, established the first incarnation of the band. This line-up fragmented during the 1968 student revolution, with Allen and Smyth forced to flee France for Deya in Majorca. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... The Soft Machine were a pioneering British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, Kent, England, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: ) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganised as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... Gilli Smyth is a musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong and Planet Gong as well as several solo albums and albums in collaborations other members of Gong. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ... A May 1968 poster: Be young and shut up, with stereotypical silhouette of General de Gaulle. ... Deyá (Castilian) or Deià (Catalan) is a small coastal village in the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Majorca. ... Location Location of Majorca in Balearic Islands Coordinates : 39° 30’N , 3°0E Time Zone : CET (UTC+1) - summer: CEST (UTC+2) General information Native name Mallorca (Catalan) Spanish name Mallorca Postal code 07001-07691 Area code 34 (Spain) + 971 (Illes Balears) Website http://www. ...

They found saxophonist Didier Malherbe living in a cave in Deya, before film director Jérôme Laperrousaz invited the band back to France to record the soundtrack of his movie Continental Circus. They were subsequently approached by the newly formed independent label BYG and signed up for two albums (Magick Brother, Mystic Sister and Bananamoon). The saxophone (colloquially referred to as sax) is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece like the clarinet. ... Didier Malherbe was one of the founders of the band Gong. ... BYG can refer to: BYG Actuel, a record label BYG-DTU, the Department of Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark. ...

Gong played at the first Glastonbury Festival and were subsequently one of the first acts to sign to Virgin Records, getting first pick of the studio-time ahead of Mike Oldfield. By 1971, a regular line-up had established itself and Gong released their Camembert Electrique album. The UK release, put out by Virgin Records subsidiary Caroline Records in 1974, was priced at 59p (that is, the price of a typical single rather than an album), ensuring that sufficient numbers were sold for the album to chart had it not been barred from the charts for being so cheap. The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury Festival or Glasto, is the largest [1] greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. ... Virgin Records is a British recording label founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Nik Powell in 1972. ... Michael Gordon Oldfield (born May 15, 1953 in Reading, England) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music and more recently dance. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... Virgin Records is a British recording label founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Nik Powell in 1972. ... Caroline Records was a subsidiary of Richard Bransons Virgin Records label during the early to mid 1970s. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Radio Gnome

Between 1973 and 1974, Gong, now augmented by guitarist Steve Hillage, released their best-known work, the Radio Gnome Trilogy—three records that expounded upon the (previously only hinted at) Gong mythology. At a gig in Cheltenham, in 1975, Allen refused to go on stage, claiming that a "wall of force" was preventing him. He left the band, as did Smyth, who wanted to spend more time with her two children. The band also lost keyboard player Tim Blake, replaced by Patrice Lemoine. The band continued, touring the UK in November 1975 (as documented on the 2005 release Live in Sherwood Forest '75) and working on their next album Shamal, but Hillage and Miquette Giraudy left before Shamal was released in 1976. They re-joined the band briefly for a 1977 live reunion^[1]. 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Steve Hillage is a English musician, associated with the Canterbury scene, who has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. ... The Gong mythology is a collection of recurring characters, themes and ideas that permeate the rock albums of Daevid Allen and Gong, and to a lesser extent the early works of Steve Hillage. ... For the parliamentary constituency, see Cheltenham (UK Parliament constituency). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Tim Blake, keyboards, instrumentalist with Hawkwind, and Gong. ... System 7 is a band working in the dance/ambient scene. ...

Pierre Moerlen's Gong and other off-shoots

Gong continued, under the control of drummer Pierre Moerlen (died 2005) and without their two principal members, because of contractual obligations. They morphed into the jazz-rock outfit Pierre Moerlen's Gong, in this time the guitarrist Allan Holdsworth came into the band and contributed to give gong the new jazz-rock sonority. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Jazz fusion (sometimes referred to simply as fusion) is a musical genre that loosely encompasses the merging of jazz with other styles, particularly rock, funk, R&B, and world music. ... Pierre Moerlens Gong is a progressive jazz-rock outfit which is very different to that of the first incarnation of Gong (band), the psychedelic space-rock act led by Daevid Allen. ... Allan Holdsworth (born August 6, 1946 in Bradford, West Yorkshire) is a British jazz guitarist and composer. ...

Allen, however, continued to develop the Gong mythology from the late seventies up until the nineties in his solo work, and with bands such as Euterpe and Planet Gong (which comprised Allen and Smyth playing with the British festival band Here & Now), while Smyth formed a separate band: Mother Gong. The Gong mythology is a collection of recurring characters, themes and ideas that permeate the rock albums of Daevid Allen and Gong, and to a lesser extent the early works of Steve Hillage. ... Here & Now Here & Now are an English progressive/space rock band, formed in the mid 1970s. ... ...

Reunions and Acid Mothers Gong

In 1992, Allen and Malherbe reformed Gong and released the album Shapeshifter, subsequently dubbed Radio Gnome part 4. In 2000, a fifth installment, Zero to Infinity was released, featuring Smyth and classic line-up bassist Mike Howlett. However, 2004 saw a radical new Gong line-up, sometimes called Acid Mothers Gong, including Acid Mothers Temple current member Kawabata Makoto and former member Cotton Casino. Allen and Smyth's son Orlando Allen joined on drums for the album Acid Motherhood and there were also live dates. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Mike Howlett (born April 27, 1950) is a Fijian-born musician and producer based in the United Kingdom. ... Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (and subsequent offshoots) is a Japanese psychedelic band founded in 1996 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple soul-collective. ...

The classic Radio Gnome line-up have reunited on a number of occasions in the past. However, it was recently agreed that touring is unprofitable, so they organise an "unconventional" gathering in November each year instead. The first "Gong Family Unconvention" (Uncon) was held in 2004 in the Glastonbury Assembly rooms as a one day event. The 2005 Uncon was a 2-day affair featuring several Gong-related bands such as Here and Now, System 7, House of Thandoy and Kangaroo Moon. The most recent Uncon was a 3-day event held at the Melkweg in Amsterdam on 3-5 November 2006, with practically all Gong-related bands present: classic Gong, System 7, Steve Hillage Band, Hadouk, Tim Blake & Jean-Philippe Rykiel, University of Errors, Here & Now, Mother Gong, Zorch, Eat Static, Acid Mothers Gong, Slack Baba, Kangaroo Moon and many others. These events have all been compèred by Thom the Poet. Several things are called System 7: System 7, a Macintosh operating system System 7 (band), a techno band Unix version 7 is sometimes called System 7. System 7, an IBM Minicomputer for process control in the 1970s This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages... Formed in 1973, ZORCH were Englands first totally electronic band, pioneering integrated performances of synthesizers and lightshow. ... A Master of Ceremonies or MC (sometimes spelled emcee), sometimes called a compere or an MJ for microphone jockey, is the host of an official public or private staged event or other performance. ...

Selected Discography

• 1969 - Magick Brother
• 1971 - Bananamoon (Daevid Allen solo)
• 1971 - Glastonbury Fayre (Gong contribute one side to this live triple album, including a piece that is interrupted by "the generator packing up".)
• 1971 - Camembert Electrique
• 1971 - Continental Circus
• 1971 - Obsolete (Dashiell Hedayat & Gong)
• 1973 - Flying Teapot (Radio Gnome trilogy, part 1)
• 1973 - Angel's Egg (Radio Gnome trilogy, part 2)
• 1973- Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (Gong contribute one side to this double album along with Henry Cow, Camel and the Global Village Trucking Company. The Gong tracks are not in fact 'live' performances.)
• 1974 - You (Radio Gnome trilogy, part 3)
• 1975 - Shamal - Produced by Nick Mason (Pink Floyd).
• 1977 - Gazeuse!, also known as Expresso
• 1977- Gong est Mort - Viva la Gong! (French live album)
• 1977- Gong Live Etc (UK live album)
• 1978 - Expresso II
• 1979 - Downwind (as Pierre Moerlen's Gong)
• 1979 - Time is the Key (as Pierre Moerlen's Gong)
• 1980 - Pierre Moerlen's Gong: Live
• 1981 - Leave It Open (as Pierre Moerlen's Gong)
• 1986 - Breakthrough (as Pierre Moerlen's Gong)

... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... Glastonbury Fayre is a triple album released in 1972, comprised of performances by acts who had appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 1971. ... Camembert Electrique is a jazz-rock / psychedelic / space rock album by Gong, recorded and originally released in 1971. ... The original soundtrack album of the film Continental Circus, containing music credited to Gong with Daevid Allen, recorded in 1971 and originally released in 1971 or 1972 in France on Philips 6332 033. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... A jazz-rock / psychedelic / space rock album by Gong, originally released in 1973. ... A jazz-rock / psychedelic / space rock album by Gong, recorded and originally released in 1973. ... Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwells Dance Hall is a 1973 live album released from an October 1973 concert at the Dingwells Dance Hall at Camden Lock in Camden Town, London. ... Henry Cow was an English avant-garde rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. ... Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in 1971. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... A jazz-rock / psychedelic / space rock album by Gong, recorded and originally released in 1974. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Gazeuse! is an album by Pierre Moerlens Gong, issued in 1977. ... Gong est Mort - Viva la Gong! is a live album by psychedelic rock artists Gong. ... A jazz-rock / psychedelic / space rock album by Gong, recorded between 1973 and 1975 and originally released in 1977. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Expresso II is an album by Pierre Moerlens Gong, issued in 1978. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Downwind is an album by Pierre Moerlens Gong, issued in 1979. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Time is the Key is an album by Pierre Moerlens Gong, issued in 1979. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• 1989 - Gong Maison (Gong Maison)
• 1992 - Shapeshifter
• 2000 - Zero to Infinity
• 2001 - Live to Infinity (UK live album)
• 2003 - The World of Daevid Allen and Gong (a 3 CD collection with no original material, but which includes almost all of the Radio Gnome trilogy, tracks from early albums including four each from Camembert Electrique and Bananamoon and selections of Daevid Allen's later work with Planet Gong and New York Gong.)
• 2004 - Acid Motherhood
• 2005 - I Am Your Egg (Mother Gong)

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Here & Now Here & Now are an English progressive/space rock band, formed in the mid 1970s. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

1. ^ Planet Gong: Tribal Heart: Gig History: 1977. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ...

Further reading

Daevid Allen's first volume of memoirs Gong Dreaming 1 have been reissued in January 2007.

• Allen, Daevid. Gong Dreaming 1 (SAF Publishing) ISBN 0-946719-82-9

External links

• Official web site for Gong, GAS & Gliss
• JEZALAND - Original archive photos of Gong, Nik Turner, Here & Now, Free Festivals from Jeza
• The Archive - Archival photos of Gong,Mother Gong,Steve Hillage, Nik Turner, Here & Now,Hawkwind and many Free Festivals from the 60s-80s