Pierre Moerlen's 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. It is notable for the prominent use of mallet percussion, such as marimba, xylophone, and vibraphone featured in a rock/jazz context, making for a very distinctive and unusual sound that could have been classified as warmer and more melodic than most typical fusion could be. This article is about a type of musical instrument. ... Daevid Allen (born 1938 Melbourne, Australia) is a musician based in Byron Bay, Australia. ...

Amid a flurry of lineup changes in the mid-1970s, including the departure of founding members Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, Gong drummer Pierre Moerlen found himself in charge of the band and with two albums remaining on their Virgin recording contract.

Moerlen formed a new Gong lineup featuring his brother Benoit on mallet percussion, US-born bassist Hansford Rowe and a rotating cast of session guitarists, notably Allan Holdsworth, Mike Oldfield, ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, and Bon Lozaga. Allan Holdsworth (born August 6, 1948) is a British guitarist and jazz composer. ... Mike Oldfield on the album cover of Amarok (1990) Michael Gordon Oldfield (born May 15, 1953 in Reading, England) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends rock or progressive rock, ethnic or world music, and classical music. ... Mick Taylors debut solo album originally released in 1979. ...

They released two albums under the Gong moniker, Gazeuse! (called "Expresso" in North America) in 1977 and then Expresso II in 1978. Following the completion of the Virgin contract, Moerlen changed the name of the group to Pierre Moerlen's Gong, presumably to distance itself from its very different previous incarnation. In early 1979, the group released Downwind, which was a more rock/pop flavoured album that featured occasional lead vocals by Moerlen himself and a cameo by Steve Winwood. Later in 1979 they released another album, Time is the Key, that took the band further into pop/rock territory. A superb live album, "PM's Gong Live", was released in 1980, followed later that year by another studio album "Leave It Open". By this point, Pierre Moerlen's incarnation of Gong scaled back its activity greatly, not releasing another record until 1986's "Breakout". The group quietly disbanded soon after. Expresso II is an album by Pierre Moerlens Gong, issued in 1978. ... Windward is the direction from which a present wind is blowing. ... Image:S Winwood S Fisher. ... Time is the Key is an album by Pierre Moerlens Gong, issued in 1979. ...

Lozaga, Rowe, and Benoit Moerlen went on to form Gongzilla in the early 1990s, releasing four albums to date which are very much an extension of the percussive fusion that the original group brought to the fold, and they perform a mix of new and old live material going back to the Gazeuse/Expresso II period.

Pierre Moerlen died unexpectedly in May 2005, of natural causes. It is said that he was considering joining the members of Gongzilla and reforming PM's Gong.