(Pierre Moerlen's) Gong1976-10-25
Nancy (Tomblaine), France
'Live Express!'
Audience recording, good quality
Available in both Lossless (FLAC and Mp3 (320 kbps) versions
As noted in the previous post, following Daevid Allen's and then Steve Hillage's departure from Gong in 1975-1976, percussionist Pierre Moerlen took control of the band, moved the band more in a direction of percussion-oriented jazz-rock, bringing in brother Benoit Moerlen and Mireille Bauer on vibes and mallet percussion and additional percussionist Mino Cinelli. But also bringing in journeyman progressive rocker guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Because Gong was still under contract to Virgin for 2 more albums, this new lineup continued under the name Gong, but this was a decidedly different band from the Daevid Allen days. Following those next 2 albums (Gazeuse!-1976 and Expresso II-1978), the band's name was officailly changed to Pierre Moerlen's Gong. By 1979, Holdsworth was gone, and Mike Oldfield came in to play guitar on their next album, Downwind (1979), as lineups continued to change each year. By 1980 and the album Time is the Key, the band brought in jazz keyboardist Peter Lemer (as well as Holdsworth on a couple tracks) and featured an even more mallet percussion-based progressive jazz-rock style, to stunning effect. That is actually my very favorite album from any incarnation of Gong, as it is wholly unique in sound and style, and consisting of an almost percussion ensemble instrumentation and a cool progressive jazz-rock vibe, a beautiful album. After a live album (Pierre Moerlen's Gong Live-1980) and another studio album (Leave it Open-1981), the band's output became more sporadic, with albums in 1986 (Breakthrough) and 1988 (Second Wind), before breaking up. However, a Gong band never really goes away, former PMG members Hansford Rowe (bass), Bon Lozaga (guitar), and Benoit Moerlen (percusssion) formed Gongzilla in 1991, and eventually, Pierre started up a new assemblage of musicians under the PMG name, releasing Pentanine in 2004. Moerlen began working on another new album in 2005 with a group of French musicians, but then died suddenly and unexpectedly. The rest of the band eventually finished the album and released it as Tribute in 2010.
Here we have a show from the early stages of Pierre Moerlen's Gong, in 1976, following the release of Gazeuse! (Expresso in North America). Would have liked to post something from the Time is the Key stage of the band, but unfortunately, no available recordings exist. But this is still good, too.
Tracklist:
01. Expresso
02. Wish
03. Mandrake
04. Esnuria
05. Night Illusion
06. Flute & Percussion Duet
07. Percolations
08. Shadows Of
09. Expresso Reprise
10. Gattox
Didier Malherbe - Sax, flutes
Allan Holdsworth - guitar
Francis Moze - bass
Pierre Moerlen - drums, percussion
Benoit Moerlen - vibraphone
Mireille Bauer - vibraphone, marimba
Mino Cinelli - percussion
FLAC - Gong_1976-10-25_France_FLAC.rar
Mp3 - Gong_1976-10-25_France_mp3.rar
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