Gong Est Mort Vive Gong

Great recording of a one-off Gong live show. This disc has great sound considering the time period. The whole gang is here and it sure sounds like it. Many of my favorite songs are here. Gosh I wish that I could have seen this band live. I was lucky enough to see Daevid solo but he didn't do any Gong material, it was of course great. But here we have space whisper and Hillage's guitar in their full glory. I strongly recommend this live glimpse of Planet Gong! 77 plus minutes of cosmic bliss.

I"m a HUGE fan of this band, and I wanted to get this live album, since so many people have raved about it. I saw that AMAZON.COM sold it as a CD-R title (that is, its made to order by some company called "CELLULOID NEW YORK"). I ordered it, since the "real" CD title that's imported is at least twice as expensive. WELL, imagine my surprise when I got the CD, and saw that track 10 (SPRINKLING OF CLOUDS) and track 11 (FROM THE ISLE OF EVERYWHERE etc) are the SAME SONG! Instead of track 11 being on the CD, a 12 + minute track, it just repeats the previous track. AND OF COURSE, one of the best songs on the whole album is track 11, ISLE OF EVERYWHERE. SO, if you are in the market for this title, DO NOT BUY THIS AMAZON SOLD CD-R EDITION! You will be cheated out of almost 13 minutes of music. I'm sure that this is not AMAZON's mistake, but the mistake of the crappy company they hired to produce this title for them via CD-R manufaturing. I'm more than a little disappointed.

This was a reunion album of sorts, recorded live in Paris in 1977 at some sort of Gong Festival with the "classic Gong" headlining (and closing) the festivities. It's interesting to note that this recording was made after Daevid Allen, Steve Hillage and Tim Blake had officially left the band, after the SHAMAL album and during the EXPRESSO/GAZEUSE sessions. Allen, Gilli Smyth, Hillage, Blake, Mike Howlett, Pierre Moerlen and Didier Malherbe played this one-off concert before, once again, going their separate ways. I'm glad it was recorded for posterity and finally re-issued. By this time, these folks were a professional-sounding unit, blending the hippy-dippy Daevid Allen material with a jazzier fusion sound that Pierre Moerlen had taken them into. Moerlen sounds a bit tired here, but can be forgiven as this was apparently his THIRD performance of the day! And none of Gong's live recording from this era (1973-1975) sound as good as this. This show was extremely well-recorded.Interestingly, on the original 2-LP set anyway, Steve Hillage is not credited in any way, though his photo (with his face "whited-out") is included. Legal issues, I'm guessing.

Top notch seventy-minute recording from a gig that took place at the Hippodrome in Paris on May 28, 1977 during a one-off reunion performance. Features the classic Gong line-up of Allen, Smyth, Blake, Hillage, Howlett, Malherbe and Pyle. Includes many of the old Gong favorites, like "I've Been Stoned Before", "Radio Gnome", the exceptionally done "Zero The Hero & The Witch's Spell", the stellar "Flute Salad", "Master Builder" and the celestial "Sprinkling Of The Clouds". This CD will be giving some Gong fans a wet dream. These ten tracks are arguably the ~best~ live versions of these songs I've ever heard. That's probably because guitarist Steve Hillage and synthesiser wiz Tim Blake are giving 110%. Highly recommended.

I had this album on vinyl and traded it in for the first edition CD.I love this album, but have always been disappointed that the songs had been faded out prematurely.In order to fit the 2 albums on to a single CD, they had to fade out even more, bummer.My hope is that, someday the entire performance will be released. This is the best live Gong performance I have ever heard.Please, oh powers that be, release the whole show on multiple discs.Come on Daevid, I know you can convince "them".Until then, new and old Gong fans will love this CD, I just know it could be better.

Recorded at the peak years of Gong's existence, circa '73, this double disc represents a great example of what a tight and upbeat group Gong was in concert, capable of offering up both very spacey and ethereal sound, as well as tight, strongly rythmic playing. Although normally thought of as a very spaced-out group, Gong was a well rehearsed unit and were capable of presenting their material very successfully in concert, as these discs attest to, arguably surpassing the studio versions of everything presented on this recording. Definately as absolute must for Gong fans, or anyone who enjoys progressive rock.

This sounds amazing! I never bought the original album back in the day, just the cd that came out on the Celluloid label sometime in the 90s. This new vinyl edition sound infinitely better than that did. The sound is very rich and full-superb bass sound, which emphasises the propulsive rhythm of Gongs music that is often overlooked. Everyone is on top form-Steve Hillage just back from a tour of America with his stellar solo band in support of ELO, plays with real confidence and energy. As do they all.True, this is not a recording on the band at their creative zenith, between approximately 1972 and 1974. It is a one off live concert from 1977 in which the band played the music they created at this zenith. As such, it sounds almost rehearsed. But that's alright - they sound together and play superbly. More anarchic recordings of the band when they were still functioning can be found on Live at The Bataclan1973 and Live in Sheffield 1974. Hey-it would be great if they were released in this quality on vinyl, too!The music still fades out, like it does on the cd, but it sounds more natural here on vinyl than it does on the old cd. There, it sounded a though the music was being unnaturally edited. Here it just sounds like a natural break between sides.

A great trippy, spacy and atmospheric reunion double-LP set from the pot-headed psychedelic overlords!It is a gorgeous, incandescent white vinyl pair of discs too, that sound great, cased in an interesting and entertaining sleeve that is well in keeping with the Gong identity - wacky cartoons, strange nicknames, maze-like sleeve notes, and far-out titles for the long, echo-dubby in-concert indulgences from the Gong entourage.ThanksLimited to only 1,000 white vinyl 2-LP copies, so grab it fast wherever you find it!

Great pressing, better than cd version

Great stuff, strong and steamin' mate!! 😏✌️☠️

I used to own this album years ago, and always thought it was a great live album. On searching through the gong material available on Amazon, I came across it, and decided to treat myself. On listening to it, I find a few of the tracks have been shortened! Most annoying! Why? This should have remained as a double set in my opinion.....