Pierre Moerlen’s Gong – Downwind & Time is the Key
Gong! One million hippies can’t be wrong!
There, that’s the marketing slogan for any future release from the band of onetime chemically-enhanced space troubadours, well and truly sorted.
To a generation of hippy folk, wilfully indulging in the pleasures of hair-growth, displays of public nudity, daubing one’s body with arcane psychedelic symbols and smoking enough of the planet’s naturally grown herbal “remedies” to floor an equally hirsute Woolly Mammoth, the name Gong will conjure up memories of free music festivals in the deepest, darkest regions of the West Country; LSD-fuelled voyages into the regions beyond our own galaxy; and, of course, 33 minute guitar solos, courtesy of a cerebrally-expanded Steve Hillage.
The late 60s and early 70s provided a particularly memorable period of creativity for the intergalactic doyens that inhabited planet Gong and even when the flying teapot eventually grounded and the founder members had departed, there was Pip Pyle’s replacement, drummer Pierre Moerlin, to take up the mantle and continue the brand.
Despite two previous albums under Moerlin’s leadership, the first to bear the name “Pierre Moerlin’s Gong” was 1979’s Downwind. He shifted Gong’s sound dramatically from that of space rock, acid casualties, into the musically-intense regions of progressive jazz/fusion. Aiding in this transition were a few familiar faces.
Assisting with the occasional tickle on a Moog and the every-so-often strum of a guitar were Birmingham’s very own Steve Winwood, all-round prog exponent Mike Oldfield, and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor.
A formidable roster of guest artists, no doubt; combining the might of the one-time Traffic frontman and Tubular Bells architect on the title track; an excellent 12 minutes of jazz-flavoured prog noodling that in parts sounds not dissimilar to the hook of Oldfield’s own opus. The ex-Stones guitarist features on ‘What You Know’, which is less successful and swims dangerously close to type of jazz-funk pop that Level 42 saw fit to foist upon the world during the 1980s.
Elsewhere, Downwind remains patchy, with fine instrumental excursions such as ‘Crosscurrents’, ‘Emotions’ and ‘Xtasea’ fighting for oxygen against the more prominent – yet decidedly pedestrian – opener ‘Aeroplane’ and the unfortunate cover of Santana’s ‘Jin-Go-Lo-Ba’.
Even with the patchiness, Downwind just about holds its own, and the wonderful sounds that Pierre Moerlen coaxes from the vibraphone, marimba and other percussion mallet-based instrumentation throughout, makes it a worthwhile listen.
The same can be said for its follow-up Time is the Key, also released in 1979. This time around, Moerlen incorporates an even wider range of distinctive sounding, and admirably named percussion apparatus, in order to fuel what is an altogether better album.
The decision to dispense with lyrical content on Time is the Key is a commendable one, as it was the tracks that sported vocals on Downwind that were, for me, the weakest. This allows the opportunity to indulge in the very serious business of music-making, albeit in a more straightforward jazz-rock vein
Once again it is the rich tapestry of sounds that Pierre Moerlen creates, like a Rick Wakeman of the percussive board, which separates this incarnation of Gong and its musical legacy from the often tedious, colon-gazing of some other jazz-fusion (naming no names). It sounds great throughout, rarely feeling repetitive or sliding into the ever eager jaws of the mundane, and the individual tracks blend seamlessly into one long piece, so before you even know it, the final whistle’s blown and it’s time to move onto something else.
Pierre Moerlen’s Gong may be as far removed from the acid-sodden exploits of the Allen/Hillage psychedelic space rock manifestation that captured the expanded minds of hippiedom, as Billy Dainty is from Stewart Lee, but both survive on their own merits, exploring different denominations of the progressive music church to equal effect. And, as an added bonus, with Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, we don’t have to suffer the irritatingly inconsequential “space whisper” of Gilli Smyth. Always a good thing.
Both Downwind
Don’t just read and applaud. Subscribe to the rather splendid RSS Feed
Recent Comments