GONG- UNENDING ASCENDING (2023) (K Scope)

It’s here at last! Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth’s creation during exile in France in 1967, heir apparent Kavus Torabi (CARDIACS, KNIFEWORLD) and his fellow ‘pothead pixies’ (Fabio Golfetti, Dave Sturt, Cheb Nettles, Ian East) have remained true to the Gong legacy. SYD BARRETT psychedelia (‘Tiny Galaxies’); expansive 70s Gong (the 9-minute ‘Ship of Ishtar’); eastern exoticism (‘All Clocks Reset’); some chanting (‘Lunar Improvisations’); a song named after the giant star Arcturus; ‘My Guitar is a Spaceship- it’s all there! Glissando guitar, drones, cymbals and bells, the mystical and spiritual, elements of jazz (enter Ian East’s sax), the eternal influence of STEVE HILLAGE and most of all eccentricity. It’s still the Gong we know and love and I am sure Daevid and Gilli will be looking down with smiles on their faces.