Gong - Gazeuse! (1976)
The core of Gong is, roughly speaking, a Canterbury band that plays psychedelic rock/prog about some guy's search for eastern type enlightment and which also include space travelling tea pots, clever metaphors for taking drugs and a certain kind of english humour .. or something along those lines. However, some side projects have budded off Gong that may not be described by those same things. Some time in the 70s, guitarist Daevid Allen said a wall of force prevented him to go on stage and left the band. Other core members left as well and the drummer Pierre Moerlen gained control of the band. What he did was turn Gong into a jazz fusion band and the debut of this line-up is Gazeuse!, also known as Expresso in America.
Although that might not sound like the best premise for a new album, the result is actually pretty sweet. Besides Moerlen, the album includes famous Canterbury guitarist Allan Holdsworth and early Magma bassist Francis Moze, among others. Something interesting about the album is the amount of percussion instruments dominating the sound, like vibraphone, marimba and glockenspiel. Together, they make for a very melodic album with a distinct sound not quite like anything else I've heard.
After a while, this line-up budded off the Gong band under the name "Pierre Moerlen's Gong", becoming an independent band project alongside the old Gong as Daevid Allen and his cronies were re-united. Thus this album could be regarded as Pierre Moerlen's Gong's debut rather than a Gong album. But anyways, those who are interested in fusion or have heard some of Gong's earlier material, but not this, should definetly check it out. Recommended!