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Gong’s mesmerising 1969 debut: trippy, socially aware psychedelic rock of the highest order.
Rooted in the fabled Canterbury scene alongside figures such as Robert Wyatt and Pip Pyle, the irrepressible Australian guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Daevid Allen formed Gong with Welsh vocalist Gilli Smyth in Paris at the close of the 1960s, as France simmered with unrest. The pair were even forced to leave the country and take refuge in Majorca after falling foul of the authorities and becoming the subject of an arrest warrant.
Returning to Paris in the summer of 1969 at the invitation of filmmaker Jérome Laperrousaz—who enlisted them for a soundtrack—Allen and Smyth were soon approached again by Jean Karakos of BYG, the label he founded with Jean-Luc Young and Fernand Boruso. With the arrival of French saxophonist Didier Malherbe, bassist Christian Tritsch, and drummer Rachid Houari, Gong truly took shape, recording Magick Brother before appearing at the Actuel Festival in Amougies, Belgium. Although Tritsch couldn’t attend the studio session, jazz double bassists Barre Phillips and Earl Freeman, along with pianist Burton Greene—each an artist with notable BYG releases of their own—contributed to several tracks.
The album is split into two conceptual halves: Side A, Early Morning, and Side B, Side Of The Late Night—subtitles that make the intention clear.
That doesn’t mean the music can’t be enjoyed at any hour, but the shifting moods the band builds from one phase to the next are striking. Side A opens with piercing voices and hissing guitars—like a jolt of dawn energy as the world stirs and the first light pries open eyes that were moments ago shut tight. Gradually, those harsher textures recede, replaced by a soft flute drifting into focus over light yet resonant bowed bass. A beautifully shaped melody—carried by acoustic guitar and a sensual sotto voce vocal—announces Gong’s distinctive stylistic world and their gift for conjuring atmospheres that feel utterly unearthly.
Magick Brother introduced Gong as one of the era’s great oddities in psychedelic and space rock. With Allen, Smyth, and Malherbe at its core, the band forged a musical language entirely their own, all while reaching toward deeper metaphysical truths.
“The band made strong political statements that comes through loud and clear on this re-mastered version of Gong’s debut album...” — Kevin Le Gendre
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