seyo "Angel's Egg", the second part of Gnome trilogy is probably the peak of GONG career, but for some reason I prefer "You". Virgin remastered edition of 2004 has a superb sound and a reprint of a booklet with all the story and characters of the Planet Gong mythology. In addition to 14 original songs there is inclusion of 4 bonus tracks out of which only "Ooby Scooby Doomsday..." is worth paying attention. Although it is definitely a masterpiece of prog/psych music I would rate it just bit below 5 because for me "You", which is approaching classic fusion sound, is better.

Warthur Of all of Gong's Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy of albums, Angel's Egg is probably my least favourite, focusing as it does on shorter songs replete with Daevid Allen's unique sense of humour. Whilst this approach was perfectly fine on Camembert Electrique, this time around the material doesn't seem quite as strong, so it ends up wearing on me and I find myself impatient for the album to finish.

It's not completely without appeal - the extended, spacey tracks that appeared on Radio Gnome Invisible and would come to dominate You are still just about present, with album opener Other Side of the Sky being a particularly strong example of this strand of Gong's songwriting. But it is a step down to merely being kind of fun and vaguely entertaining, and is a much less compelling listen than the other two albums in the sequence.

Sean Trane In this chapter of the greatest trilogy ever written, one finds Zero The Hero looking for ways to spread the good words taught to him from Planet GonG through this Radio Gnome Invisible, and he meets all sorts in that quest. Angel's Egg sees two new members replacing Frenchmen Trisch and Moze: Pierre Moerlen and Mike Howlett and now the classic GonG line-up is present. However, unlike the previous Flying Teapot and the following You, the tracks here are fairly short (except for the opening track that clocks in at 8 min) barely exceeding 5 min at best.

Side 1 starts with a rare but superb almost-instrumental that is proof , if need be, that Gong is materful in all area including jazz-rock Canterbury style. All other numbers are very typical GonG athmospheres and climaxing in the Prostitute Poem where Malherbe answers so greatly to Gilly Smyth - delightful and dare I say Orgasmic. Only the drunken pub tune Givin My Luv sticks a bit out but it is short and can be easily skipped.

Side 2 starts with the real treasure of this album: it is the Flute Salad - Inner/Outer Temple suite only to be followed by concert fave Oily Way. Malherbe shows that he also masters the flute and the climaxes created is not only orgasmic but cosmic. Moerlen gives us a peak on future Gong music by putting in his great vibraphone playing in one of the last track. Many different facets of GonG are present in this album making probably their most impressive one ever.

Again for years the superb artwork sleeve had not been sufficiently respected, often suppressing most of the heavenly blue innerfold of the album. Charly Records via their subsidiary Victor label again released a mini-lp reissue (cat# 61173 , pricey but superb and essential for the understanding of this epic) and adjoining for the first time a booklet explainig the story and lyrics. However the extra track of previous reissues is absent, but it was not really adapted to the album.