GONG — Magick Brother (review)

GONG — Magick Brother album cover Album · 1969 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
1969 was a good year for ex-Soft Machine members kicking off new careers after leaving that band; along with Kevin Ayers recording his solo debut Joy of a Toy, Daevid Allen hooked up with Gilli Smyth and between them put this out this early proto-Gong album. I say proto-Gong because the Gong sound has not quite developed here yet. Several songs are psych-folk with lyrics alluding to the political hopes and dreams of the Summer of Love, but this typical hippy fair sits cheek by jowl with free jazz-like improv with Smyth's ethereal wailing getting an early workout. The different ingredients which make up Gong are all here but they've not yet mixed in together to make the rich broth which would appear on the later albums. Not a bad start, not a fantastic one either.
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