GONG – SHAMAL LP – Nr MINT/EXC+ UK 1975 ORIG ROCK JAZZ FUSION

Gong – Shamal
(Virgin Records  1975  V2046)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

Gatefold Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– some wear to edges/corners, small tear top left & rubbing on back cover

Vinyl in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some light pops/crackles)

Gong is an international psychedelic rock band known for incorporating elements of jazz and space rock into its musical style. The group was formed in Paris in 1967 by Australian musician Daevid Allen and English vocalist Gilli Smyth. Notable band members have included Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett, Pierre Moerlen, Bill Laswell and Theo Travis. Others who have played on stage with Gong include Don Cherry, Chris Cutler, Bill Bruford, Brian Davison, Dave Stewart and Tatsuya Yoshida.

Gong released its debut album, Magick Brother, in 1970, which featured a psychedelic pop sound. By the following year, the second album, Camembert Electrique, featured the more psychedelic rock/space rock sound with which they would be most associated. Between 1973 and 1974, Gong released their best known work, the allegorical Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy, describing the adventures of Zero the Hero, the Good Witch Yoni and the Pot Head Pixies from the Planet Gong.

In 1975, Daevid Allen & Gilli Smyth left the band, which continued without them, releasing a series of jazz rock albums under the leadership of drummer Pierre Moerlen. This incarnation of the band became known as Pierre Moerlen’s Gong. Meanwhile, Smyth formed Mother Gong while Allen initiated a series of spin-off groups, including Planet Gong, New York Gong and Gongmaison, before returning to lead Gong once again in 1990 until his death in 2015. With Allen’s encouragement, the band decided to continue and released the album Rejoice! I’m Dead! on 16 September 2016.

Shamal is an album by Gong, originally released in 1975. The album was written and recorded without the group’s founder member Daevid Allen, and consequently sounds different with none of the hippy flavoured eccentricities of the previous albums. However, it still has a generally progressive rock-influenced approach (especially with regards to Steve Hillage’s guitar work), slowly drifting into a jazz fusion sound. It is usually regarded as a transitional album between Daevid Allen’s incarnation of the band and the Pierre Moerlen-led fusion lineup of the late 1970s. The album was produced by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. The production values of the recording were superbly engineered under Mason’s watchful eye. The album was a favorite on the turntables of many audiophiles of the time.

Track listing

Side A

1. “Wingful of Eyes” (Howlett) – 8:19
2. “Chandra” (Lemoine) – 7:16
3. “Bambooji” (Malherbe) – 5:21

Side B

1. “Cat in Clark’s Shoes” (Malherbe) – 7:45
2. “Mandrake” (Moerlen) – 5:07
3. “Shamal” (Bauer, Howlett, Lemoine, Malherbe, Moerlen) – 8:58

Personnel

• Pierre Moerlen – drums, vibraphone, tubular bells
• Jorge Pinchevsky – violin
• Mireille Bauer – percussion, glockenspiel, xylophone, gong, marimba
• Sandy Colley – vocals
• Didier Malherbe – flute, bansuri, wind, gong, soprano sax, tenor sax
• Miquette Giraudy – keyboards, vocals
• Mike Howlett – bass, bass guitar, vocals
• Patrice Lemoine – organ, piano, synthesizer, keyboards
• Steve Hillage – acoustic guitar, guitar, electric guitar

Production

• Nick Mason: Producer
• Clive Arrowsmith: Artwork, Photography
• Phil Ault: Engineer
• Dave Hutchins: Engineer
• Ben Tavera King: Engineer
• Rick Curtain: Engineer
• Ben King: Engineer