GONG — Continental Circus (OST) (review)

GONG — Continental Circus (OST) album cover Album · 1972 · Jazz Related Soundtracks Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Moshkiae
Gong Continental Circus 1972

This album is a soundtrack that belongs to a film by Jerome Laperrousaz, and it seems to be about motorcycle racing ... but even if we do not know the film, and there isn't a whole lot about it anywhere, the album, is, for all intents and purposes, a superb show of what Gong was to become. With the addition of Pip Pyle on drums, the trie of Gilli, Didier and Daevid, not had a much stronger touch, which was augmented by bassist Christian Tritsch, and made the long cuts listed in the LP valuable and you got to hear, for the first time, the thing that Daevid became very well known for ... his glissando style of playing the guitar, and here, he shows as a very strong lead guitar player, something that he did not exactly worked on the rest of his time with the Gong, preferring to stick with the story and augmenting its required touches and moments.

There are lyrics, loud and clear in the opening piece and it is likely that it is mostly ad lib as it seems to not exactly have any continuation that resembles what would be expected lyrically in a song. But, the glorious side of it, is Daevid's glissando, that is used so well and creates a wonderful touch and feel about the music, that is special and makes this album even more important.

After the first 4 pieces, which is what the LP has, a later release on a CD showed up with a lot of stuff that ... I'm not sure it was in the film, or belongs here, but, seems to have come from the same recording sessions.

The listing on the CD is as follows and a lot of it was used later in the story of Zero The Hero, which might suggest this stuff was already being worked on and was likely known that it would become some new material in the next albums. The CD also has Continental Circus as the 4th piece and What Do You Want? as the 2nd piece, with a replay of the first piece as an instrumental in the 3rd slot.

I can not tell you how it all fits or not, but the CD seems to sound fine, though I'm a bit wondering about the extra material, which likely was material to be worked on further and used later. It is possible that the material listed here is a part of the Flying Teapot album, which was released separately later, although it seems like most of it was now ready for prime time, and got cleaned up even more for the album later.

Est-Ce Que Je Suis Hip Hypnotize You Dreamin'it Never Fight Another War Excerpts from Camembert Electrique Est-Ce Que Je Suis Foghat Digs Holes in Space Dynamite I Never Glid Before I Am Your Pussy

An outstanding album, specially in the first 4 pieces all of which are very long and special, with extended glissando parts, all of which make this really special to have and enjoy. I'll reserve the comments on the rest of the album for the Flying Teapot release.

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