Gong - Progressive Rock Band Trivia Quiz

Answer: Daevid Allen; Gilli Smyth

Australian-born Daevid Allen (guitar and vocals) and English-born Gilli Smyth (vocals) founded Gong in France 1967; forced to move to Majorca in 1968 and re-formed the band with a different line up of musicians including Didier Malherbe (saxophone; flute).

They moved back to France to record their first album. Daevid Allen was one of the four founder members of Soft Machine in 1966, also a part of what was called the Canterbury scene.

Answer: Magick Brother, Mystik Sister

Gilli Smyth wrote all of the songs on "Magick Brother, Mystik Sister", now re-released as "Magick Brother". The sound recording quality was very basic in those days, but the music itself is unique and includes the first use of Smyth's space whisper and Daevid Allen's glissando technique on guitar. Allen, Smyth and Malherbe are the only three original Gong musicians still with the band up to 2009.

Answer: Camembert Electrique

"Camembert Electrique" was released in 1971, at about the same time as the soundtrack for the movie "Continental Circus", and after "Bananamoon" (released as a Daevid Allen solo). "Camembert Electrique" (don't confuse with "Camembert Eclectique" with it's compilation of previously unreleased tracks) is an energetic, heavy-sounding album that seems wilder than anything else by Gong before or since.

The drummer Pip Pyle starts in this new line up. This album has as its subjects the mythology of the Pot Head Pixies who live on the Planet Gong and the effects of the influence of drugs. I disapprove of the drug taking, although I do like the music.

Answer: 3 Gong albums

The "Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy" is made up of three Gong albums - "Flying Teapot" (1972); "Angel's Egg" (1973) and "You" (1974). In my opinion, "Angel's Egg" and "You" are the two greatest Gong albums, more polished than before, with even more virtuosity, and still varied and inventive. Guitarist Steve Hillage starts with "Flying Teapot". Bass guitarist Mike Howlett; keyboard player Tim Blake and drummer Pierre Moerlen start with "Angel's Egg".

Answer: Allen, Smyth, Blake, Hillage

"Shamal" now moves Gong in a different musical direction, away from space rock and psychedelic rock, towards jazz fusion, but it is still a class above most jazz fusion albums and still has some vocals on some of the tracks. Allen, Smyth, Blake and Hillage have left, so Gong is led by Pierre Moerlen. Percussionist Mireille Bauer and keyboard player Patrice Lemoine start on this line up.

Answer: American Gong

"American Gong" is an album by an indie-rock band called "Quasi" (no direct connection with "Gong"). "Planet Gong" was the Daevid Allen and Gilly Smyth offshoot when they joined up with psychedelic rock band "Here & Now". "New York Gong" was a Daevid Allen offshoot which has a punk rock style. "Mother Gong" was the Gilly Smyth offshoot. "Gongzilla" is a jazz-rock fusion band of ex-"Pierre Moerlin's Gong" musicians founded in 1994 by Ben Lozaga, Hansford Rowe, Allan Holdsworth, Bobby Thomas Jr., and Benoit Moerlin.

Answer: Pierre Moerlen

After "Shamal" (1975) come "Gazeuse" (1976) and "Expresso 11" (1978) - good energetic, virtuosic, percussive jazz-rock. These are the last albums that use the name "Gong" by itself (until 1992 when Daevid Allen formed a new, unconnected line up). After 1978, the band we're concerned with here is called "Pierre Moerlen's Gong".

The style seems less improvised and more mellow, but with good use of the vibraphone. This line up starts with "Downwind" and "Time is the Key", but finishes with "Pentanine", recorded in 2002 by Moerlen with Russian musicians, released in 2004. Sadly, Pierre Moerlen died in 2005.

Answer: Shapeshifter

"Shapeshifter" sees the return of Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Didier Malherbe and Pip Pyle from the original line up along with Steffi Sharpstrings from the band Here & Now, and many new musicians. There are many eastern musical influences with a lot of variation between the tracks which blend really well from one to another. "Family Jewels" was released in 1998; "Zero to Infinity" in 2000. "Gongmaison" is an eponymous album from 1989 led by Daevid Allen, including Didier Malherbe and which looks forward, in some of its tracks, to the re-formation of the band we know as Gong; great musicianship and variation in the middle tracks, but it has pop-style drumming and more repetition on the first and last.

Answer: 2032

"2032" was released in 2009 and has topical songs about war and technology. The theme of a mythological Planet Gong is used in comparison with our world. It was produced and mixed by Steve Hillage and it has an exceptionally good recording quality. The musicians and singers are still good despite five of them from the 1970s line ups being much older now.

The musical style is different to that of the 1970s, but its 70s influences are still here. "From Here to Eternitea" is the same as "Zero to Infinity", but with an extra live CD included. "Acid Motherhood", is a more avant-garde album, a collaboration with the band "Acid Mothers Temple" which sounds as though it has Fifty-Foot Hose, or Chrome influences.

Answer: Zero the Hero

Zero the Hero and the Pot Head Pixies live on the Planet Gong. If there is a New Age message there, I don't take it on board personally.