Gong are a progressive rock band that incorporates elements of jazz and space rock into their musical style. The group was formed in Paris in 1967 by Australian musician Daevid Allen and English vocalist Gilli Smyth. 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.
Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.
Jazz fusion is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyboards that were popular in rock and roll started to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll.
Stephen Simpson Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo recordings he has been a member of Khan, Gong and System 7.
Nicholas Robert "Nik" Turner is an English musician, best known as a former member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings, and is a composer. While with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylisations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes.
Didier Malherbe, is a French jazz, rock and world music musician, known as a member of the bands Gong and Hadouk, as well as a poet.
David Cross is an English electric violinist and keyboardist best known for playing with progressive rock band King Crimson from 1972 to 1974. He appears on their studio albums Larks' Tongues in Aspic,Starless and Bible Black, and a single track on Red. Cross also appears on numerous other live recordings from 1973 & 1974 that have been released by Robert Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label in the decades since, including USA (1975) and The Night Watch (1997).
Gazeuse! is the seventh album released under the name Gong and the de facto debut album by Pierre Moerlen's Gong. It was released in late 1976. The title was changed to Expresso for the U.S. release.
Don Falcone is an American producer and multi-instrumentalist, and the guiding light behind the Spirits Burning space-rock collective. In Spirits Burning and other offshoot bands and projects, his primary collaborations have been with Albert Bouchard, Bridget Wishart, Cyrille Verdeaux, Daevid Allen, and English writer and musician Michael Moorcock.
Noh Poetry Records is a San Francisco, California-based independent record label founded by musician Don Falcone and graphic artist Karen Anderson in May 1987. The label is dedicated to electronic, experimental, space rock and psychedelic music.
Gong est Mort, Vive Gong is a double live album by the progressive rock group Gong, recorded on 28 May 1977 at the Hippodrome, Paris, France, and originally released in 1977 as a double LP by Tapioca Records, France.
Bridget Wishart is an English vocalist, musician and performance artist. She was a member of English rock band Hawkwind from 1989 to 1991. Wishart was the first woman to sing lead vocals in Hawkwind, and is the band's only singing frontwoman in their history. She is an ongoing member of Spirits Burning, and the Chumley Warner Brothers live duo.
You is the fifth studio album by the progressive rock band Gong, released by Virgin Records in October 1974. It is the last album by Daevid Allen's iteration of the group until 1992's Shapeshifter. Recorded at Virgin's Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, England, side 1 was mixed at Pye Studios, Marble Arch, London, while side 2 was mixed at The Manor. It was produced by Simon Heyworth and Gong "under the universal influence of C.O.I.T., the Compagnie d'Opera Invisible de Thibet", and also engineered by Heyworth.
Pierre Moerlen was a French drummer and percussionist, best known for his work with Gong and Mike Oldfield and as Pierre Moerlen's Gong.
Clearlight Symphony is a progressive rock album released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK. It is the first in a series of albums by a project led by pianist Cyrille Verdeaux with the participation of other musicians, including in this case three members of Gong on one side, and two other French musicians, Gilbert Artman and Christian Boulé on the other.
Delired Cameleon Family is a progressive rock album by the group of the same name, released in 1975 on EMI Records in France. It features musicians associated with the Clearlight project, most notably its leader, pianist Cyrille Verdeaux, and Musica Elettronica Viva member Ivan Coaquette, who joined forces to compose the soundtrack for the film Visa de Censure No. X by French actor Pierre Clementi.
Forever Blowing Bubbles is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK.
Les Contes du Singe Fou is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1977 on Isadora Records in France.
Visions is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1978 on Celluloid / LTM Records in France.
Spirits Burning is a musical collective that features musicians associated with space rock and progressive rock, including input from members of Blue Öyster Cult, Clearlight, Gong, and Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.
