68 - Gong - Flying Teapot - 1973

Side One
Radio Gnome Invisible
Flying Teapot

Side Two
The Pot Head Pixies
The Octave Doctors and the Crystal Machine
Zero the Hero and the Witch's Spell
Witch's Song /  I Am Your Pussy


DISCOVERY; Reading about this lovely band in the Rock Encyclopaedia, I was reasonably sure I'd be onto a winner. It would involve another trip to Oarfolkjokeopus, straight to the import section (where all the cool records were) Gong, they even had their own divider card. And as luck would have it they also had the first album in the Radio Gnome trilogy. Not a wasted trip. The Pot Head Pixies may have even become my new theme song if I hadn't been wondering the whole time if this band weren't just cashing in on the counter-culture. I mean, what's up with all that space-hippy-jazz?

WHERE & WHEN; What's not to love about space-hippy-jazz? All the Europeans were into that sort of thing and that's what I thought about Gong. A very European band. That's why I shopped the import section at the record store. I wanted to be a European. I wanted to think like a European and listen to space-hippy-jazz. The spacier the better. In hind-sight the three albums in the Radio Gnome trilogy were just incredibly well constructed, imaginative, musical masterpieces. Humour, virtuosi musicians, melodic content and enough nooks and crannies to keep me listening to these albums all these years later. Outstanding. As far as thinking like a European goes, that's a privilege only someone born to it can enjoy. The rest of us must struggle with the vagaries of despair that afflict the lesser mortals.   

HIGHLIGHTS; All of it!

STATUS; Temporary MP3 copy, Must Have