Music Review: Gong - Camembert Electrique

My introduction to Gong was this album. I'll always remember the first time my ears pricked: it was about 10 years ago and me and a friend were playing Worms on the Playstation when he put on a tape for the background...it was the switch that You Can't Kill Me makes after a couple of minutes with I'll be seeing you again...the groove and tune changes and rocks out like a mad one...I asked my friend: Who the fook is that?.

Then came I've bin stoned before...haha! We were very stoned at the time! And after the furious Dynamite and tender anthem Tried So Hard I was a confirmed fan and demanded to hear the album again.

My Gongness reached its peak when I saw them (Daevid, Gilly and all) live supporting The Orb at the Royal Festival Hall in London in, I think, 2002. After the gig (which was superb) my Planet Gongness slowed down and I pursued other music.

Camembert does not have the longevity of favourite albums of mine from other bands. It now sounds mostly weak, dated and silly but still retains strong emotional value. I do find Flying Teapot the more interesting Gong album from a prog point of view.

From Camembert Electique, Dynamite remains a song I still go crazy too...proper nuts that one, and very very good too.