Delve with me, dear reader, into the depths of obscure and esoteric music. Our journey begins in the land of Progressive Rock, a fairly prominent genre in the 70s, which combined elements of Classical and Jazz music with rock, and also often involved science-fiction and fantasy subject matter. From there, let's look at one of my favorite sub-genres within Progressive Rock: Canterbury Scene. Canterbury scene was a fairly small collection of groups which made very Jazz influenced Progressive Rock with many elements of the Psychedelic thrown in. One of my favorite of these bands is called Gong. One of the original Canterbury Scene bands, Gong combined Jazz, Progressive Rock and Pink-Floyd style Space Rock into a bizarre and whimsical blend.
The album I'm going to be reviewing now is not a Gong album, or even a particularly good starting place for understanding the Canterbury Scene. It is a Solo album from Gong front-man Daevid Allen. This is Banana Moon. Welcome to the deep end.
I'd like to start out by saying Banana Moon was not quite what I was expecting (Although with Daevid Allen, it is always best to expect, well, the unexpected). The album is much less Jazz influenced than his output with Gong, and instead more of Allen's take of straight-ahead Psychedelic Rock. However, there are certainly notes of Gong in here.
The album opens with "Time of Your Life," which, from its opening riff, could almost be mistaken for a Beatles song, until Allen's frantic vocals come in. This song has a panicked intensity to it, the drums pounding out a furious beat that the instruments riff over.
This moves on to "Memories", which was apparently originally intended to be a Soft Machine song (Soft Machine being another central Canterbury Scene band, which Allen was briefly a member of). Soft Machine singer Robert Wyatt provides the vocals to this song as well. It's some welcome relaxation after the nervous energy of "Time of Your Life."
Next is "All I Want is Out of Here." This has Allen half-singing in an out-of-character low growl as the electric guitar screams. This is followed by Fred the Fish, which is an energetic sing-along. It's the sort of thing a bunch of musicians in a bar would start singing once the drink had kicked in, complete with people shouting in the background and improvised instruments.
White Neck Blooze is the closest I've heard Allen come to a traditional Blues-Rock song. The highlight is the chorus of "Who's....Been...Put...You...On," which takes a psychedelic turnin the ending "Codein Coda" section, which repeatedly fades in the "On" from the chorus as the guitars form a cacophonous background.
Okay, here we are. This is Stoned Innocent Frankenstein. This is the song on this album that comes closest to sounding like a Gong song. Allen's whimsy is on full display juxtaposed with jagged guitars. This is probably my favorite track on the album. It's what I came here for.
The album then continues with "And His Adventures In the Land of Flip," which is the extended length piece on the album, coming in at nearly 12 minutes. This song fills the album's quota for Space Rock, with hints of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows."
The album closes with "I Am A Bowl," which is pure psychedelic whimsy along the lines of "Bike" by Pink Floyd. A distorted guitar plays a riff over and over as Allen sings about being a bowl. As the song progresses, more instruments join the jam. He seems to end each verse either praising or chiding the rest of the band depending on if they kept up with his phrasing.
All in all, a fun album, although I don't quite rank it up with Gong's masterpieces, as it doesn't quite reach the heights of, say, Camembert Electric or Angel's Egg. However, the album is still worth-while, especially for songs like "Time of Your Life," "White Neck Blooze/Codein Coda," and "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein."
-Alec
The album I'm going to be reviewing now is not a Gong album, or even a particularly good starting place for understanding the Canterbury Scene. It is a Solo album from Gong front-man Daevid Allen. This is Banana Moon. Welcome to the deep end.
 | |
| My first Google search for "Banana Moon" just turned up Bikini Pictures |
I'd like to start out by saying Banana Moon was not quite what I was expecting (Although with Daevid Allen, it is always best to expect, well, the unexpected). The album is much less Jazz influenced than his output with Gong, and instead more of Allen's take of straight-ahead Psychedelic Rock. However, there are certainly notes of Gong in here.
The album opens with "Time of Your Life," which, from its opening riff, could almost be mistaken for a Beatles song, until Allen's frantic vocals come in. This song has a panicked intensity to it, the drums pounding out a furious beat that the instruments riff over.
This moves on to "Memories", which was apparently originally intended to be a Soft Machine song (Soft Machine being another central Canterbury Scene band, which Allen was briefly a member of). Soft Machine singer Robert Wyatt provides the vocals to this song as well. It's some welcome relaxation after the nervous energy of "Time of Your Life."
Next is "All I Want is Out of Here." This has Allen half-singing in an out-of-character low growl as the electric guitar screams. This is followed by Fred the Fish, which is an energetic sing-along. It's the sort of thing a bunch of musicians in a bar would start singing once the drink had kicked in, complete with people shouting in the background and improvised instruments.
White Neck Blooze is the closest I've heard Allen come to a traditional Blues-Rock song. The highlight is the chorus of "Who's....Been...Put...You...On," which takes a psychedelic turnin the ending "Codein Coda" section, which repeatedly fades in the "On" from the chorus as the guitars form a cacophonous background.
Okay, here we are. This is Stoned Innocent Frankenstein. This is the song on this album that comes closest to sounding like a Gong song. Allen's whimsy is on full display juxtaposed with jagged guitars. This is probably my favorite track on the album. It's what I came here for.
The album then continues with "And His Adventures In the Land of Flip," which is the extended length piece on the album, coming in at nearly 12 minutes. This song fills the album's quota for Space Rock, with hints of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows."
The album closes with "I Am A Bowl," which is pure psychedelic whimsy along the lines of "Bike" by Pink Floyd. A distorted guitar plays a riff over and over as Allen sings about being a bowl. As the song progresses, more instruments join the jam. He seems to end each verse either praising or chiding the rest of the band depending on if they kept up with his phrasing.
All in all, a fun album, although I don't quite rank it up with Gong's masterpieces, as it doesn't quite reach the heights of, say, Camembert Electric or Angel's Egg. However, the album is still worth-while, especially for songs like "Time of Your Life," "White Neck Blooze/Codein Coda," and "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein."
-Alec
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