I’m on a roll with albums from 1971 lately, so I figured I’ll keep it going with another one: Gong’s 1971 album, Camembert Electrique. I know very little about Gong’s music, other than it’s psychedelic and is somewhat in the same realm as music from bands like Hawkwind, so early space rock if I have to gander a guess.
Jumping right in with the first track, “Radio Gnome”, it’s a super weird sounding spacey short introduction to the album, I’m sure a peak of what’s to come later. That transition to the next track, “You Can’t Kill Me”, is smooth as silk. That guitar is absolutely sick – it’s got a tone you can get carried further down the stream by, as the vocals turn into a drone and the band does a psychedelic jam to the side. Only less than two minutes in and the song is quite a journey as it is. It builds up to a cacophony of madness at times, but the band always brings it back together in an unexpected way. It’s the little flourishes to the song that makes it super awesome and interesting to listen to, in my opinion at least. I’m getting a serious space dolphin vibe – I didn’t even know that was a vibe to be had until now. Those wah-wahs are absolutely sweet. It’s almost jazzy in a way, super improvisatory in feeling and avant-garde in a way.
“I’ve Bin Stone Before / Mister Long Shanks / O Mother” starts out with some churchy organs, and a nice reverb to the soundscape as though it’s being played in a large hall (or a church). That saxophone really adds some sweet soul to the track. I’m not even sure what the singer is singing, but I sure can feel it. There’s a really spacey chaos to it all, and then it drops into a familiar feeling riff, but I can’t quite put my finger on from where or why it’s familiar. It’s a strange song, and it’s awesome for that. There’s probably at least 4 distinct parts to the song I’ve heard so far, each completely different from the last. It’s hard to believe that it’s the same song.
Wow. “I Am Your Fantasy” just came on, and it’s so peaceful and tranquil. I am absolutely blown away right now. The contrast between the peak of chaos and now is insane to even think. It’s like sounds of the ocean, out in space, in the form of song. The voice of the singer blends so well into certain effects – wow. Such a strange, peaceful song – I love it.
“Dynamite / I Am Your Animal” starts off like a stick of dynamite out of nowhere, huge vibe shift from the previous song. The steady repetition of the guitar and drums really shakes you out of ethereal bliss from the last song back to reality in a certain sense, yet further from reality at the same time. The stretching and patterns of the vocals is perhaps the most impressive at times, if you don’t account for the sheer brilliance of such organized, spacey chaos. That bass has some tasty tone. It’s almost like an exploratory vocal jam at times – on the verge of being just straight up screaming until it blends into the music like everything else.
“Wet Cheese Delirium” is a weird spacey, crunchy finish to side 1, and “Squeezing Sponges Over Policemen’s Heads” is a short intro to side 2 that shows the strangeness and spacey darkness is here to stay.
“Fohat Digs Holes in Space” is quite aptly named. That synthesizer, or maybe guitar, or maybe vocals, sounds like the band is digging holes in the vast void of space, with some real old school sounding effects that honestly are impressive with their incorporations into the music. Real cosmic dolphin vibes again. The steady repetitive bass is the only part of the song born of reality; even the drums sound cosmic. The saxophones come in and sound almost discordant. Wow, it’s almost a cowboy space tune at this point as the song drops into something that resembles that of a standard song you are likely familiar with. That tone of the saxophone is absolutely awesome. And now a screeching guitar solo. Wow, this is a heck of a song.
“And You Tried So Hard” sounds like a song from planet Earth, but I’m not sure of what I know about music at this point. It’s sort of punk rock to be honest – that energy is just awesome. Wow that’s some tasty guitar. That drumming is honestly so impressive. The drumming has me in an absolute trance. A break came through that chaos that was just occurring, with such a soft reassuring sounding voice, only to further go down that chaotic rabbit-hole. There’s a little bass part at the end, and I love the tone of it. That guitar is freaking awesome too, wow. This music has me so excited to hear more.
“Tropical Fish / Selene” starts out with that chaos I’m growing somewhat accustomed to from Gong, but it’s a little more jazzy in nature than some of the other chaos. There’s some great harmonizing peering through that chaos with the saxophone and vocals. Now there’s a really space-inflected jam session going on, but it’s a bit more grounded in reality at the moment than previous songs. That being said, the jam is exploring further into new territory again, almost to revisit certain stops from earlier in the album. I can certainly hear some of the groundwork laid out for the space rock genre that Spacemen 3 would later adapt to their own style and grow it in popularity again. Especially with some of these droning vocals and other instrumentation sections, I’m really reminded of Gong’s space rock successors in Spacemen 3. It’s really awesome. There’s whispering now, and you just don’t hear that in music very often. And the outro is almost punk rock to me – so high in energy.
“Gnome the Second” starts with a gong to end the album with this short track, followed by gibberish that really adds to the strangeness of the album, if that’s even possible. I loved this album, and will be listening to more Gong shortly. There’s so much music packed within, and if you’re looking for something a bit off the beaten path, so to speak, then this one might be one for you.
-A