A good friend of mine toured with Pierre in the 90’s and when they came through Dallas got a call and had a 2 to 3 hour lunch with Pierre and my buddy. He was one of the nice guys in the business. Have a great photo of us together. Have been a fan of his since the the 70’s. Lost him a few years ago. He is missed! Thanks for playing him so that he can be heard for the first time. A real treasure!!!
I am glad you had listen to it. I came to this from Mike Oldfield's Incantations album. Pierre Moerlen was a big collaborator in Incantations and Mike's first live tour.
my high school buddy was at rutgers. he was jazz bassist and he had an extra ticket to pierre moerlin's at the bottom line. i couldn't drive up to new brunswick fast enough. the timpani kit was hung behind his kit. masterful.
Thanks for the shout out Justin 🍻 cheers from South Tyneside UK Ps for more sublime Oldfield guitar listen to Kevin Ayers' track 'Whatevershebringswesing'
Pierre Moerlen's Gong, like all it's incarnations to this day, takes the spirit of the original Daevid Allen vision and evolves it. As others have commented, Gazeuse! is a great album and I'd suggest Shadows Of from it, which features the equally unique guitar sound of Alan Holdsworth. Indeed, it starts off sounding like it could have come from the first UK album, but then takes off in a more jazzy direction where Holdsworth really tears it up. In a complimentary vein, I'd also restate my suggestion of Xingu by Stomu Yamash'ta and Come To The Edge, which, after a cacophonous start, is a glorious live slice of prog-jazz with stand out percussion, electric organ and a dirty jazz bass solo that'll rock your socks off.
My first time hearing any Gong. Very impressed. I thought he was trying to create something that outdid Mike Oldfield and damn, he nearly did. Very impressed. Loved it.
Pierre Moerlen, (Prounouned, "More Lann") is undoubtedly the most highly skilled drummer and percusionit/multi instumentalist. I met him in '97 and he was so modest and gentlemanly, it was unbelievable! Just for the record, Didier Malherbe, it's prounonced, "Mal Herb".
Personally, I find the title track 'Downwind' even reminiscent of certain moments on Mike Oldfield's Incantations album, which was recorded in the same studios at the same time (which was not the case for the other tracks on Downwind), but that's hardly surprising given that the Moerlen brothers were involved in that album !
I so love PMs Gong since the late 70s! One of my all time favorites is "Golden Dilemma" from the album "Espresso II" with Holdsworth on guitar. Has those BrandX vibes... I sort of prefer this album over the later "Downwind". And yes, that cover is hauntingly scary af lol
I saw this tour at the Paradise in Boston. This piece does sound like a little Ommadawn Redux. I still think the 1st P Gong album, Gazeuse or Expresso is the best of this version of Gong, it also had Alan Holdsworth, say no more. If you listen, you can hear the development of Pierre's mallet percussion rock throughout the P.H.P. trilogy. How nice that Daevid took that in one direction, and Pierre took this part of it off for further exploration, amicably. All of which has always been part of my drumset and vibe/marimba practice sessions. Thanks, Pierre.
Hi JP. DP from UK, just back from a bracing local walk (Saturday In The Park), but his track really warmed me up. Maybe a little long and repetitive, but wonderful musicianship, especially from Pierre. I know the albums Shamal and Expresso II, but this seems similar in style, and that's just fine by me. Saw Pierre in Mike Oldfield's band on the Incantations tour - a terrific evening.
Another group led by a mallet instrumentalist is Steps Ahead, headed by vibe/synth player Mike Mainieri. The other personnel on their 1987 album Steps Ahead is Michael Brecker on sax and EWI (a type of woodwind-controlled synth), Mike Stern on guitar (M.Davis), Darryl Jones on bass (M.Davis, Sting) and Steve Smith on drums (lots). The opening song on the DVD, "Beirut" is a good intro, but Michael Brecker's solo spot on the Steinerphone-EWI is something different.
I'm a huge fan of Pierre's percussive perfection, but i really wished you'd have gone with 'Shamal'. The best of the Moerlin led version imo, with a couple of great cameos from Steve Hillage!
I had not heretofore included Gong within the set that was minimalist, and with names like Glass, Reich and Riley. I had some reich and riley just this morning! Big glass! Now I am considering the connection between and among all these and a frank zapper, with whom I had affixed a gong.
This band was formed in Paris and the Pierre Moerlen was the leader, they had musicians from other countries, UK, whatever, that is true, see Wikipedia.@@KennyRigby-pd1vv
Although Didier Malherbe, Pierre Moerlen and Miquette Giraudy are French and even though it was founded in Paris, Gong is not a French band, but a mix of musicians from different nationalities.
I haven't heard a Gong I didn't like. Thought I caught occasional glimpses of the ghost of John Coltrane in the shapes the voice of the sax makes, here. (Mostly just sat there saying, "Yes, you're right", or "Hmm, hadn't thought of that", but I also imagined some Coltrane got in there. And then I thought to myself that anybody who takes up sax eventually ends up carrying round some kind of wormhole communication portal to the ghost of John Coltrane. Nice thought. In a sense, he's going to live forever. I hope Gong lives forever. It's not impossible for that to happen.
Good album, but i believe 'Shamal' is the best jazz inclined piece of work. Apart from a couple of scorching solo's from Hillage it's guitar free which leaves the band to experiment with some interesting rhythm's!
I understand how many may find this appealing, but by the end, I was left wondering 'in what situation would I go back to this?' and couldn't find an answer. There were flashes of jazz-sync that pulled at my mind, but they were brief and gone. Again and just for me, an instrumental track needs to make me think (even so-called "relaxing" pieces) and this wasn't quite there with anything new or interesting to spark enough neurons that will have me wanting a replay
So good. Very different from their original sound. By the way, still waiting for your reaction to the 18-minute THE DRIPPING TAP by KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD. Next month's long-form Saturday???
Re the Acid Motherhood cover - you should have seen what cover they wanted to do! It wasn't a naked pregnant old man, believe me! (apologies to Spinal Tap) The back cover is somewhat...um...unnecessary as well. Meanwhile, Pierre Moerlen's Gong - does what it says on the tin but sounds like Moerlen swept up the cuttings from the Incantations floor, padded them out and added more drums. Should have been good (I love Incantations) but was merely adequate. btw - I do like how Gong has evolved and spawned over the years with various offshoots producing music that still bears evidence of the parent band DNA. Not all of it is great but it's all worth a listen.
Is that really Oldfield on bass? I'm not an expert, but it doesn't sound to me like him, but more like what I've heard from Hansford Rowe in Tubular Bells at Knebworth (wink wink)
It's Gong, but not as we know it. Starts, and ends well, but there's a swathe inbetween which's just blah. The jazzier/funkier elements I like, sax too, but as for the rest... There's too much percussion, but the worst's from when Oldfield's geet kicks in, that horrible tone of his. In fact till the jazz/funk reprise, sounds like M.O's highjacked the whole mid section. Very him, very ordinary. Fancy the drummer being in charge, there's a reason they're stuck at the back, usually :)
I couldn't agree more about that godawful MO guitar sound. It grates on me to the point I cannot listen to anything with it in and still remain calm and/or collected.
@@AriadneJCAye, know what you mean. With so many guitars, amps, pedals, and effects etc... why he thought it a good idea to stick with this one i'll never know :)
Curse the algorithm, I'm just seeing this now. Thanks for the shout out. Glad you enjoyed it.
What a masterpiece. Moerlen is one of the most unknown master musicians in history. I love his incarnation of Gong as much as the original weird Gong.
A good friend of mine toured with Pierre in the 90’s and when they came through Dallas got a call and had a 2 to 3 hour lunch with Pierre and my buddy. He was one of the nice guys in the business. Have a great photo of us together. Have been a fan of his since the the 70’s. Lost him a few years ago. He is missed! Thanks for playing him so that he can be heard for the first time. A real treasure!!!
I am glad you had listen to it. I came to this from Mike Oldfield's Incantations album. Pierre Moerlen was a big collaborator in Incantations and Mike's first live tour.
Pierre was an incredible percussionist, his "Flams" were some of the cleanest and fastest I've ever heard....great reaction Jp thanks!
Ty Sonic!
my high school buddy was at rutgers. he was jazz bassist and he had an extra ticket to pierre moerlin's at the bottom line. i couldn't drive up to new brunswick fast enough. the timpani kit was hung behind his kit. masterful.
Never heard Pierre’s Gong before. Sounds like a mashup of Steve Reich and Mike Oldfield with some jazz thrown in. I like it.
Listen to "Gazeuse" next.
Thanks for the shout out Justin 🍻 cheers from South Tyneside UK
Ps for more sublime Oldfield guitar listen to Kevin Ayers' track 'Whatevershebringswesing'
Pierre Moerlen's Gong, like all it's incarnations to this day, takes the spirit of the original Daevid Allen vision and evolves it. As others have commented, Gazeuse! is a great album and I'd suggest Shadows Of from it, which features the equally unique guitar sound of Alan Holdsworth. Indeed, it starts off sounding like it could have come from the first UK album, but then takes off in a more jazzy direction where Holdsworth really tears it up. In a complimentary vein, I'd also restate my suggestion of Xingu by Stomu Yamash'ta and Come To The Edge, which, after a cacophonous start, is a glorious live slice of prog-jazz with stand out percussion, electric organ and a dirty jazz bass solo that'll rock your socks off.
My first time hearing any Gong. Very impressed. I thought he was trying to create something that outdid Mike Oldfield and damn, he nearly did. Very impressed. Loved it.
The fact that you don't mention 'Shamal' is rather baffling to me. A fine album, with a great mixture of myriad percussion and Howlett's funky bass!
@@Owlstretchingtime78 I'll be honest, I haven't got round to Shamal yet, or Expresso II. So much Gong, so little time!
@jameswarner5809 Yeah, there's a lot to take in with so many aspects of the Gong family, but it's on TH-cam, so when it have the time... 👍
@@jameswarner5809 You have the time i should say.
Pierre Moerlen, (Prounouned, "More Lann") is undoubtedly the most highly skilled drummer and percusionit/multi instumentalist. I met him in '97 and he was so modest and gentlemanly, it was unbelievable! Just for the record, Didier Malherbe, it's prounonced, "Mal Herb".
Interesting to hear this. Definitely a companion piece to what Oldfield was doing on 'Incantations'.
Absolutely, but this title track is the only one on the album that resembles "Incantations", the other tracks are somewhat different.
@@a.k.1740 okay, good to know. Still, i'm intrigued.
Pierre's percussive talents are a gift
Spectacular track. I love anything with Oldfield, but he's well matched, and everyone shines here. It's worth going back for more of this.
Personally, I find the title track 'Downwind' even reminiscent of certain moments on Mike Oldfield's Incantations album, which was recorded in the same studios at the same time (which was not the case for the other tracks on Downwind), but that's hardly surprising given that the Moerlen brothers were involved in that album !
@@Paul-Martin_67 I find Incantations really magical and hypnotic. It's always been my favourite Mike Oldfield album.
One of the great percussionists that friend Mike Oldfield has had and a great musician by the way.
I so love PMs Gong since the late 70s! One of my all time favorites is "Golden Dilemma" from the album "Espresso II" with Holdsworth on guitar. Has those BrandX vibes... I sort of prefer this album over the later "Downwind".
And yes, that cover is hauntingly scary af lol
Finally, somebody doing anything off this STELLAR album. It's a banger front to back.
I saw this tour at the Paradise in Boston. This piece does sound like a little Ommadawn Redux. I still think the 1st P Gong album, Gazeuse or Expresso is the best of this version of Gong, it also had Alan Holdsworth, say no more. If you listen, you can hear the development of Pierre's mallet percussion rock throughout the P.H.P. trilogy. How nice that Daevid took that in one direction, and Pierre took this part of it off for further exploration, amicably. All of which has always been part of my drumset and vibe/marimba practice sessions. Thanks, Pierre.
Finally! I love this album. My fave post-Daevid album
Hi JP. DP from UK, just back from a bracing local walk (Saturday In The Park), but his track really warmed me up. Maybe a little long and repetitive, but wonderful musicianship, especially from Pierre. I know the albums Shamal and Expresso II, but this seems similar in style, and that's just fine by me. Saw Pierre in Mike Oldfield's band on the Incantations tour - a terrific evening.
Fantastic track!
Thanks, I'm listening to this from inside an M.R.I. this afternoon. So this is lifting my spirit upwind! Peace & Love.
Hoping you're doing well!
@@JustJP Just routine, well as can be. Fingers crossed. Thanks.
this was truly fun!
Acid Motherhood is a collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple and Gong
Love this album.
This sounds really good! Has a Cirque Du Soleil vibe about it. Yes, Mike Oldfield as well.. This is great!
mmh, for the Gong "Pierre Moerlen-era" there's only one album that stands out IMHO, "Gazeuse!", with Allan Holdsworth, masterpiece.
Yes With Percolations part I and II !
Another group led by a mallet instrumentalist is Steps Ahead, headed by vibe/synth player Mike Mainieri. The other personnel on their 1987 album Steps Ahead is Michael Brecker on sax and EWI (a type of woodwind-controlled synth), Mike Stern on guitar (M.Davis), Darryl Jones on bass (M.Davis, Sting) and Steve Smith on drums (lots). The opening song on the DVD, "Beirut" is a good intro, but Michael Brecker's solo spot on the Steinerphone-EWI is something different.
My favorite song from this album is "What You Know."
I'm a huge fan of Pierre's percussive perfection, but i really wished you'd have gone with 'Shamal'. The best of the Moerlin led version imo, with a couple of great cameos from Steve Hillage!
@Paul-Martin_67 Glad you agree. 👍
Pierre is a superb musician. Great track and playing. Good choice. He played in mike oldfields band.
Love it so much!
I had not heretofore included Gong within the set that was minimalist, and with names like Glass, Reich and Riley.
I had some reich and riley just this morning! Big glass!
Now I am considering the connection between and among all these and a frank zapper, with whom I had affixed a gong.
I was at a concert of the french rockband GONG in the 80ies in Germany. Was a great sound, sort of specific sound. Lots of percussions.
There not French
This band was formed in Paris and the Pierre Moerlen was the leader, they had musicians from other countries, UK, whatever, that is true, see Wikipedia.@@KennyRigby-pd1vv
Although Didier Malherbe, Pierre Moerlen and Miquette Giraudy are French and even though it was founded in Paris, Gong is not a French band, but a mix of musicians from different nationalities.
@@a.k.1740gong where formed in the 🇬🇧 in 1967
@@KennyRigby-pd1vv No, it was in France that Gong was formed, because Daevid Allen was based in Paris at the time.
This is the least of the first three Moerlen Gong albums, but it's still great. I'm a sucker for block/bar percussion in fusion, especially.
I haven't heard a Gong I didn't like.
Thought I caught occasional glimpses of the ghost of John Coltrane in the shapes the voice of the sax makes, here. (Mostly just sat there saying, "Yes, you're right", or "Hmm, hadn't thought of that", but I also imagined some Coltrane got in there. And then I thought to myself that anybody who takes up sax eventually ends up carrying round some kind of wormhole communication portal to the ghost of John Coltrane. Nice thought. In a sense, he's going to live forever.
I hope Gong lives forever. It's not impossible for that to happen.
If you like this, u recommend the album Gazeuse. With Alan Holdsworth on guitar. Need i say more?😏PS the riff from the midsection is off that album.
Good album, but i believe 'Shamal' is the best jazz inclined piece of work. Apart from a couple of scorching solo's from Hillage it's guitar free which leaves the band to experiment with some interesting rhythm's!
@@Owlstretchingtime78 Shamal is excellent, but i prefer Gazeuse. Partly because of the vocals i don t really care for.
@@maartenlemmens8628 I agree that Howlett isn't the strongest singer, but i just enjoy the overall atmosphere of musical interplay. 😉
Gazeuse is the best from Pierre Moerlen's Gong. Shamal is also very good but transitional from the Allen era.
I understand how many may find this appealing, but by the end, I was left wondering 'in what situation would I go back to this?' and couldn't find an answer. There were flashes of jazz-sync that pulled at my mind, but they were brief and gone. Again and just for me, an instrumental track needs to make me think (even so-called "relaxing" pieces) and this wasn't quite there with anything new or interesting to spark enough neurons that will have me wanting a replay
So good. Very different from their original sound. By the way, still waiting for your reaction to the 18-minute THE DRIPPING TAP by KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD. Next month's long-form Saturday???
Re the Acid Motherhood cover - you should have seen what cover they wanted to do! It wasn't a naked pregnant old man, believe me! (apologies to Spinal Tap) The back cover is somewhat...um...unnecessary as well. Meanwhile, Pierre Moerlen's Gong - does what it says on the tin but sounds like Moerlen swept up the cuttings from the Incantations floor, padded them out and added more drums. Should have been good (I love Incantations) but was merely adequate.
btw - I do like how Gong has evolved and spawned over the years with various offshoots producing music that still bears evidence of the parent band DNA. Not all of it is great but it's all worth a listen.
"Acid Motherhood" cover? Hilarious.
😨
Is that really Oldfield on bass? I'm not an expert, but it doesn't sound to me like him, but more like what I've heard from Hansford Rowe in Tubular Bells at Knebworth (wink wink)
Hansford Rowe at the beginning and end and Mike Oldfield in the middle section I think.
I think Time is the key is a better album.
It's Gong, but not as we know it. Starts, and ends well, but there's a swathe inbetween which's just blah. The jazzier/funkier elements I like, sax too, but as for the rest... There's too much percussion, but the worst's from when Oldfield's geet kicks in, that horrible tone of his. In fact till the jazz/funk reprise, sounds like M.O's highjacked the whole mid section. Very him, very ordinary. Fancy the drummer being in charge, there's a reason they're stuck at the back, usually :)
@@Paul-Martin_67That sound of his is my most hated tone in music. For me, re M.O, he hit big and peaked with 'Bells', after that, meh.
Tubular Bells two is better with smoother tone on everything. The fans say it is better.produced. @@jfergs.3302
I couldn't agree more about that godawful MO guitar sound. It grates on me to the point I cannot listen to anything with it in and still remain calm and/or collected.
@@AriadneJCAye, know what you mean. With so many guitars, amps, pedals, and effects etc... why he thought it a good idea to stick with this one i'll never know :)
@@jfergs.3302maybe that's what Moerlen wanted, after all it's his Album, his music.