Gong At Montserrat 1973 And Other Stories [DVD]

I think most people would buy this DVD - as I did - for the main feature, the film of Gong at Montserrat. Certainly now that I've seen the entire DVD I think this is what makes it worthwhile.It opens with film of the landscape around Montserrat, with a performance of Zero the Hero and the Witch's Spell overlaid. It's worth buying just for this opening sequence, with Gilli Smyth's spine-tinglingly beautiful echoed vocals. The music connectes deeply with the close-up footage of the rock formations and the views of the landscape. At this point the film succeeds in bringing over the band's connection with the location and the appropriateness of their music for this event at Montserrat.The next section, with the band members and the discussion of Gong mythology might seem pretty bizarre to anyone unfamiliar with the band, but it helps connect with the church at Montserrat, one of the churches containing a Black Virgin. This section links the first section's connection with the wider location, with the concert footage inside the church. It helps make clear that this concert was no mere `gig,' but rather a sacred event in which the band connected deeply with the spirit of the place and sought to revitalise the sacred nature of the building by connecting with the Black Virgin. Daevid Allen looks almost like some kind of Greek Orthodox priest from another planet at times, which is presumably the intention.Unfortunately the sound quality isn't what it might be during the concert. The drums and bass are a bit muddy, and the synthesizer is too low in the mix. But it's great stuff, nevertheless, if you can appreciate what the band are doing. Didier Malherbe was in fine form, contributing beautifully fluid sax playing.The last time I visited one of our great cathedrals I was struck by the discrepancy between the nature of the building and the emaciated Christianity inside it, especially when the Bishop entered the pulpit in the middle of the afternoon to speak. Reflecting on that, I felt what was much needed was a band like Gong to revitalise these sacred places by avoiding shallow platitudes on the one hand and equally shallow fundamentalist excesses on the other, and connecting with the depths of spirituality from which these sacred places arose. At that time I didn't know that they'd tried to do exactly that.So for all the less than perfect quality at times, this is a powerful stuff.I'm rather less impressed with the `other stories.' I'd seen some of Daevid Allen's films before, and they aren't really something I'd go out of my way for - though of course others may disagree. They can certainly be amusing, and there's much to think about whether or not you accept what he's saying.The secton with Acid Mothers Gong is also rather weak, to me. What Gilli Smyth is saying is worth hearing, but it's obscured by the music, and you'd be better just reading her poem (check out her website or buy the Godly Talk booklet). The DVD's booklet includes all Daevid's Allen's writings from this disk, but not Gilli's, unfortunately. The background performance looks and sounds like a student drama production from 1967, with a musical cacophany and various people cavorting around just the way they did in late sixies student drama. Unfortunately this was filmed in 2002. Hmmm.The film of Soft Machine is exactly that - a 1967 poem with musical cacophany. Basically the Soft Machine from before they got good.This DVD possibly suggests that Gong in 1973 had something really special, but later post-Gong work is much weaker. In fact that isn't true at all. The Montserrat film is a gem, but in fact the various members of Gong continue to make remarkable music to this day. Gilli Smyth continues to make innovative and powerful music, and has much to say to us once the backdrop of Acid Mothers Gong has dropped away. Albums like Goddess T's Electric Shiatsu, It's All a Dream, and Gong Matrices' Parade work much better for her - as does her appearance on Merkaba on Sacred Geometry II. Daevid Allen continues to make great music - check out his work on the Sacred Geometry series of album, for example. And the other members of the classic Gong line-up have made a lot of great music and continue to do so. Tim Blake's superb albums deserve special mention.When the DVD of Gong's 2006 Amsterdam performances appears, that should be a lot clearer, with Gong and also performances by Steve Hillage, Tim Blake and others. In fact I've just been watching a performance by Tim Blake and Jean-Philippe Rykiel that I think may be on the Amsterdam DVD (or one of them?). It was interesting to watch it again to compare with Gong at Montserrat, and I think it's actually stronger than anything on the DVD under review.Regarding this DVD, the price may seem a little high for the really special parts, but I'm really glad I bought it. That opening section with Gilli's voice and the landscape sequence, and the revitalising of the sacred location - that's worth buying this DVD for. And you may get more mileage out of the rest than I did.

This isn't the same Gong that released Shamal and toured with Mike Oldfield back in the 1970s. Shame!This is Daevid Allen's Gong. A series of short songs and poems mostly by Daevid AllenDaevid Allen is an Australian aging hippie and almost 70 and the sight of him in one scene (stark naked on the toilet reciting poetry to the camera) didn't really appeal to me.There are some old video clips of Gong from years back - hand held shots from the audience mostly and an interesting clip of Daevid Allen performing with the Soft Machine in the 60s. But mostly it's a series of set camera pieces to camera by Allen himself.Not my cup of tea...

Deze DVD mag niet ontbreken in een serieuze Gong verzameling! Nuff said ;-)

Eine irre DVD. Wohl erstmalig gibt es was an Bildmaterial von den `73er GONG: vom 20-minütigen Montserrat-Clip sind nur gut 10 Musik, schlecht ausgeleuchtet, übler Sound, Bild und Ton nicht synchron (erkennbar wenn Gilli Smyth spachewhispert oder Steve Hillage Akkorde spielt, aber ein Gitarrensolo zu hören ist); Daevid Allen wiegt sich in 'religiösen' Zuckungen; die meiste Zeit ist eine bekifft an zwei Moog-Knöpfen drehende Miquette Giraudy im Bild. Irre, klasse, kultig - das Herz jedes Gong-Fans schlägt Kapriolen. Der Rest der DVD: Füllmaterial mit Installation vom alten, immer noch outspacigen Allen. Ein 3-Minuten-Perlchen am Ende: Allen live mit Softmachine 1967 mit einer blasphemischen Vaterunser-Verballhornung. Nur für absolute Fans.