If the Grateful Dead hadn't claimed the phrase "What a long strange trip it's been", for themselves, Gong would have had to invent it. Nothing on this voluptuously sprawling concept album will be unfamiliar to those who have surfed the lysergic soundwaves with Gong since they popped into existence way back in the late sixties. The band's long-time stalwarts--Daevid Allen, Gilli Smith and Didier Malherbe--are certainly on cracking good form with this latest fantastical episode of the adventures of Zero, the Witch Yoni, Lorde Tonsil and sundry other bizarre characters. Like some primitive attempt at Ozric Tentacles, the music swirls around, veering off periodically into cosmic electronic improvisations, with half-whispered vocals and lyrics that owe as much to Marvel Comics as they do to Lewis Carroll. You don't have to be mad to love Gong, but you'll get a lot more out of it that way. --Johnny Black
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