GONG - Halifax '73

Gong
Live In Halifax '73
The actual date of this recording is unknown. Gong played Halifax twice in 1973. Saturday 6th October (Clarences) and 29th December.

FLAC Audio Tracks:

cassette side 1

1. wibble (2:54)
2. The Other Side Of The Sky? (8:13)
3. Dynamite (1:15)
4. 6/8 (2:39)
5. Radio Gnome (7:29)
6. It's Only The World Said The Girl (8:44)
7. Eat That Phone Book (3:39)
8. wibble (1:59)
9. Tic Toc (cut) (4:02)
10. 'hidden wardrobe' (1:27)

Cassette side 2

11. 'unknown' (2:11)
12. I Never Glid Before (5:34)
13. wibble (4:08)
14. Flute Salad (6:10)
15. wibble (1:03)
16. Oily Way (5:06)
17. Inner Temple / Outer Temple (3:12)
18. Flying Teapot / Wet Drum Sandwich (6:31)
19. Eat That Phone Book Coda (3:55)

Line Up

Saturday 6th October:
didier malherbe - sax/flute
daevid allen - guitar/vocals
gilli smyth - space whisper
mike howlett - bass
pierre moerlen - drums
steve hillage - guitar
tim blake - synth/vocals

or if 29th December:
didier malherbe - sax/flute
daevid allen - guitar/vocals
gilli smyth - space whisper
mike howlett - bass
rob tait - drums
di stewart - vocals/percussion
steve hillage - guitar
tim blake - synth/vocals

info from palnetgong.co.uk

Sorry no artwork - I'm not that clever.

AudioGold 90 > Sony Professional Walkman > Chord Company (expensive) cable > Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro > Creative Recorder > HD > Sony CD Architect > CD > dbpoweramp > FLAC (medium) > YOU.

This is converted from a cassette I found in my loft over Christmas (see notes on Planit Gong Bolton 1977 torrent also on DIME).

The cassette is an AudioGold 90 (which were very cheap and nasty). I bought the cassette off Neil Corkindale whilst he was part of a group of bootleggers called Black Leo Recordings. I wonder what happened to them all? It was my association with these guys that led me to discover a Manchester band in the mid 70's called Aqua. They did Gong tribute shows in the South Manchester area and I believe also played at Deeply Vale. The members of Aqua all went on to form various groups: Graham Massey etc - 808 State, Alan Hempsall - Crispy Ambulance (best band name I've ever heard) and Graham Clark. I became quite good friends with Graham around that time, he has been a member of Gong on and off since the late 1980's.

The cassette simply says Gong Live In Halifax '73. The writing is on a sticker rather than the cassette itself, Which lead me to an unexpected discovery. At the end of side 1 when the Gong show cuts out some music continues. This turns out to be Genesis (Wardrobe). Who knows what lost gem may have been recorded over? As I bought the tape directly from the recorder of the show I can only assume that this will have been copied from the master source or at worst a copy of the master. A loud hum can be heard in quiet bits. I'm guessing that it was recorded at some stage on one of those cassettes that had an automatic recording level as you can hear the volume increase and the hum return when it goes quiet and between tracks. Sound, over all, considering the age of this cassette, over 30 years old, and the equipment it must have been recorded on, is good. There is some shouting from the audience but hey they were probably excited.

I'm presenting the recording without any processing other than addition of track markers. I've even left in the Genesis teaser.

At one point someone says "You'll have to imagine the synth intro to this one" so there must have been a problem with Tim's equipment. I'm thinking this is from October as the drum solo sounds like Pierre.

This is my second but alas my last Gong tape. If only I'd obtained more tapes off Mr Corkindale. He taped most if not all concerts in Manchester, and some in other locations, during the early 70's. Or if I could track down the lad I worked with who ended up with all his masters.

If you're sat on some tapes but can't be bothered to convert them or don't know what to do, PM me and we'll sort something out.

NB Weekdays I'm only online between around 17:00 and 22:00. I'll make sure at least one person gets a complete seed.