GONG
Civic Hall, Guildford, UK
9 November 1975

Soundboard recording
Unknown transfer

Disc 1
1. Introduction (2:08)
2. The Salmon Song (11:56)
3. Chandra (8:45)
4. Lunar Musick Suite / Electrick Gypsies (16:51)
5. Cat in Clark's Shoes (12:52)

Disc 2
1. I'm Beginning to See the Light (5:29)
2. Aftaglid (15:06)
3. Bambooji (8:54)
4. The Isle of Everywhere (11:32)
5. Wingful of Eyes (4:26)
6. Shamal (11:52)
including Searching for the Spark riff
7. Master Builder [cut] (3:11)


DIDIER MALHERBE (sax, flute, voice)
STEVE HILLAGE (guitar, voice)
MIQUETTE GIRAUDY (dancing, voices, occasional synthesizer)
MIKE HOWLETT (bass, voice)
MIREILLE BAUER (percussion)
PATRICE LEMOINE (keyboards)
LAURIE ALLAN (drums)
PIERRE MOERLEN (drums on Master Builder)

During the second half of 1975, GONG was in a transition phase: Daevid Allen had left the group, and Steve Hillage was seen as the new leader of the band, true to the spirit of its founder and its Pot Head Pixies. However, Gong was already moving towards a more instrumental music and a sophisticated jazz-rock. Many new songs were created on stage during these few months, but when it came to record them for the album Shamal, Steve Hillage had decided to quit.
This is what makes live recordings of this short pre-Shamal period with Hillage all the more fascinating.

This concert is a rare document too, in many ways.
- Pierre Moerlen, absent because of multiple musical activities is replaced exceptionally by Laurie Allan.
- The band plays a lot of pieces not yet released on album. In addition to the future Shamal titles, they play an early version of "Lunar Musick Suite and "Electrick Gypsies", which would be later recorded by Steve Hillage for his solo album "L" in 1976. This first version played by Gong is quite exceptional.
- Similarly, the song "I'm Beginning to See The Light" played here, remains unreleased to this day.
- The "Isle of Everywhere" is not completed by the theme "Get it inner" as was the case for all other Gong concerts from this period (including the officially released "Live at Sherwood Forest" recorded November 25, 1975)
- Finally, we note the presence of an unusual riff in "Shamal", which Steve Hillage would later use for "Searching for the Spark" in 1977.

Problems that had to be corrected with this tape:

- A lot of hiss, once again easily filtered out.
- Re-equalization necessary to boost the treble and reduce the bass, very upfront on the original recording.
- A huge number of digital clicks have been removed using a software used for cleaning of vinyl crackles.
- Many cuts in the following tracks were repaired "properly": Lunar Musick Suite (at 7'45), I'm Beginning to See the Light (at 4'03), Isle of Everywhere (at 0'02 and 6'51), Wingful of Eyes (at 2'22).
- A duplicated section in the introduction of Bambooji was removed (which means that this piece was too long of about 2 minutes in the original file).