GONGMAISON
La Cigale, Paris, France
10 November 1989
advertised as "Gong Party pour la plan�te bleue"

Audience recording - unknown equipment
Lineage: AUD > MC > cass. > ? > WAV > ? > FLAC

DAEVID ALLEN vocals, acoustic guitar, glissando
DIDIER MALHERBE saxophones, flute, WX7 sax synthesizer
HARRY WILLIAMSON synthesizers, programs, guitar
GRAHAM CLARK violin
SHYAMAL MAITRA tablas, acoustic and electronic percussion
WANDANA BRUCE vocals, harmonium

This was the first real official reincarnation of Daevid Allen's Gong in Paris, after some 15 years of absence. Well, not really Gong - at the time the band was named Gongmaison - but promoters had advertised the gig as "Gong party pour la plan�te bleue", and fans packed the house : Gong was back !

In fact, I was lucky enough, along with a handfull of other people to attend a previous reunion of the band some months earlier, in a very small venue called Le Dunois Theatre, on May 26, 1989. The theatre was on maintenance so the concert took place in a big tent, with the audience sitting on wood gradins. There had been no promotion at all, and only luck made me look at a very little ad in a paper announcing a concert by "The Invisible Opera Company Of Tibet". Ah ! the many names and incarnations of Gong ! It was an unforgettable evening, and a recording of this early "warming up" and very confidential gig exists. But I've never heard it.

For the following concert in Paris in November 1989, the Gongmaison Moniker had been adopted, and this time, the show was well advertised (see flyer and ticket) and I decided to try to tape it.
I was ideally placed, on first row of the balcony, avoiding the craziness of the crowd, who was very very excited to see Gong back. I had a cheap mono dictaphone, and all I got was an horrendous recording. But next to me was another guy taping the show with a much better equipment than mine, and taking many pictures (some of them are included in this set). We quickly became friends. His recording on a C120 cassette was very good. But sadly, from fear of not having enough tape to record everything, some applause were cut, a few songs miss their intro, and 3 tracks were not recorded at all : Dynamite, People poem, and a solo guitar piece by Harry Williamson (Jaminji).

Years later, I have never seen any recording of that show in circulation. So I unearthed the master tape from my friend and worked on it. I also tried to use my own awful dictaphone recording to complete the parts of the show that weren't recorded by my friend, and reconstruct the whole concert, but I gave up : my tape was really unlistenable. All I could use was the band presentation - you can hear a difference of sound with the rest of the recording.

I removed a lot of microphone bumps, did careful editings to make a seamless show, removed some hiss and did a very slight equalizition. It has never sounded so good. All the memories are back : GONG was reborn.


part 1 :
1. Opening invocation > "Salut! C'est vachement bien d'�tre ici. Ma famille ! Je dois dire que c'est une nuit tr�s sp�ciale..."
2. Trashville
3. "OK it's a rap, sur le sujet de la sexualit�" > I love sex
4. "Et maintenant, le violoniste, Graham Clark" > Violin salad
5. Titicaca (changing woman)
6. I'm happy, I'm sad
7. Bloomtrio
8. "Alors maintenant on arrive � euh... une chanson [...] qui nous explique [...] Puis une nouvelle chanson, c'est... �a parle de la paix mondiale, qui dit (si tu comprends pas bien les paroles), qui dit en fait que la paix mondiale commence dans la cuisine..." - (people in the crowd shouts : "Camembert !") - "Peut �tre un camembert c'est un signe de la paix mondiale. Si tous les grands gouvernements mangent que des camemberts, on va avoir... euh ? La guerre ?" > Negociate / We circle around

Part 2 :
1. Erenekabi
2. Les B
3. Tablas logorythmiques
4. No other than the mother is my song
5. "Il y a un temps, on a venu, sur la mer pacifique, � une petite ile. Et qu'est ce qu'on fait l�, alors, Oceania ? Mais oui, on se regarde, l�, dans une petite mountain, il y a un dome. Un dome, avec un petit quelque chose qui sort. Et qu'est ce que c'est ? C'est un t�lescope ! Un t�lescope exactement. Et qu'est ce que c'est �a ? Un, deux �toiles, et puis qu'est ce qu'on regarde dans le t�lescope ? Est-ce que c'est euh... une soucoupe volante ? Est-ce que c'est une... satellite dish ? Eh qu'est ce que c'est ?!!!" > Flying Teapot
6. The mantram chant of you
7. Eat that phone book coda > "Bye bye !"
8. Fohat Jam / White doves > "Mes chers amis, goodbye hearts, thank you for [...] Salut !"
9. Presentation : "Sur le violon, Graham Clark. Sur le synthetiseur, et programmes, Harry Williamson. Sur les tablas logorythmiques, Banana Ananda, otherwise known as Shyamal Maitra. Et puis sur le saxophone, gnomophone et toutes les autres choses encore, Bloomdido Bad de Grass lui-m�me. Et ma ch�re amie, la tr�s tr�s belle Wandana. B�bert Camembert, Dingo Virgin, Mimi Mimolette, Sri Cappuccino : Daevid Allen. Salut mes potes, �a boume !"
10. Heartsong > "Thank you [...] Ciao, I'll see you again [...]"


Tracks played that night, but not recorded :
People poem
Jaminji
Dynamite


Many thanks to Hemix for supplying the original file set!


http://www.planetgong.co.uk/

PLEASE SUPPORT THE ARTISTS!! BUY THEIR OFFICIAL RELEASES!! GO TO THEIR CONCERTS!!
TRADE FREELY!! KEEP IT LOSSLESS!!

Uploaded to DIME by propylaen in October 2012.

Enjoy!

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