Gong: Every Album, Every Song (On Track)

The On Track series examines an artist’s entire output, track by track – or that within a specified date range – the series brings together expert analysis with both fact and opinion.

Every now and then, a band comes along that defies convention, refuses to be pigeon-holed, thumbs its nose at comfy predictability and blows raspberries at commercial wisdom. That band is Gong. From 1970 to the present day, Gong have ploughed a unique musical furrow - part progressive rock, part spacey psychedelia, part proto-punk, ambient trance, drum 'n' bass and absurdist political performance art.

In this revised and updated edition, long-time fan Kevan Furbank examines all the Gong albums from Magick Brother in 1970 to 2023's Unending Ascending and chronicles the stories behind each recording. He examines the songwriting, arrangements and mythology that inspired each track - with new insights from, amongst others, the current fantastic Gong line-up, bassist Mike Howlett, violinist Graham Clark and guitarist Josh Pollock.

He salutes the many great musicians who have passed through Gong in the last 50-odd years, including guitar hero Steve Hillage, drummer Pierre Moerlen, flute and sax maestro Didier Malherbe and, of course, whimsical visionary and Gong founder Daevid Allen. The author also discusses the off-shoots of the Gong family tree - including Mother Gong, Gongmaison and Pierre Moerlen's Gong.

If you have never heard any Gong, this book is the perfect introduction. If you have, you will want to go back and revisit the glorious music this band has made.