Flying Teapot (Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1)

If 1971 had been a busy year (recording three albums), Gong spent the most of the next year touring with Magma and then dealing with lineup changes. Drummers came and went, as did almost everyone else with the exception of Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Didier Malherbe. Late in 1972, the band attended a Kevin Ayers gig in France, which introduced them to guitarist Steve Hillage. Tim Blake, an engineer from Allen's Banana Moon sessions, joined on synthesizer. Ex-Magma bassist Francis Moze also joined, while Laurie Allen returned long enough to play drums on the ensuing album. Thus reconstituted, Allen penned the first installment of the Radio Gnome trilogy: part mystic (think eastern), thoroughly humorous and most certainly psychedelic, it's perhaps the penultimate manifestation of the Gong trip. On the surface, the cabaret of "Radio Gnome" is of course plain silly, but the slow rising mantra rhythm of "Flying Teapot" is pure invocation. The opening lines of "The Pot Head Pixies" say it all; Allen's penchant for writing hilarious lyrics is as natural as his infectious melodies. Blake's "Octave Doctors" reveals his unique synthesizer talent as well as Malherbe's sublime alto sax, while "Zero the Hero" broods under the much overlooked rhythm section of Moze and Laurie Allen. Smyth's "Witch Song/I Am Your Pussy" concludes in her own inimitable way. All in all, Flying Teapot remains one of the most consistent albums of the trilogy and a fan favorite, despite a rather awkward production (and substandard recording). Soon after the album was recorded, Allen and Smyth would (temporarily) take their leave to Majorca for parenthood, while further personnel changes would engage the band of the rest of the year. Gong were one of the first bands offered a contract with Richard Branson's new Virgin Records, though legal ties with BYG Records would dog them for years to come. The album was the second release on Virgin Records, V2002.