Camembert Electrique

Gong | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 28, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Snapper Music Group
• ASIN: B000059ZDM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,389 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This 1971 release was the first "real" Gong album (1970's MAGICK BROTHER was really Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth with friends, recorded before the band's official debut). It's a psychedelic/space-rock classic, hinting at the conceptual/musical heights reached by the forthcoming "Radio Gnome Trilogy" but characterized by harder-edged riffing and fewer ethereal moments (Steve Hillage and Tim Blake had not yet come aboard). Allen's underground-oriented psycho-sexual, beatnik lyrics are a winning combination of wisdom and whimsy, but it's the music that makes CAMEMBERT. Allen's patented "glissando guitar" style (a spacy, flowing sound achieved with delay effects and a slide) puts the band in early Pink Floyd territory, as do the long, atmospheric jams. There's also a distinct jazz influence in both Pip Pyle's bop-inspired drumming and Didier Malherbe's freaky sax. These elements combined with Gilli Smyth's ambient/erotic "space whisper" backing vocals and Allen's winning tunesmithery to create some of the least pretentious art-rock ever heard. Charly. 2005. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mothers of Invention on drugs!, July 24, 2001

By 

Tom Pitsis (New South Wales) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Camembert Electrique (Audio CD)

Around the time that this fantastic album was recorded a lot of drug addled 'artists' were creating a lot of drug adled 'music' based on drug adled lyrical content which also usually happened to be gibberish and the rock equivelant to doggerel. Sure, these self-confessed pot-head pixies could be accused of the same, but the crucial difference between most psychedelic groups and this Camembert Electrique Gong album is that Gong contains virtuoso musicians that also know how to have fun - and how to incorporate traces of lots of different musics of this world into a rock album. Their virtuosity is evinced by the fact that most of this music is intricately arranged - and as far as I know most of the members were blithely traipsing in Drug La-La Land, but they still managed to "get it together, man!". This is what the Mothers of Invention would sound like if Zappa allowed the use of drugs. This album was a snow-flake to snow-ball cult classic when it was released, and its alchemy of creativity and substance shall never wane. It will continue to be a cult classic forever.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spaced-out Psychedelic Masterpiece, July 11, 2002

By 

Maria H. R. Souza (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Camembert Electrique (Audio CD)

Et Voilá...! Here you have the beginning of Gong's astonishing 'saga', a strikingly creative masterpiece of spaced-out psychedelia. Daevid Allen's dreamingly blistering glissando guitars, Gilli Smyth's heavenly psychic space whispering, Pip Pyle's fantastic, raw-edged drumming and Didier Malherbe's wailing saxophones are a lysergic joy to listen, a free-wheeling psychedelic musical dream. This is an outstanding masterwork, a must for all fans of space rock madness!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heavy space, November 19, 2006

By 

Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Camembert Electrique (Audio CD)

Released in 1971 this album shows Gong adopting the heavy space rock sound that would carry them through their most distinctive and classic works: Flying Teapot (1973); Angel's Egg (1973); and You (1974) (aka The Radio Gnome Trilogy). Unfortunately, after the excellent You album Daevid Allen left the band and Gong moved in a jazz rock direction. Although I like the jazz rock phase of Gong, it does not quite compare with the magic of their 1971-1974 output, and especially the excellent Camembert Electrique.

The core lineup on this album contains French and English musicians of considerable skill: the first-rate Pip Pyle (drums); Christian Tritsch (bass guitar); Didier Malherbe (saxophones, flute); Gilli Smyth (vocals, "space whisper"); and bandleader Daevid Allen (vocals, electric guitars, and bass). Also present are two brief appearances by keyboardists Eddy Louiss (Hammond organ and piano); and Constantin Simonovitch (phased piano). I think it goes without saying that all of the musicians in Gong are excellent. In fact, Gong has had some of prog's best drummers including Pip and the late Pierre Moerlen. When the band really gets going, the ensemble work can get very complex. The bass playing is extremely aggressive and Christian favors a slightly distorted tone on his Fender. In fact, this tone was used by bassist Mike Howlett during the subsequent albums during the 73-75 period. Coupled with some wild playing on an equally distorted electric guitar, the interplay between the bassist and guitarist is hair raising. Pip of course really drives everything along with his incredible technique. Although I really enjoy Daevid's vocal style and altered spoke word passages, his approach may not appeal to everybody.

The 11 tracks on this album all (more or less) blend into one another and include very spacey instrumental interludes that feature Gilli Smyth's sultry space whisper, short experimental passages that fature tape loops and other electronic experimentation, and thunderous prog rock workouts. Of all the tracks on the album it is only Tried so Hard that comes even somewhat close to being a "song" with melodies - it actually brings a bit of a reprieve, especially after the cacophonous closing jam on Fohat Digs Holes in Space, although it too is pretty crazy in its own way. I guess it is worth mentioning that Fohat... comes close to the sound that Gong would get on albums like Angel's Egg although I think that, in general, the blueprint was pretty much established with this album.

This reissue by Charly is, like all of the other Gong releases by Charly, pretty lousy. The liner notes are however, informative although the sound quality is only just OK.

All in all this is an incredible album of very heavy progressive space rock. The musicianship is positively top shelf and the music gets pretty cosmic at times. This is fantastic stuff all around that is highly recommended along with Continental Circus (1972); Flying Teapot; Angel's Egg, and You.