Gong — Camembert Electrique

Originally released in 1971 Camembert Electrique was the second album from Gong. The respected space rock, jazz rock, space ambient collective, who where centred around the talents of Daevid Allen & Gilli Smyth- who have both sadly passed in the last year or so.  Here we have 2015 remastered ‘audiophile’ CD reissue of the album.

The reissue comes in a classy mini gatefold- this glossy four panel affair takes in a great colour portrait of the band from the time, dressed-up in their most flamboyant  hippy fare. It also features a 24 page inlay booklet, and this takes in reproduction of the albums original lengthy cartoon like liner notes, and a  new five page write-up about the band.

Compared with the bands later albums, such as their infamous  & at times plainly bonkers Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy( taking in 1973’s Flying Teapot & Angel's Egg, and 1974’s You). This is fairly controlled & set in more of a prog rock/ space rock setting; that’s edged with elements of spacey jazz rock, ambience, and just a sprinkle of ‘Gong’ quirkiness.  The albums eleven tracks are mostly fairly urgent & guitar passed, built around fairly standard & memorable rock riff craft. Yet as this is ‘Gong’ the are nice twists & dips in both pace & composition- it’s just that they never completely go off the rails into space, and away from the tracks riff structures. We also do have a few more mellow & ambient spaced-out moments, with Smyth doing her trademark sensual space whispers...but these are kept fairly short. I’d say if you where new to the band, and come from a more 1970’s rock based background, then this is a great enter point to Gongs work.

The digital re-mastering certainly makes the whole thing sound a lot more urgent and layer defined- with the guitars have a nice punchy quality. And the surrounding horn work, joint male & female vocals( from Smyth & Allen), and mostly hard hitting drum work completing the mix nicely. At this point in the band sound there was no synth elements- so I guess that also helps make the whole thing seemed more pared back & rock focused too.

So in conclusion this really is the definitive reissue of this album- I guess it’s a little disappointing they are no sonic extras here, but if you either haven’t already got the album, or if you need to upgrade from a older version of the album this is certainly worth picking-up.