Daevid Allen - Bananamoon Obscura 1 & 2: Euterpe - Studio Rehearsal Tapes 1977 & Brainville - Live In The UK (2014)

Euterpe: Studio Rehearsal Tapes 1977 - magickal sounds from Deya. This is the first volume in series of a 20 CDs of archival Daevid Allen-related material, each disc pressed in a limited run of 1,000 copies and packaged in a simple yet elegant black-and-white cardboard sleeve. And the Bananamoon Obscura series is off to a very fine start with this release documenting a little-known period in Allen's career. Listeners are treated to 50 minutes worth of Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth rehearsing with the group Euterpe, just before their 1977 "reunion" concert at the Hippodrome in Paris. The lineup includes Pepe Milan and Juan Biblioni (both acoustic guitars) and Cloudhairy Pepe Riba (violin, double bass, and sousaphone). This acoustic band (except for Allen's glissando guitar) delivers tasty renditions of early Allen classics like "Magick Brother" and several tunes from the Good Morning era. Gong's "classic" repertoire is largely ignored, the only exception being Smyth's "Prostitute Poem," but the Pothead Pixie mythology is represented by the rarely heard "Sittin in a Teashop." The mantric "Deva Goddess" provides the smooth highlight of the set, thanks to Riba's inspired violin playing, while the then-new piece "Wee Bit More" and the silly reggae "Time of the Bananamoon" are the other standout pieces. The sound quality is fair, with some distortion, tape deterioration, and a lack of bass, but quite listenable overall. Don't let the mention "rehearsal tapes" fool you: this is not a set of partial takes interspersed with conversation, but a tightly edited sequence of complete performances, akin to a studio demo. Obviously a fan item (and prior knowledge of this particular era in Allen's career is an asset in enjoying it), this CD fills a gap in the man's discography (some of this material has been previously available, with worse sound quality, as the bootleg Deya Daze).

Brainville - Live Canterbury Power trio - a most eccentric 3 piece jazz rock outfit from the Canterbury school - Daevid, Pip Pyle and Hugh Hopper. Easily the best Brainville material to surface to date. Mixed by Hugh Hopper, so sub-bass frequences to the fore. If the rest of the Obscura CDs reach the quality of the first two we are in for a real on-going treat.

Daevid Allen was one of the founders of the British progressive rock band the Soft Machine in 1966. After recording just one album with the group, he became the founder/leader of Gong, which he left in 1973 to begin a solo career (though his first solo album, Banana Moon, was released in 1971 while he was still in the group). Allen explored his quirky, folky take on rock throughout the '70s and '80s on albums like 1976's Good Morning and 1983's Alien in New York. His solo work also included collaborations with underground rock impresario Kramer like 1993's Who's Afraid? and 1996's Hit Men, which was released on Kramer's Shimmy Disc label. Allen returned in 1999 with Money Doesn't Make It, followed a year later by Stroking the Tail of the Bird. Nectans Glen also followed in 2000. In 2003 Allen formed a new version of Gong with members of the Japanese collective known as Acid Mothers Temple, as well as playing and releasing material with his California-based band University of Errors. He continues to release numerous live sets and one-off collaborations in limited editions on various independent labels under his own and various group names. A best-of, Man From Gong, which only scratches the surface of his lengthy discography, appeared from Snapper Music in 2006.