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Daevid Allen, after having energized the early Canterbury scene alongside Robert Wyatt, found himself in 1968 with his passport blocked in Paris. There, together with his poet and singer wife Gilli Smyth, he decided to gather around him a colorful community of hippies.
"Flying Teapot - Radio Gnome Invisible Pt. 1," from 1973, is the first of three chapters in the saga (with a not-so-clear plot, but oh well) set on the planet Gong: the Gong gnomes (the Pot Head Pixies) travel on flying teapots telepathically connected to Radio Gnome Invisible, and they arrive on Earth landing in Tibet to establish contact with a few chosen humans.
Every musician is given different names based on the character they portray in the saga: Daevid Allen is the chosen earthly being Zero The Hero (or Bert Camembert), singer Gilli Smyth is the witch-priestess Shakti Yoni, guitarist Steve Hillage is The Submarine Captain (or Stevie Hillside), saxophonist Didier Malherbe is Bloomdido Bad de Grasse, etc., while equally bizarre names are also given to the innocent musical instruments...
Um...
It seems a bit unfair to make questionable observations on lifestyles, but it’s hard to imagine how such a work could have been developed without having bid farewell forever to millions of gray cells...
Nevertheless, the music presents itself as a cultured reworking of the most innovative rock trends from the late '60s to early '70s; an amalgamation of sounds that is anything but easily definable.
We are faced with a streamlined form of progressive rock that almost aligns them with the more mutating compositions of their contemporaries Roxy Music, not so much in the sounds (which are still not very dissimilar), or in melodic taste (a bit less approachable), but in the construction of pieces that begin as carefree and bouncy little songs and end up sinking like cosmic agonies (and/or vice versa).
The main character seems to be the anarchy that dominates the sudden transitions between the silliest and circus-like nursery rhymes, the ethereal synth progressions and female chants, and the collective rock jazz gallops with a spacey and pataphysical taste.
A music more intoxicating than definitely psychedelic: the world that is imagined does not seem like an (im)possible utopia, a vision from a trip nor a revelation of the psyche, but rather a proposal of a musical comedy disguised as a concept album, in which the frequent mystic and esoteric references are counterbalanced by a wildly absurd and surreal humor, amidst nonsensical jests and cabaret-like antics.
Nevertheless, a work animated by a spirit too libertarian to be interpreted univocally.
Banana Nirvana Manana!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Flying Teapot (11:51)
If you feel belief hi Pete
I got a story to tell you
Of a band of little green men
From a far away planet
If you want to know about love
Then ask the wee geezer
He can teach you telepathy
He can read your mind backwards
If you try to do the cat in
You can only be a loser
Paranoia never touch him
He's got ways of laughter
Baby don't you bring yourself down
Got to catch you up later
If you want to know about love
You can ask the wee geezer
He can teach you telepathy
He can read your mind backwards
If you try to do the cat in
You can only be a loser
Paranoia never touch him
He's got ways of laughter
Baby don't you bring yourself down
I'll catch you up later
Give him a bit of your love you get it back later...
Give him a bit of your love you get it back
later (repeat)
...Hear me now from the Invisible Opera Company of Tibet...
Have a cup of tea, have another one, have a cup of tea
Have a cup of tea, have another one, have a cup of tea
Have a cup of tea, have another one, have a cup of tea...
High in the sky, what do you see ?
Come down to Earth, a cup of tea
Flying saucer, flying teacup
From outer space, Flying Teapot (repeat)
03 The Pot Head Pixies (03:02)
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Hey Pete you gotta meet the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
So meet, you'll never beat the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Oh me, they're something to see, the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Oh my, they come from the sky, the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Beware! Be aware! Beware! Be aware !
Somebody somewhere has got to be high
They got a Flying Teapot, don't need a taxi
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
They're from the planet of love, the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Ding dang dong, singing the song, it's pretty catchy
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
They just can't give you enough, the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Be there! Be aware! Be there! See you there!
Open on Saturday seven to nine
I'm a real Pothead Pixie
The green planet Gong is my home
I live everywhere but in case I'm not there
You can reach me by Radio Gnome
Somebody somewhere has got to be high
Hey Joe, you gotta know the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Hey-ho, they come and they go, the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Hey Pete, get up on your feet and catch a taxi
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Oh oui, we're gonna meet the Pot Head Pixies
I am - you are - we are - crazy !
Now so
Now you know
Here and now
They come and go
Bom bom bom bom...
Good afternoon
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By pana
You couldn’t have made a more twisted album! So crazy, limp... absurd choruses, jumping sounds, sudden fusion bursts that would be extremely innovative even if done today.
The gems of your record for me are precisely represented by 'Flying Teapot,' one of the pinnacles of all seventies music.
