Daevid Allen & Euterpe - Good Morning! (1976/2007 24-bit Remastered Expanded Edition)
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Album: Daevid Allen & Euterpe - Good Morning! (24-bit Remastered Expanded Edition)
Released: 1976 (2007)
Genre: Canterbury Scene
Gnosis Rating: 10.3
Esoteric Recordings - ECLEC2004
In 1975, following his departure from GONG, the highly influential group he had founded, Daevid Allen sought musical solace in the village of Deja on the island of Mallorca. Here he encountered a group of Catalan musicians, Euterpe, with whom Allen began a collaboration. Recorded in Mallorca, the album "GOOD MORNING" was released by Virgin Records in 1976 to great acclaim, being a unique work that was regarded by fans and critics as being equally as good as anything he recorded with GONG, if not better. Filled with Allen's startling original musical observations, "GOOD MORNING" appeared briefly on CD in the early 1990's and vanished quickly. Long sought after by the legions of GONG / DAEVID ALLEN followers, ESOTERIC RECORDINGS is proud to announce the reissue of this album with fully restored artwork and superb 24-bit digitally remastered sound as well as the bonus track, Euterpe Gratitude Piece. - Esoteric Recordings Catalog
Here’s one I’m sure all Gong fans have been waiting for - the long overdue reissue of the erstwhile leader of Gong’s first post-band solo album. It has been released on CD before but has long been unavailable. This outstanding 24 bit re-mastered edition from the reborn Eclectic Discs in their new Esoteric Recordings guise is smartly presented, with liner notes and lyrics and, more importantly, it sounds great!
Originally released in 1976, this is easily Daevid Allen’s best and most consistent of all his many solo ventures, recorded in his then home of Mallorca, with the local group Euterpe. It was a groundbreaking release then, combining ethereal ambient synths with the natural folky vibes of acoustic instruments for a dreamy, mystical atmosphere with strong hippy leanings but with a few edgy, darker moments and (of course) a little of the old patent Allen madcap humour.
Though many love Allen for his silliness, I know there are also those who are put off by it. This album reins in the wackiness for the most part and is his most enchanting and accessible excursion. From the cock-crow and gentle acoustic guitar which ushers in Children Of The New World with its spacey ambience, right through to the closing saxophone bleats of the humorous little ditty She Doesn’t She, this album is never less than delightful. It has a mysteriously charming atmosphere which is ideal for soothing and caressing your mind in times of stress. Revealed by the enhanced sound quality are some fantastic backing harmony vocals throughout, which were hard to pick out on the crackly vinyl album I’m used to hearing.
Allen mines a rich vein of psychedelic poetry on fanciful little tunes like Good Morning with more than a hint of the childlike wonder employed but Syd Barrett on Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.
As good as the combination of Euterpe and Allen turns out to be, the standout cut is the hypnotic, percussion-lead glissando guitar fest Wise Man In Your Heart which features former Gong colleagues Mike Howlett and Pierre Moerlen. It’s a track to lose yourself in on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The disc is bolstered with the previously unreleased Euterpe Gratitude Piece which continues the dreamy ambience for an additional 10 minutes, a most welcome addition to the disc.
Anyone who ever fell in love with this album must surely want to acquire this great reissue, and it’s also the ideal opportunity for Allen virgins to dip their toes into the waters of the peculiar world of planet Gong. - DAVE SISSONS, DPRP
“What is this funny old world that we can’t do without you, tell me why we argue like we do.” Australian Daevid Allen , founder member of Soft Machine and of Gong gets straight to the point on “Children of the New World”, the first song of Good Morning recorded in Mallorca and originally released on Virgin in 1976, here lovingly restored and re-mastered by Estoeric Recordings, a subsidiary of the enduring indie label Cherry Red.
After a promising start, the album gets even better on the pop operatic approach of the title track introduced by church bells and a cock crowing with an early Genesis feel on (12?) string acoustic guitar. Good Morning is quite simply an extraordinary piece of musical heritage with a unique atmosphere and an ‘avant folk’ element owing much to the likes of the Incredible String Band.
On ”Spirit” there’s a nod to Gong in the reference to “Zero the hero” as Allen tries to make sense of it all and instead resorts to a zany type of humour and ‘in jokes’ in the spirit of The Mothers of Invention onwards. The mandolin infused “Have You Seen My Friend?” will definitely appeal to those with an affinity to ISB, the words (as elsewhere) a fascinating microcosm of ‘the view from the hill’ as seen through the eyes of Allen, on the periphery of but essential to psychedelic music in a parallel universe to the likes of Syd Barrett and Kevin Ayers. There’s also a touch of the Jethro Tulls and maybe even Family in there.
“French Garden” again has a vintage Genesis touch (Selling England By The Pound era) with a neat little guitar break with whistling that signals an optimistic period in the life of the composer, a wonderful ‘period piece’. “Wise Man In Your Heart” is the most substantial piece weighing in at 11:26, a Fairport Convention type reworking of traditional folk music a la Sir Patrick Spens, etc. Allen feeling his way lethargically without getting anywhere in particular- perhaps this is the intention- and ending up all spacey and ethereal with Gong chantreuse (and partner) Gilli Smyth’s disembodied ‘silent screams’ and synth, strangely haunting in a surreal kind of way, the quasi reggae bass line repetitive to the point of somnambulism.
The final track “She Doesn’t She” shows, what we know all along, that despite his deep concerns about the planet, Allen doesn’t take himself too seriously, as the Bonzo Dog Band humorous send up complete with fairground music and “Auld Lang Syne” attests.
The bonus track named after his band of Catalan musicians Euterpe (the Greek God of Music) is an exercise in ambience that becomes a ‘musique concrete’, definitely worthy of inclusion.
Good Morning is a charming album well worthy of resuscitation- a promising early addition to the Esoteric catalogue. - Phil Jackson, Progressive Ears Album Reviews
On the 10th April 1975 at a concert at Cheltenham Town Hall, Gong founding father Daevid Allen refused to take the stage of a concert by the band he had formed with Gilli Smyth in the late 1960's. Allen declared that negative forces were at work on the stage and promptly departed from the venue and the group that had become a creative outlet for his visions for the past seven years. Taking both Gong's followers and the British music press by surprise, Gong would continue to be guided for the next few months by Steve Hillage before the leadership reigns were handed over to drummer Pierre Moerlin. Gong would continue to record, heading in a jazz direction and losing the "pot head pixie" label and the unique fusion of space rock, psychedelia and jazz that Allen had so successfully pioneered on a succession of albums such as "Camembert Electrique", "Flying Teapot", "Angel's Egg" and "You".
Still under contract to Virgin Records,Allen considered his future at his home in Deya on the island of Mallorca in the Balearics. Allen would later explain his departure from Gong thus; "I've always had a very particular conception of music. In my point of view, there is no reason for making so-called 'popular' music, simply for personal glory or financial reasons. That is not enough of a motivation for me, I need higher aspirations. I need to feel that my music helps society and the human race in general to move forward. When Gong started becoming famous, especially in England with Virgin, a lot of people started coming to us, most of them professionals whose principle motivation was money and power. This had the effect of splitting the band in two halves, one that was attracted to the material side of life and the drugs (sometimes we were offered suitcases of coke as payment for the gigs), and another that had the same vision as mine, that thought we should stay as clear and clean as possible to be able to keep pursuing the musical direction we had chosen. The use of drugs made us lose touch with our positive energy, which became negative. Music is a power; I was a medium transmitting this power, but I was no more able to use it as it should be used. So the only solution for me was to escape from this situation. That's what I did. I left for Deya where I had a small house, thinking I could make a new start there".
Allen's obligations to Virgin Records led to him penning a number of songs intended to be performed without drums or heavy percussion. Eschewing the idea of creating a conceptual work along the lines of his albums with Gong, Allen teamed up with the Mallorca based Spanish group Euterpe (named after the Greek God of music) and long time musical and domestic partner Gilli Smyth and began work on a record of great musical and spiritual beauty. Working at his Mallorcan home utilising a Teac semi-professional four track reel to reel tape machine and two Revox two track tape recorders, the material he recorded was astonishing.
Compositions such as "Children of the New World", "Spirit", "Song of Satisfaction", "Have You Seen My Friend?" and "French Garden" revealed Allen's spiritual nature, being both contemplative and softer in nature than much of his work with Gong. Of the material recorded, perhaps the most outstanding track was the marvelous eleven minute opus "Wise Man in Your Heart", which saw Allen reunited on record with former Gong colleagues Mike Howlett and Pierre Moerlin.
Released in May 1976, "Good Morning" was adorned in a wonderful Allen designed sleeve based on Daevid's note to Simon Draper, A&R head of Virgin in which he declared his hope that the sound recording quality would be good enough for a commercial release. Ironically, the quality of the recordings was remarkable considering the basic technical standards of the equipment used, perhaps contributing even more to the charm of the record. In hindsight, the album can be seen as a forerunner and influence on the ambient music scene that emerged some fourteen years later and so called "chill out" music. Above all, "Good Morning" was uniquely Daevid Allen.
In the course of time Allen would resurrect his vision of Gong on and off as his mood would take him and would continue to work as an inspiring solo artist and with other groups such as Planet Gong, The University of Errors and Acid Mothers Gong, always exploring and pioneering new musical directions. On Sunday 5th November 2006 members of the "classic" line-up of Gong, (including Daevid Allen, Steve Hillage, Gilli Smyth, Tim Blake, Mike Howlett, Didier Malherbe and Miquette Giraudy), reunited on stage at The Melkweg in Amsterdam to perform for the first time in many years as part of the "Gong Unconvention" weekend.
"Good Morning" received a release on CD in the early 1990's complete with a previously unreleased track recorded during sessions for the album, "Euterpe Gratitude Piece". Available for a matter of months, the CD was deleted from catalogue within eighteen months. It has subsequently become a much desired collectors item. With this 24-bit remastered reissue on Eclectic 2, complete with bonus track, "Good Morning" is available for all to enjoy once more. On his original notes to the album Daevid Allen commented; "I hope the sound quality is okay considering my primitive equipment". He needn't have worried. He delivered a perennial classic of an album. Enjoy once more! - Mark Powell
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