''Banana Moon'' is the debut solo album by Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist and

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

leader

Daevid Allen Christopher David "Daevid" Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015) was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong (band), Gong (in France, 1967).McFarlane, 1999, Biograp ...

, released in July 1971 on the French

BYG Actuel BYG Records was a French record label known for the Actuel series specializing in free jazz. However, the label released a handful of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Terry Riley, Freedom and Gong. History BYG Reco ...

label. The album is sometimes referred to as ''Bananamoon'' and it was also reissued as a Gong album. The album features Allen's former

Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...

bandmate

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is an English retired musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

on drums and Archie Legget on bass, along with numerous guests including

Gary Wright Gary Malcolm Wright (April 26, 1943 – September 4, 2023) was an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive". Wright's breakthrough album, '' The Dream Weaver'' (1975), came after he h ...

from

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth was a rock band originally formed in Carlisle, England, in 1967. The band was principally active between 1967 and 1974, and re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding ...

Maggie Bell Margaret Bell (born 12 January 1945) is a Scottish vocalist. She came to fame as co-lead vocalist of the blues rock group Stone the Crows, and was described as the UK's closest counterpart to American singer Janis Joplin. Bell was also promine ...

from

Stone the Crows Stone the Crows were a Scottish blues rock band formed in Glasgow in late 1969. They are remembered for the onstage electrocution of guitarist and founding member Les Harvey. History The band were formed after Maggie Bell was introduced to ...

and

Gilli Smyth Gillian Mary Smyth (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician best known for co-founding the psychedelic rock group Gong with her partner Daevid Allen in 1967. She also released music with spinoff groups Mother Gong and Plane ...

& Christian Tritsch from Gong. Guest drummer

Pip Pyle Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield and the North ...

would go on to join Gong soon after this recording. Some of the musicians on the album would subsequently contribute to

Kevin Ayers Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely asso ...

' 1973 album ''

Bananamour ''Bananamour'' is the fourth studio album by Kevin Ayers and it featured some of his most accessible recordings, including "Shouting in a Bucket Blues" and his whimsical tribute to Syd Barrett, " Oh! Wot A Dream". After ''Whatevershebringswesin ...

''. The song "

Memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is Encoding (memory), encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future Action (philosophy), action. I ...

", sung by Wyatt, was initially demoed in 1967 by

(with Allen on guitar) and later covered by

Material A material is a matter, substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an Physical object, object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical property, physical ...

on their 1982 album ''

One Down ''One Down'' is a 1982 album by the New York based music group Material. The album finds Material moving away from their noisy no wave roots towards funk and R&B. The album was self-produced by Material, and was recorded by Martin Bisi in Bro ...

'', with a lead vocal by a young

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

. "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein" was re-recorded in 1977 by Allen in collaboration with Here and Now as Planet Gong on their '' Floating Anarchy Live 1977'' album. The original French release featured Didier Léon's painting on both the front and back of the gatefold cover, with notes and drawings by Daevid Allen on the inside surrounding a photo of the band. A BYG Actuel reissue, also from 1971, credits the album to Gong and has the band photo as the front cover. The first UK pressing, in 1975 on

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

subsidiary

Caroline Records Caroline Records is a record label that was founded in 1973. Founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976 and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. The label rel ...

, had an alternative cover drawn by Daevid Allen, featuring a peeled banana/moon playing a guitar. An alternate version of the album, entitled ''Stoned Innocent Frankenstein'', was released by GAS Records in 2014, containing "Unreleased mixes and versions. A 'Camembert Eclectique' job for Bananamoon. Stunning unreleased mixes and totally radical head-altering versions unheard for over 30 years. Robert Wyatt's drumming more obvious on a couple of the tracks is amazing. It does make you wonder whether the correct 'final' mix was sent to the pressing plant - no they wouldn't have got that wrong, would they? With an annotated and illustrated booklet." In 2003,

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

included it in a list of 25 of his favourite albums, "Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie", saying that "it's possible, just possibly maybe, that strands of the embryonic glam style started here."

Track listing

Side 1

# "It's the Time of Your Life" (Christian Tritsch) – 3:21 # "

" (

Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting i ...

) – 3:37 # "All I Want is Out of Here" (Tritsch) – 4:48 # "Fred the Fish and the Chip On His Shoulder" (

) – 2:27 # "White Neck Blooze" (Allen) – 4:38 # "Codein Coda" (Allen) – 0:58

Side 2

# "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein" (Allen) – 3:28 # "And His Adventures in the Land of Flip" (Allen, Legget, Wyatt, Fields) – 11:44 # "I Am a Bowl" (Allen) – 2:46

Personnel

– guitar and vocals * Archie Legget – bass *

– drums, backing vocals; vocals and guitar ("Memories") ;with *

Christian Tritsch Gong are a psychedelic rock band that incorporates elements of jazz and space rock into their musical style. The group was formed in Paris in 1967 by Australian musician Daevid Allen and English vocalist Gilli Smyth. Band members have include ...

– guitar and bass ("It's the Time of Your Life") *

– drums ("It's the Time of Your Life") *

– piano ("Memories", "White Neck Blooze") * Gerry Fields – violin ("Fred the Fish", "Adventures in The Land of Flip") * Barry St. John,

– backing vocals ("White Neck Blooze") *

– space whisper ("Adventures in The Land of Flip") * Nick Evans – trombone ("I Am a Bowl")

Production

* Recorded: January & February 1971 at Marquee Studios, London * Engineer: Phil Dunne * Produced by: Jean Georgakarakos, Jean-Luc Young * Executive Producer: Pierre Lattès

Release history

* 1971: BYG Actuel – 45 (529 345) – France – Gatefold cover with Didier Léon painting. * 1971: BYG Actuel – 529 345 – France – Single sleeve cover with band photograph in green. Credited to Gong. * 1975: Caroline (

) – C1512 – UK – Banana Moon cover drawn by Daevid Allen. * 1979: Charly Records – CR 30165 – UK * 1990: Decal – CD LIK 63 – CD – Europe * 1995: Spalax Music – CD 14945 – CD Digipak – France * 1999: Get Back – GET 557 – Vinyl – Italy * 2008: Charly – SNAP238CD – CD - U

References

External links

* {{Authority control Daevid Allen albums 1971 albums BYG Actuel albums Caroline Records albums Gong (band) albums Charly Records albums