Gong 

I See You
(Madfish) 

4/5 

THE mythical Gong are still going strong almost 50 years since they were first formed. Theirs is a world dominated by pot-head pixies, flying teapots and Planet Gong, from which the band receive Zen-like messages from the planet’s pirate radio gnome. 

On their current tour they’ve been forced to leave behind founding member David Allen due to illness but he is still a dominant presence here. None of the imaginative spirit has been lost on this superb return to the psychedelic jazz-fusion that has laid the groundwork and inspired almost every space-rock band that followed such as Ozric Tentacles. 

Enriched by Allen’s glissando guitar, Gong’s latest assortment of hippies take us on a journey of catchy jazz-tinged riffs (Occupy) and 10-minute jams (Thank You), without neglecting their trademark humour (Pixielation). Recommended.

Will Stone

Ian Prowse

Who Loves Ya Baby
(Independent Records Ltd)

5/5

THE “SCOUSE Springsteen” Ian Prowse emphatically lives up to that sobriquet on this solo outing.

Prowse is best known for his work with Amsterdam and Pele and he’s the writer of Does This Train Stop On Merseyside, the legendary paean to the “city state.”

Liverpool also features here, with a powerful take on the ugly strain of racism in the city on The Murder of Charles Wootton. 

There are songs too on imperial plunder, Holocaust denial, in defence of the NHS and a timely reminder of WWI’s senseless slaughter on Lest We Forget. 

I Did It For Love, a tribute to Che Guevara and a homage to Gil Scott Heron, typifies the music’s potent mix of badass rock and great melodic hooks. There’s some haunting  Celtic soul in the mix elsewhere, topped by Prowse’s impassioned and distinctive delivery. Great.

Len Phelan 

Darren Hayman 

Chants For Socialists
(Wiaiwya)

4/5

A WHILE ago Darren Hayman, former frontman of British indie rock band Hefner, came across the leaflet Chants For Socialists by William Morris.

Putting that visionary’s words to music, Hayman has created a warm and beautiful album of comforting agitation. From the purely choral Awake London Lads to the chiming pop vocals and guitar of May Day 1894, the album feels like it is time-travelling between the 19th and 21st centuries.

With the songs recorded in Morris’s former homes and including a choir of local people, it’s very much a communal project. Small scale and intimate, the album concludes with the stately anarchist singalong No Master High Or Low. The Arts and Crafts hero would  have approved, no doubt. 

Released into a musical landscape with very few overtly political bands, hopefully Chants For Socialists will draw new generations to the work of Morris.

Ian Sinclair