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

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

leader

Daevid Allen Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966 ...

, 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, Freedom and Gong. History BYG Records was found ...

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 a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

bandmate

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English 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 (born April 26, 1943) is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and po ...

from

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth were an English rock band originally formed in Carlisle in 1967. Principally active between 1967 and 1974, the band re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding members h ...

Maggie Bell Margaret Bell (born 12 January 1945 in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish rock 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 singe ...

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 L ...

and

Gilli Smyth Gillian Mary Smyth (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong, and Planet Gong and released several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong. In Gong, she ...

& 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 progressive rock Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield an ...

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 assoc ...

' 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 '' Whatevershebringswes ...

''. The song "

Memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

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

(with Allen on guitar) and later covered by

Material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologi ...

on their 1982 album ''

One Down ''One Down'' is a 1982 album by the New York based no wave music group Material, produced by Material, recorded by indie producer/engineer Martin Bisi in Brooklyn and musician/engineer Robert Musso in Manhattan. The album sees the band reduced to ...

'', with a lead vocal by a young

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

. "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 ''Live Floating Anarchy 1977'' is a 1978 live album by Planet Gong, a combination of Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth and the band Here & Now. It was recorded in Toulouse on 6 November 1977, apart from the track "Opium for the People" which w ...

'' 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 the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

subsidiary

Caroline Records Caroline Records is a record label originally founded in 1973. Initially 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. ...

, 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 professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

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 in ...

) – 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 progressive 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 included ...

– 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 Eliza Janet Thomson (November 1943 – 24 July 2020), who recorded as Barry St. John, was a Scottish female singer who had a No. 47 hit in the UK Singles Chart in December 1965 with "Come Away Melinda". It was her only solo chart success. Biog ...

– 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 The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed wh ...

, 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 Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

(

) – 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