Music World

This is not the same Gong that produced the extreme Psych of 'Radio Gnome Invisible’ or 'Flying Teapot’ but rather the later version headed up by Pierre Moerlen and moving into a far more jazzy and funk orientated realm. There are guest appearances by Didier Malherbe, Mike Oldfield and Darryl Way but the music is much less whimsical and more focused and percussive and – lets be honest – much better musically although lacking the extreme sense of originality of Daevid Allen’s original band.

What you are getting here is the three albums that Gong produced for Arista spread across two CDs and with the live album half on one and half on the other but without the sense of wholeness that each album had when they were first released.
The guitar work throughout is influenced by Steve Hillage and Mike Oldfield but the most influential instruments seem to be Vibes and crash cymbals – not surprising since Moerlen was originally a drummer!
But the music is a good example of where Jazz & Fusion were headed in the eighties and in their own right these tracks are highly evolved and very listenable to – just not heart-stoppingly unique as the original Gong were capable of.

Cortesy : http://www.music-news.com/ShowReview.asp?H=Gong-The-Arista-Years-album-review&nReviewID=3574&nType=1&