THE MASTER BUILDERS

Such has been the long and frequently bewildering career of Gong that it can be as difficult for the aficionado as it is for the novice to agree on where to start when to comes to their epic canon of work. Anarchic, improvisational and sometimes just plain silly, the band have been through so many incarnations as to qualify for its own TARDIS, while the many offshoots and side-projects that make up the Gong Family could keep a genealogist busy for several generations.

And yet for all that, Gong are one of those bands that occasionally slip down the back of the historical sofa. While they may not be mentioned in the same breath as some of prog’s more heavyweight names, their influence is arguably more keenly felt in the subsequent generations of outlier bands to have followed in their wake. Take Ozric Tentacles, another ever-evolving unit with a taste for the outer limits, who certainly owe a doff of the pixie hat to Gong since starting out in the early 80s.