Shapeshifter (Gong album)

Shapeshifter
Studio album by Gong
Released	1992
Recorded	Sep 1991 - Jul 1992
Genre	Progressive rock, World, Fusion
Length	66:00
Label	Celluloid, Lightyear
Producer	Dino Watkyn, Nigel Gilroy
Gong chronology
Shamal (1976) Shapeshifter (1992) Zero to Infinity (2000)
Alternative cover
Cover of the 1997 re-release

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Shapeshifter is a studio album by the progressive rock band Gong, released in 1992.

With main character Zero the hero, the album continues the Gong mythology, the central part of which was formed with the Radio Gnome Trilogy of albums,^[2] comprising Flying Teapot in 1973, followed by Angel's Egg, 1973, and You in 1974.

“	In episode four in the album Shapeshifter (1992), Zero meets an urban shaman who agrees to take Zero to the next level of awareness on the proviso that Zero spends nine months on an airplane, travelling where he wants but not using money or eating anything other than airline food. Zero eventually dies in Australia under mysterious circumstances.[3][4]	”
	— Gong, Facebook

Releases

Over the years since 1992, there have been different releases of the album with different numbers of tracks. On "the original as it was planned",^[2] the Gong website lists #12: "Là Bas Là Bas" and #13: "I Gotta Donkey" - these are not found on the 1997 Lightyear release. That release^[1] has a closing bonus track titled "Goddess Invocation Om Riff", recorded live at Ynys Witren at summer solstice 1992.^[5]

Personnel

• Daevid Allen: Acoustic, glissando and lewd guitarplay, vocals, midwifery
• Graham Clark: Violins, voices
• Shyamal Maitra: Tablas, ghatam, djembé, darbuka, techno percs, programming. Drums on 13
• Keith Bailey: Bass guitar, vocals: 2, 9
• Didier Malherbe: Bass, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones. WX7, keyboards, dogs, piccolo, flutes
• Pip Pyle: Drums, ten green bottles and scream

Guest personnel

• Charlelie Couture: Vocals: 12
• Tom the Poet: Instant radio poetry during US tour with Daevid: 13
• Loy Ehrlich: Keyboards: 8, Kora: 5
• Mark Robson: Keyboards and sportin' vocals: 22

Additional personnel on bonus track

In the Allmusic review^[1] of the 1997 release and in its Discogs entry,^[5] additional personnel is listed:

• Mike Howlett: Bass
• Peter Kimberley: Vocals
• Steffi Sharpstrings: Guitar
• Gilli Smyth: Space Whisper, Vocals, Whistle (Human)
• Twink: Synthesizer

Track listing

1. "Gnomerique" (Allen) − 0:07
2. "Shapeshifter" (Allen, Malherbe) − 4:53
3. "Hymnalayas" (Allen, Bailey) − 7:38
4. "Dog-o-matic" (Maitra) − 3:00
5. "Spirit With Me" (Allen, Ehrlich) − 2:27
6. "Mr Albert Parkin" (Clark) − 0:17
7. "Raindrop Tablas" (Maitra) − 0:21
8. "Give My Mother a Soul Call" (Yogananda) − 4:30
9. "Heaven's Gate" (Allen, Bailey) − 4:49
10. "Snake Tablas" (Maitra) − 0:34
11. "Loli" (Allen, Clark) − 5:09
12. "Là Bas Là Bas" (Couture, Allen) − 4:06
13. "I Gotta Donkey" (Allen) − 2:12
14. "Can: You Can" (Malherbe) − 9:09
15. "Confiture de Rhubarbier" (Pyle) − 1:18
16. "Parkin Triumphant" (Clark) − 0:06
17. "Longhaired Tablas" (Maitra) − 0:14
18. "Éléphant la Tête" (Malherbe, Maitra) - 4:41
19. "Mother's Gone" (Allen) − 1:12
20. "Éléphant la Cuisse" (Malherbe, Clark) − 3:26
21. "White Doves" (Viraj, Sunsinger) − 5:24
22. "Gnomoutro" (Allen) − 0:27

Bonus track

"Goddess Invocation Om Riff" (Allen, Blake, Hillage, Howlett, Smyth)^[1] − 12:58

References

1. Nickson, Chris (2011). "Shapeshifter - Gong | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
2. Shapeshifter at the Gong website www.planetgong.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
3. Gong on Facebook
4. Daevid Allen: Shapeshifter, product information on the companion book to Gong's album of the same name. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
5. Shapeshifter (Lightyear Entertainment 54200-2, 1997) at Discogs

External links

• Shapeshifter review at www.aural-innovations.com
• Shapeshifter reviews at www.progarchives.com
• Shapeshifter at Discogs (list of releases)