Track Listing

1. Wingful of Eyes
2. Chandra
3. Bombooji
4. Cat in Clark's Shoes
5. Mandrake
6. Shamal

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70754 in Music
• Released on: 1990-07-23
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Masterful Transition Album!
Shamal is close to my favorite Gong records. Daevid had begged off the band completely and Steve plays on just two songs. The band masterfully begins to develop as a fusion unit. Wingful Of Eyes is a masterpiece in commercial fusion and flows fresh even today! Didier Malherbe executes some Bamboo flute solos on a lot of the record that are truly mystifying. Patrice Lemoine's keyboards are gracefully understated. Mireille Bauer brings the renowned vibes sound we associate the band with to a fuller fruition. It is a wonderful piece of prog rock art with a jazzy funky edge. Yet it is still spacey in the Gong tradition. Pierre Moerlen starts to take over but he hasn't completely done so on this record. His percussion is stupendous and yes, they were trying for some commercial sucess. Heck the legacies of the band had either split or sat in for a session or two. Fusion purist do not like this record because it is not instramental. The space cadets don't like it because it is not spacey enough. In is right inbetween! Perfect spin!

Deep in the heart of Nowhere
"Shamal" is an important transitional album in Gong's convoluted life-span. Founder Daevid Allen just had departed and Steve Hillage (who is only listed as a guest musician here) strove for a solo career after having commercial success with his first solo effort "Fish rising". Finally, Gong became the vehicle of Pierre Moerlen, who led the band into jazz-rock fields with 1976's "Gazeuse!". Although "Shamal" is produced by Nick Mason, the music bears very little resemblance to Pink Floyd. The sound is also quite a step from Gong's preceding, legendary "Radio Gnome Trilogy". The songs are shorter, better structured and more tuneful, coming up with jazzy bass lines, croaky saxophones, and pearling vibraphones. I particularly enjoy Mike Howlett's hesitant talk-singing on "Wingful of eyes", the beautiful, both funny and melancholic "Mandrake", and the Eastern flavor of "Bombouji". "Shamal" is not one of my favorite Gong albums (these are "Camembert electrique", "Downwind", "Shapeshifter", and the remix collection "You remixed"), but it is one of Gong's most accessible and well-thought efforts.

A superb example of lost-in-space music.
I was alway mystified about this album. It was produced by Pink Floyd's drummer, and sold well in Europe but is relatively unknown in the U.S. It is a superb fusion of excellent winds (flute, sax) and percussion (marimba, vibes, drums) overlayed with great '70's synthesizer, moody lyrics and space guitar.