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Gilli Smyth first came to the attention of the rock buying fraternity through her work with her then lover Daevid Allen in Gong.

Gong came into being almost by accident in the late sixties when Daevid Allen was refused entry back into Britain following European dates with Soft Machine. Deciding to stay in Paris Allen began working with Gilli Smyth and various musicians on what would eventually be recognised as Gong. The first recognised recordings from the band were Magick Brother, Mystic Sister in 1970. Followed by albums such as Camembert Electrique, Flying Teapot, Angels Egg and You. The first three albums released followed the fortunes of Zero The Hero and told the tale of the pothead pixies and was told over the course of the next three albums and became the Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy. This mythological story was extremely popular and the resultant albums sold exceptionally well however following the departure of core members Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and Steve Hillage citing the age old musical differences reason for leaving the band Gong moved in a more jazz oriented direction with the addition of Allan Holdsworth alongside Pierre Moerlen and Didier Malherbe. Allen, Smyth and Hillage have all recorded as solo artists and Smyth subsequently formed the offshoot Mother Gong.

Mother Gong's first album Mother was released in 1978 and the band found Gilli Smyth collaborating with many musicians including Harry Williamson and various friends and family including at various times Harry Williamson, Daevid Allen, Hugh Hopper and David Jackson.

The musicians on this particular recording are mainly Australian and include Rob Calvert, Rob George and Conrad Henderson. The album was recorded over a period of a few days at a studio in Wales just prior to the bands 1989 UK tour and is interesting for the way in which it was created. The band would be presented with Gilli's poetic ideas and then following a short discussion with the band concerning the parameters of the songs the tapes would roll. This spontaneous composition method works incredibly well on this particular recording from what is widely considered to be the classic line up of Mother Gong.