Sleek, dazzling and utterly unexpected. Expresso II is Gong’s 1978 album: a virtuosic jazz-rock album from a band reborn as a fusion powerhouse.

The short version

Released in 1978 on Virgin, Expresso II is Gong at their most virtuosic — and least like the psychedelic band that made the Radio Gnome trilogy. By now founder Daevid Allen had left years earlier, and drummer and composer Pierre Moerlen had steered the group toward gleaming instrumental jazz-fusion, built around a dazzling front line of tuned percussion. Around Moerlen were his brother Benoit on mallets, bassist Hansford Rowe and further percussionists, joined by a stellar cast of guest guitarists including Allan Holdsworth and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor. Tight, melodic and technically breathtaking, it is a high point of British fusion and, for many, the finest album of Gong’s Moerlen era.

A different Gong

This is not the Gong of pot-head pixies and space whispers. After Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth left in the mid-1970s, drummer Pierre Moerlen inherited the band and a contract with Virgin, and reshaped Gong entirely. Out went the surreal psychedelia; in came precise, sophisticated jazz-rock centred on a shimmering web of tuned percussion — vibraphone, marimba, xylophone and glockenspiel, played by Moerlen, his brother Benoit and Mireille Bauer, with Francois Causse on congas. Bassist Hansford Rowe anchored the grooves, and a remarkable roster of guests added colour: fusion guitar virtuoso Allan Holdsworth, the Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor, and violinist Darryl Way of Curved Air. The result was one of the most distinctive fusion sounds of the decade.

The sound

The sound is virtuosic, mallet-driven jazz-rock, cool, precise and gleaming. Layers of interlocking vibraphone, marimba and glockenspiel give the music a bright, chiming quality unlike almost anything else in fusion, while Pierre Moerlen’s crisp, powerful drumming drives it forward. Hansford Rowe’s bass is melodic and muscular, and the guest guitarists add fire: Allan Holdsworth’s liquid, legato lines in particular are a highlight for many listeners. Critics tend to praise the album as accessible yet sophisticated — fusion that dazzles with technique but never forgets to be tuneful and warm.

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The songs

‘Heavy Tune’ opens the album in bold style, an almost hard-rocking piece lifted by lead guitar from Mick Taylor and Allan Holdsworth. ‘Soli’ is a highlight of the second half, a spacious, elegant showcase for Holdsworth’s singing guitar over the band’s shimmering percussion. And ‘Three Blind Mice’ closes the album with a wink, a playful, intricate workout that spins the familiar nursery tune into something dazzlingly complex.

Reception and legacy

Expresso II is often cited as the finest album of Gong’s fusion years, and it won the band a new audience among jazz-rock fans even as it puzzled some who missed the old psychedelia. Its interlocking tuned-percussion sound proved genuinely influential, echoed later in the work of Moerlen’s spin-off band and admired by fusion players ever since. The album also captures a remarkable meeting of talents — a French percussion master, a Rolling Stone and one of fusion’s most revered guitarists on the same record. For listeners open to Gong’s jazzier incarnation, it is a dazzling, rewarding listen.

The verdict

Expresso II is Gong reinvented: virtuosic, mallet-driven jazz-rock, sleek, melodic and endlessly impressive. Come for the punchy ‘Heavy Tune,’ the elegant ‘Soli’ and the playful ‘Three Blind Mice.’ It could hardly be further from the band’s cosmic beginnings — there are no pixies here, only pristine fusion — but taken on its own terms it is a superb record, and essential listening for anyone drawn to the more musicianly, jazz-rock side of the Canterbury family.

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