Stroking The Tail Of The Bird Part 1 & 2 (1999)

De oervader aller Gong-verschijningsvormen en twee Gong-familieleden leggen in de hoestekst uit dat deze ambienteske werken een meditatieve functie beogen te hebben, waardoor men zowel muzikaal als intentioneel dicht tegen de New Age-gedachte aanschurkt. "A strictly ambient, drummerless set, this 1990-album is like an hours' worth of purified essence of Gong. Recorded by Daevid Allen on his trademark glissando guitar with former Gong associates Williamson on keyboards and Smyth on wordless "space whisper" vocals, these lengthy tracks are pure ambience, with minimalist layers of sound rippling through an otherwise empty soundscape. In other words, think Brian Eno, not the Orb, but next to this ultra-sparse, at times near-silence, even "Music for Airports" or "Thursday Afternoon" sound busy. Most impressively, this 1999-reissue adds a previously unreleased 10-minute meditation ("Deep Sea") that was recorded in 1976(!), but sounds like it came from these very sessions." (Stewart Mason, Allmusic; 4 uit 5 sterren)