Various Jazz Actuel Snapper SNAJ 707 CD || 00.00.2002 || £13.62  $ € ¥  + p+p +tax Click for big pic 3CD box set of avant garde/free jazz/psychedelia From the BYG/Actuel catalogue 1969-71 inc. Gong & Daevid Allen, this lovely little box set demonstrates just what an eclectic and adventurous the BYG/Actuel label was in the late '60s and early '70s. The three individually slip-cased CDs, along with a well written 36 page illustrated booklet by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, come housed in a sturdy CD-sized box. The tracks chosen touch on all areas of the wide ranging BYG catalogue - there is bound to be music here that will open your ears up! The direct Gong Family connections here are 'Memories' from Daevid's 1970 Bananamoon LP and the Gong Camembert Electric track (although there are other hidden connections as well). I'm sure most of you have both those albums, but don't let that make you pass up this great value collection - there are so many other intriguing musics to investigate. The proto PHP (note the propeller!) on the cover of the box is a young Don Cherry. Note: Unfortunately the musicians can expect no royalties on sales or publishing from this release. The only way they benefit in any way from sales this CD is if you buy it here. Track Listing: CD One: Total Runtime 79.41 Sunny Murray - Red Cross 7.49 Archie Shepp - Blasé 10.25 Steve Lacey - Note 4.27 Daevid Allen - Memories 3.36 Sonny Sharrock - Soon 7.53 Grachan Moncur III - Exploration 10.40 Clifford Thornton - Pan-African Festival 7.48 Jacques Coursil - Black Suite, pt 2 (excerpt) 6.30 Dave Burrell - Echo 20.14 CD Two: Total Runtime 69.25 Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra - The Utter-Nots 11.18 Arthur Jones - Brother B 7.23 Burton Greene Ensemble - From "Out Of Bartok" 5.06 Art Emsemble Of Chicago - Get In Line 5.42 Andrew Cyrille - Pioneering 4.33 Paul Bley - Ramblin' 5.45 Frank Wright - One For John/China pt 2 16.40 Acting Trio - Cello Discordato No.9 7.40 Dewey Redman - Tarik 4.47 CD Three: Total Runtime 75.35 Don Cherry - Teo-Teo-Can (excerpt) 4.16 Anthony Braxton - B-Xo NO147a (excerpt) 6.24 Jimmy Lyons - Premonitions 7.35 Claude Delcloo/Arthur Jones - Africanasia, pt1 (excerpt) 6.08 Musica Elettronica Viva - The Sound Pool. pt1A 3.42 Kenneth Terroade - Blessing 17.55 Gong - Squeezing Sponges Over Policemen's Heads/Foghat Digs Holes In Space 6.34 Alan Silva & The Celestial Communication Orchestra - The Seasons, pt6 22.30 Dewey Redman - Tarik 4.47