Mother Gong Tree in Fish Voiceprint VP281CD || 03.5.2004 ||£10.64  $ € ¥  + p+p +tax Click for big pic Radically re-compiled re-issue of an originally limited US only CD This 're-issue' has been so comprehensively re-built that it is in fact a new Mother Gong album and should have warrented a new title. Only 5 of the 17 tracks on the original 'limited' edition 'Tree in Fish' CD released in 1994 on the US Tapestry label appear on this release, these are (marked TIF below). As Gilli writes in the liner notes the line-up that recorded the tracks on this CD was the most long-lived of Mother Gong bands. They existed from 1987-1994 releasing several albums including one of the best, 'Wild Child'. This lengthy working relationship and the musical understanding it created is very evident on this CD, where most of the tracks are the result of "spontaneous composition", as they call it - improvisation to the rest of us. All this makes for a wonderfully flowing and rather spacey CD which is very good indeed. The 8 page booklet contains the lyrics and some previously unseen photographs. I must admit that I would have liked to have seen more detailed information on the actual tracks themselves - where and when they were recorded etc. The core audience for this release will probably already be Mother Gong devotees, although it's easily good enough to deserve a wider public, and they will want to know such things. 'Greenfields' comes from the 1991 Glastonbury Festival and features Didier Malherbe and Shaymal Maîtra. 'Faces' is with Thom the Poet. 'Medicine Woman' is with Kangaroo Moon recorded at the Bellingen Festival in Australia. Track Listing: Total Runtime 50.35 Simple 1 1.27 Four Horsemen 2.37 Buddha's Birthday 3.02 Faces 3.01 Cafe Reflections 3.02 (Smyth, Williamson, Calvert, George) TIF The House is Not the Same 4.14 (Lyrics:Henry Hormal, Music:Smyth, Williamson, Calvert, George) TIF Tree II 4.21 Greenfields 4.58 Willful Housewife 3.40 (Smyth, Williamson, Calvert) TIF Song of Skye 5.39 Simple 2 0.40 Short edit..La Dea Madri 1.03 She Smiled 2.39 (Smyth, Williamson, Calvert, George) TIF Crying 2.02 (Smyth, Williamson, Calvert) TIF Medicine Woman 1.55 Aere 6.40 Musicians: Robert Calvert: Saxophone & Philosophy Robert George: Drums & Repercussions Conrad Henderson: Basses Gilli Smyth: Words, Vocals Harry Williamson: Keys, Guitars, Studio