Flying Teapot (Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1)

Gong's third studio album and their first for Virgin, catalogued V2002 next to Tubular Bells at V2001. Giorgio Gomelsky produced, with Simon Heyworth and Tom Newman engineering under the joke credits Simon Sandwitch and Tom Zen, and the sleeve gives the players pseudonyms and invented instruments, such as Allen's aluminium croonguitar. It was the first Gong record with Steve Hillage, who arrived late and, by Allen's account, added some wah-wah rhythm, jazzy chords and a spacey solo on Zero the Hero and the Witch's Spell. In Allen's book Gong Dreaming 2, the title is traced to Bertrand Russell's teapot.

AllMusic gave it four stars out of five, and it was ranked 35th among cosmic rock albums in a Q and Mojo special on prog. Strawberry Bricks suggested it may be the fullest statement of what Gong were about. BYG reissued it in France and Japan in 1977 with new cover art, and Hillage's 2019 box brought the first CD from the original masters.