Magick Brother

Gong's first studio album was recorded in Paris in September and October 1969 and released in March 1970 on BYG Actuel. The bassist Christian Tritsch was not ready in time, so Daevid Allen played bass himself, and a photo of him recording the bass parts is on the cover. The jazz contrabass players Earl Freeman and Barre Phillips, who were recording for the label at the same time, played on three tracks, and the violinist Dieter Gewissler added free bowed contrabass on two.

Allen wrote all the songs but they were credited to Gilli Smyth for legal reasons. The sleeves were printed before the final order and titles were settled, so Rational Anthem, also called Change the World, and Glad To Sad To Say were listed the wrong way round. The band's first gig, at the Festival d'Amougies in Belgium on 27 October 1969 with Frank Zappa as compere, fell in the same weeks, though Planet Gong dates it to 1968.