A Pocket Guide To The Planet Gong
Jonny Greene
Something sadly often missing with successive releases of Gong's 'Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1 - Flying Teapot' are the illustrations, notes, and general gong-foolery which graced the inside of the original gatefold LP sleeve. The inner sleeve artwork of that album - along with the Blue Book insert included in early pressings of the 'Angels Egg' album, and the annotations of the 'You' album lyric sheet - were eagerly perused tablets of Gong-lore. They played a key role in drawing listeners further down the rabbit-hole and becoming more immersed in the mythology of the Planet Gong.
In today's environment of 'free' music and albums attached to the front of magazines we forget (and the younger amongst us never experienced) what a comparatively high percentage of an early 1970's average weekly wage an LP actually cost. Buying an album back then was quite a investment, you wanted something of substance as well as perceived musical quality for your money, and record companies knew this.
The contact address at the bottom of page 15 is 'Blackhill Enterprises Limited, 32 Alexander St, W2' in London - this was the address of Kevin Ayers' management company.
