or better or worse, we here at Stylus, in all of our autocratic consumer-crit greed, are slaves to timeliness. A record over six months old is often discarded, deemed too old for publication, a relic in the internet age. That's why each week at Stylus, one writer takes a look at an album with the benefit of time. Whether it has been unjustly ignored, unfairly lauded, or misunderstood in some fundamental way, we aim with On Second Thought to provide a fresh look at albums that need it.

Hey there mister n’ missy electronica. Put down the glow sticks and listen up. I am going to take you to a place where space and time meet, a spot where the moon and stars achieve cosmic orgasm. Put that cash away pipsqueak, I am not dealing the X. I am here to talk about the band Gong.

Absolutely the Best of Gong has recently been compiled and I am telling you to take some time and listen to this. Sure, Gong was a bunch of pot smoking longhaired hippies and yeah, they get lumped with all that fantasiepoo, Richard Dean artwork inspired progressive rock stuff, but Gong is cool. They always have been- from the early 70’s on. Gong, along with Neu!, Can, Eno and a few others, just might be the godfathers of this whole electronic revolution. Take a good listen to the Orb or The Shaman. Gong guitarist Steve Hillage has appeared on Orb releases as well as The Shaman and currently has his own group System 7 going, so there! A good chunk of the whole ambient acid house movement has used Gong furthest out moments to great effect.

The 2CD set, Absolutely the Best of Gong, which spans from ’69 to ’74, gathers up many of the magic moments created by the band led by former Soft Machine guitarist Daevid Allen and his wife Gilli Smyth. Sounding not unlike Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, the group released a series of classic albums- Camembert Electrique, Flying Teapot, Angels Egg, and You. All are worth seeking.

Songs like "The Pot Head Pixies", "Wet Cheese Delirium", and "Mister Long Shank: O Mother I Am Your Fantasy" are just a few examples of the sick sense of humor that went along with the free jazz styled textured cacophony of guitars, keys, sax, flute and manic drums that have you blasting off into interplanetary orbit soon after the first listen.

Did you get all that technobrat? Good, now feel the vibe. It's a feeling in the air, as the Pot Head Pixies say. Forget about the arrival. It's the journey that matters.