Daevid Allen - Divided Alien Playbax (Disk 1) (2004) {Bananamoon Obscura No. 8}

Subtitled Live at the Mistake in Cleveland and released as volumes eight and nine of Voiceprint's Bananamoon Obscura series, this is not the original Divided Alien Playbax LP released in 1982, but a crudely recorded live performance from August 7, 1980. The sound is thin (audience recording, probably), but the good mastering job makes the album enjoyable, albeit a fan-only item (and a collector's item, too, since all volumes in this series are limited to 1,000 copies). In 1980, Daevid Allen toured America solo, singing, reciting and playing guitar over pre-recorded tapes. These playback tracks were put together from the 1980 New York Gong album About Time (featuring a completely revamped Gong lineup that included Fred Maher and Bill Laswell). The studio tracks have been spliced, remixed and reconfigured into freaky new wave anthems over which Allen sings and throws glissando guitar licks. After a strange "Preface" that obviously served as a warning to the audience that this would not be a Gong show, the first disc proceeds to the entire side one of what would become the original LP -- in a cruder, more off-the-wall rendition. Allen's yearning "Poet for Sale" follows. "I Am a Freud" provides a highlight, thanks to its zany lyrics ("I am a Freud/I am not Jung anymore"). After some more Divided Alien Playbax material, we are treated to one of Allen's Gilbert & Sullivan pastiches/collages (he used those for his occasional radio shows in Australia). This first volume concludes with a poetry section, including "Poems to Pop Stars," among them: Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Bill Bruford and Terry Riley -- all very witty and outrageously delivered.