Daevid Allen - Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life (1977)

Artista: Daevid Allen

Álbum: Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life
Año: 1977
Género: Rock progresivo psicodélico / Canterbury
Duración: 45:55
Nacionalidad: Australia / Inglaterra

Lista de Temas:
1. Flamenco Zero
2. Why Do We Treat Ourselves Like We Do?
3. Tally & Orlando Meet The Cockpot Pixie
4. See You On The Moontower
5. Poet For Sale
6. Crocodile Nonsens Poem
7. Only Make Love If You Want To
8. I Am
9. Deya Goddess

Alineación:
- Daevid Allen / guitar, vocals
- Victor Peraino / synthesizer
- Xaver Riba / violin (4)
- Vera Blum / violin (2)
- Marianne Oberascher / harp (8)
- Pepsi Milan / tablas
- Juan Biblioni / tablas
- Sam Gopal / tablas

Otro aporte de Alberto, esta ves es el segundo disco solista de Daevid Allen, un disco un tanto controversial porque si bien para algunos es un gran trabajo otro lo llegan a casi aborrecer. En todo caso no es un disco por el que te puedas guiar por los comentarios de terceros, sino que lo debes escuchar para saber si te gusta. Eso sí, les dejo los mentarios que encuentro que les digo que no son muchos, pero todos dicen algo distinto, así que no les den mucha bola y escuchen por ustedes mismos.

The follow-up to Good Morning is another tranquil, organic outing by Allen that re-introduces his imaginary green hero, Zero, from the Gong trilogy. Allen is his usual playful self, although by this time the flying teapot/pothead pixie fixation was getting a little stale. No matter, since the music wafts along at a casual pace, with unusual sounds such as tablas by Sam Gopal and harp by Marianne Oberascher.

Peter Kurtz

For my money, this is Daevid Allen's most enjoyable (semi-) acoustic album. It is so endearing that I recommend it unreservedly to everyone who enjoys Daevid's singing on (say) ANGEL'S EGG's original B-side. Tracks like 'Why do we treat ourselves like we do' and 'Only make love if you want to' are intimate and wistful; they also have lovely melodies, and you'll feel as if Daevid were right next to you, warbling away and playing his acoustic guitar. Somehow, nothing on GOOD MORNING (which was distributed more widely than HAPPIEST TIME) touches me as deeply as these particular two tracks. They really show you Mr. Allen's gentlest side.
Most of the other compositions are equally enjoyable. 'Tally and Orlando...' is a string synthesizer-driven waltz, during which Daevid takes a ride in a real flying teapot with two of his children (or grandchildren?) It ends delightfully, with the kids chanting: 'Daevid must be joking!' Exactly so. 'See you on the Moontower' is Daevid and his electric guitar (with lots of echo on his voice) in rockabilly mood, but without bass or drums. 'Poet for Sale' features Daevid reciting a satiric poem in protest against the commercial exploitation of artists. On the album's original B-side, the most ambitious piece was 'I Am', a wonderfully dreamy piece of Ambient music (let's just not call it 'New Age', O.K.?) with lots of mellow synths, harp, glissando guitar, and the somehow unbearably moving sound of a donkey braying in Deya, Mallorca, where this album was recorded.
To my regret, I haven't heard this album for several decades, since I've never found a CD release, but I played it to death in the late 1970s and vividly remember all the music I've described above. The only track I can't recall clearly is the final one, 'Deya Goddess'. I seem to remember it was a synthesizer-saturated ballad. Let's just hope HAPPIEST TIME will be remixed and re-released as soon as possible, so we can all check it out for ourselves!

Fuxi

Depois de sete faixas envoltas na mesma aura acústica que caracterizou o primeiro disco de Daevid Allen com os Euterpe, Now is the Happiest Time of Your Life oferece-nos I Am (incursão ambiental de 11 minutos que nos guia pelas paisagens fascinantes do nunca esquecido planeta Gong) e Deya Goddess (magnífica canção psicadélica que vai copiar o sector rítmico a Ali Akbar Khan). E se o álbum não vale apenas por estas duas últimas faixas, elas acabam por valer por todo o álbum. Excelente esforço de Allen, mas inconsistente, e muito, muito longe do nível de qualidade dos Gong pré-1976 e mesmo de Banana Moon.

Amstad

Daevid Allen solo is on ProgArchives!? Great! Well, to start with this, his best as far as what I have heard. This album has an incredibly strange vibe to it, more so a Gong album without the Jazz! Really! The aura is eerie and strange at times, with a cheap sounding synth riding throughout...but the musical arrangements are incredible at times. Basically I always find myselrf skipping past a good chunk of the album, not to say it is bad, it just never really fits my tastes for the time being.
The album begins with actual constructed song, and the greatness of Flamenco ZerO and Why Do We Treat Ourselves..., which are two of my favorite tracks ever, especially the latter. The Tally & Orlando bit is interesting, but very strange at the same time, and not so much an enjoyable track to go back to after a few listens. From See You... to I Am I usually do not recall much, and it is very much a mixed bag, from the strange aura synth to just rockish stuff like See You on the MoonTower. These tracks never seem to grip me as much, but I do enjoy listening to the album in full for it does give a full effect in the end.
Deya Goddess absolutely stunned me when I heard it. The song is the climax of the album and is Allen's best song I can recall hearing of all his albums. Again, the vibe has a sourness to it and a certain darkness mood, but in the end it really is a bright and positive song, with the Now is the happiest time of your life run getting stuck in your head on first listen. This song really put the kick back in this album for me, and whenever I go back to this I always listen to this track as soon as possible, I just love it!
Fans of Gong may find this a little harder to swallow, it doesn't have the jazz greatness backing it, and is really just something like if Daevid and Gilli worked together. Very spacy, very atmospheric and moody. The album has some incredible moments and melodies, though, and this brings it to a high status among opther albums by him.

Brian Travers

The third solo album from Daevid Allen is a semi-accoustic album. The accoustic songs are simple and children-rhymes like. Some interaction with some audience about Gong's Flying Teopot trilogy introduces us to ten minutes of interaction with small children. This may be a good acid trip idea. But it does not work when listening to it in a sofa and wide awake, trying to penetrate this album. A penetration that does not come up with much beef.
So......... The final track, Deya Goddess, is a good track though with it's Indian music feel. The same goes for the two opening tracks where we are treated to a good flamenco trip and then a good accoustic song called Why Do We Treat Ourselves Like We Do. It has some good flamenco too. The three following tracks Tally & Orlando Meet The Cockpot Pixie, See You On The Moontower and Poet For Sale makes me cringe. These self indulgent tracks does not work at all on a record. They are in short children rhymes and best reserved for kindergartens. The rest of the album is a mix of nodding along with a guitar and some pointless electro collage stuff.
Daevid Allen's mad ramblings is not for me, I am afraid.

toroddfuglesteg

Daevid Allen's followup to Good Morning! is a much less ambitious affair. Dispensing with the services of the Gong guest stars and the unique sound of Euterpe from the previous album, the album is more acoustic focused, and suffers from being weighed down with muddled, substandard material. I suspect many listeners will switch off at Tally & Orlando Meet The Cockpot Pixie, an overlong and tedious track in which (to a repetitive and dull musical backing) Allen tries to explain the story of Radio Gnome Invisible to his son Orlando (who was but a small child at the time this came out). The overall impression given is of listening in to a touching family moment which didn't really need to be shared with the wider world.
The rest of the album sees Allen grinding on with his usual lyrical preoccupations with New Age spirituality and trying to convince people to be less cruel to each other, only the wit of the Gong days and the wisdom of the better lyrics on Good Morning! (such as Wise Man In Your Heart) appear absent. And with the musical backing as limp as it is, there's very little reason left to bother with this one.

W. Arthur

Following his departure from Gong, the legendary British ensemble he formed and led for many years, singer / guitarist / songwriter Daevid Allen started his solo career with the release of the "Good Morning" album, soon to be followed by this, his 2nd solo recording. It was also recorded at his home studio in Mallorca, accompanied by the Spanish group Euterpe and his faithful companion Gilli Smyth. This and its predecessor set the direction for Allen's future work, which would be a unique cross-genre amalgam of Psychedelia, Ambient, Jazz and everything else, which is always uniquely Daevid Allen. A great trip down the memory lane!

Jazzis

Australian born Daevid Allen has created heaps of remarkable music. His musical inventions are overwhelming and his different collaborations wide. Where do you look for his true voice? Maybe here. This is a gentle album where he has succeeded exceptionally well. The music is mostly acoustic, with tabla and harmonic guitars, harps and mellow synths. The voice of Daevid Allen turns softly across space in different frequencies, usually like a mild Greek demigod. His words, his talking and singing are sweetly poetic and sometimes political with an ironic eyebrow. The music is some kind of naïve but yet progressive folk with ambient parts. I think of the paintings by Henri Rousseau. In the arts this movement often was called neo-primitivism, a perfect description for the music of Daevid Allen.

Jack Orion

Not every song on the album is equally compelling, but these couple of songs which stand out may become your favorites for a long time. I mean especially "Why Do We Treat Ourselves Like We Do?" and "Poet For Sale". I could listen to them for hours. There are also many other pretty parts on the album, for instance, a charming dialogue between grown-up and children in "Tally & Orlando Meet The Cockpot Pixie" or fabulous atmosphere in "Deya Goddess". It's also hard not to like all these intelligent and sung in 'full of goodness'-manner lyrics. Good album.

Henry Wotton

Intriguing solo album from Daevid. He’s accompanied here by two Spanish flamenco guitarists, a couple of violinists, hand-drummer Sam Gopal and synthesist Victor Peranio (formerly of Kingdom Come). As you can guess, the sound on this album is quite odd. The content is quite strange, too, as on the rather jaw-droppingly angry spoken-word piece “Poet For Sale.” Or the even more jaw-dropping “Tally & Orlando Meet the Cockpot Pixie,” featuring Daevid’s two young children as he renders the Gong trilogy as a children’s fairytale.
That said, there’s some very affecting stuff here. “Why Do We Treat Ourselves Like We Do?” is almost heartbreaking. “Deya Goddess” is spiritually uplifting, and acts as a splendid coda to the ravishing glissando guitar workout “I Am.” Overall, it’s a very varied album from Daevid and one of my favourites.
Note that the Tapioca vinyl has a back cover based on hand-drawn art from Daevid in French, while the Spalax CD has a back cover of different (but similar-looking) hand-drawn art from Daevid in English.

Progbear