Wild Child

Recorded in Wales on the eve of Mother Gong's 1989 British tour, Wild Child was the result of what Gilli Smyth termed "spontaneous composition" — she would enter the studio poem in hand, discuss the feel and limits of the piece with the musicians, and then turn on the tapes. There were no rehearsals and no retakes — which explains how an album of such apparent complexity was recorded in just a few days. There are moments when a little guidance might have been handy — saxophonist Robert Calvert might well strike the listener as being a little overbearing in places, while both Rob George and Conrad Henderson have their moments of mayhem too. But the opening "Today Is Beautiful" is archetypal Mother Gong, all gradual space whisper and gentle splinters of sound, even as they build toward a portentous peak that in turn drifts into space funk. Elsewhere, "Time" toys with a toe-tapping rhythm, while "Augment" follows the bandmembers' jazz-funk inclinations through the opening instrumental, before Smyth's "Lady" hisses over the merest ghost of a tune. Across the board, then, Wild Child leads your expectations on the merriest of dances, to create what is probably the band's finest album since Fairytales.