Daevid Allen – Bananamoon Obscura No. 5: Daevid Allen’s University Of Errors – Live In Chicago (2004)

Official release for one time live bootleg. Daevid and the Errors in full flow, wild and rather wonderful. Tracks 1-11, 13 were recorded at Schubas, Chicago on 12th August 2000, tracks 12, 14 and 15 at the Knitting Factory, New York on August 9th 2000. These CDs are in matt black card covers with silver and white printing. This is the fifth of a 20CD series, each release a limited pressing of 1000 copies only – no more will be pressed.

Daevid Allen was one of the founders of the British progressive rock band the Soft Machine in 1966. After recording just one album with the group, he became the founder/leader of Gong, which he left in 1973 to begin a solo career (though his first solo album, Banana Moon, was released in 1971 while he was still in the group). Allen explored his quirky, folky take on rock throughout the ’70s and ’80s on albums like 1976’s Good Morning and 1983’s Alien in New York. His solo work also included collaborations with underground rock impresario Kramer like 1993’s Who’s Afraid? and 1996’s Hit Men, which was released on Kramer’s Shimmy Disc label. Allen returned in 1999 with Money Doesn’t Make It, followed a year later by Stroking the Tail of the Bird. Nectans Glen also followed in 2000. In 2003 Allen formed a new version of Gong with members of the Japanese collective known as Acid Mothers Temple, as well as playing and releasing material with his California-based band University of Errors. He continues to release numerous live sets and one-off collaborations in limited editions on various independent labels under his own and various group names. A best-of, Man From Gong, which only scratches the surface of his lengthy discography, appeared from Snapper Music in 2006. After a battle with cancer, Allen died in Australia in 13 March 2015 at the age of 77.

~ William Ruhlmann, All Music

Arguably Daevid Allen’s most exciting and vital project since the late ’70s (with the possible exception of the Acid Motherhood Gong lineup), University of Errors has seen Gong’s guru shake down his old pixie props and turn to harsher and harder-rocking material. This live document, recorded during the group’s American tour in 2000, following the release of their second album, shows how raw, powerful and (still) deranged this quartet can be. The studio trickeries are replaced by gusto, pummeling rhythms, and acidic guitar lines. Allen is supported by the wonderful guitarist Josh Pollock and the heavy rhythm section of Michael Clare and Jason Mills. The set list consists mostly of a careful selection of songs off the group’s first two CDs – leaving aside the trippier numbers, with the exception of the heavy floating “Memories.” “Money Doesn’t Make It” and “Involve Me” are given menacing renditions, while “Stoned Innocent Frankenstein” and “Ocean in the Distance” transcend their original versions. “Mystico Fanatico,” already a highlight of the group’s set, would make its studio debut on Ugly.music.4.monica three years later. This concert also includes a good dose of on-stage antics, including a Zappaesque “Progrock Dance Contest” (which actually sounds more surf than prog) leading into a group demolition of King Crimson’s anthemic “21st Century Schizoid Man” – itself only an introduction for the early Gong tune “Fohat Digs Holes in Space,” which already served as an extended-jam feature in (the Allen/Hugh Hopper/Pip Pyle project) Brainville’s set a few years earlier. Sound quality is thin, but quite acceptable. Start with University of Errors’ studio recordings, and if you like what you hear, by all means proceed to this fine fan-targeted document.

~ François Couture, All Music

Track List:

01. Introduction/Innesfree [06:11]
02. Money Doesn’t Make It [06:08]
03. Go Forth Introduction [00:44]
04. Chainstore Chant/Pretty Miss Titty [05:02]
05. Involve Me [04:50]
06. Stoned Innocent Frankenstein [04:51]
07. Iced Tea Overture [03:43]
08. Ocean in the Distance [05:45]
09. Pinky’s Introduction [01:10]
10. Pinky’s Party Song [03:39]
11. Mystico Fanatico [04:33]
12. Memories [03:27]
13. Prog Rock Dance Contest [02:57]
14. 21st Century Prog Rock Man [01:39]
15. Fohat Digs Holes in Space [10:14]

Personnel:
Daevid Allen – Guitar, Vocals
Michael Clare – Bass
Josh Pollock – Guitar, Megaphone, Percussion
Jason Mills – Drums