Description
Daevid Allen / Mother Gong – Australia Aquaria: She / Wild Child – Double Compact Discs
Daevid Allen / Mother Gong – Australia Aquaria: She / Wild Child is a richly imaginative and spiritually infused album that brings together the poetic mysticism of Gilli Smyth’s Mother Gong and the cosmic eccentricity of Daevid Allen, co-founder of Gong and a seminal figure in psychedelic and space rock. Released in 1991, this album plays like a mythic journey through sound, story, and sacred archetypes, drawing on feminist mythology, dream logic, ecological consciousness, and cosmic jazz-rock improvisation.
The album is divided into two conceptual halves:
“She”, a more ambient, spoken-word-driven suite centered around divine feminine themes,
and “Wild Child”, which brings a more dynamic and groove-oriented energy, though still wrapped in mysticism and psychedelic textures.
“She”
This portion is built around Gilli Smyth’s spoken word poetry, which is dreamy, sensual, and steeped in mythic symbolism. Smyth invokes figures from Goddess mythology and Gaia-like Earth spirituality, layered over atmospheric synths, flutes, drones, and subtle percussive textures. The mood here is meditative and inward, aligning more with ambient and new age aesthetics than with conventional rock. It’s an exploration of feminine identity and empowerment, filtered through Smyth’s unique blend of beat poetry, trance-like incantation, and cosmic storytelling.
“Wild Child”
This suite shifts the energy. Here, Daevid Allen’s presence becomes more pronounced, with surreal vocals, guitar work, and a tone that veers into psychedelic funk, space rock, and experimental jazz. The music is still spacious and exploratory, but there’s more movement and rhythmic momentum, suggesting an untamed, ecstatic energy—the “wild child” archetype set free. It’s a celebration of creative chaos, full of whimsical yet deeply intentional layers of sound and meaning. Tracks are often extended, with looping grooves, saxophone flourishes, and mantra-like lyrical repetitions.
Aquaria: She / Wild Child is deeply tied to Australia’s elemental imagery—water, desert, ancient lands—and this grounding in the natural world reinforces its ecological and spiritual themes. It also reflects both artists’ interest in alternative culture, communal living, and metaphysical exploration. The use of non-Western scales, ritualistic rhythms, and environmental field sounds evokes a psycho-geographic listening experience—not so much a concert as a sonic ritual or initiatory journey.
This album won’t appeal to those looking for straightforward song structures or hooks. Instead, it’s best appreciated by fans of:
Gong and Planet Gong,
psychedelic improvisational music,
spoken word with experimental backing,
and those interested in the spiritual-feminist counterculture of the ’70s and ’80s extended into the early ’90s.
Australia Aquaria: She / Wild Child is an album that exists outside of time and trend, rooted in Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth’s unique cosmic philosophy. It’s part performance art, part spiritual ceremony, and part sound collage—an invitation to dissolve boundaries between self, sound, and nature. Deeply personal, sometimes challenging, and always imaginative, it stands as a late-period gem in the Gong extended universe, particularly for those interested in the mythic, mystical, and mind-expanding side of progressive music.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Wild Child
Time
Augment / Lady
Today Is Beautiful
Crazy Town / Fire
We Women
Child
Superboots
Room I
Room II
Aere
Australia Aquaria: SHE
Gaia
Peaceful Warrior
Australia Aquaria
She
Slave Queen
Voice Of OM
Voice Of OM Dub
