Customer Reviews

N'existe Pas

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"Daevid Allen - N'Extiste Pas" , or, Daevid Allen - Does Not Exist, is probably one of most deliciously bizarre and sweetly disorientating albums you might ever hear. This is the infamous Gong Guru's extremely abstract yet absolutely riveting follow up to his lambent and pastoral "Now is the Happiest Time of your Life". Recorded largely on home studio equipment yet demonstrating a skill and facility that is strikingly impressive, "N'Existe Pas" is one of Allen's most bizarre and artistically rewarding recordings. A wonderfully unique and utterly eccentric personality, Allen lives in a very multi-dimensional universe and his work illustrates and manifests his 'comings and goings' back and forth between the everyday and the "everywhere". An unapologetic, even defiantly open, mystic, Allen's take on things, while couched in the most disarming charm and wit shows a wisdom and intelligence of almost 'Buddhistic' degree. He might seem like some old, acid-soaked hippy of extreme dimensions, but make no mistake, there is a mind here that is incredibly sharp and enormously penetrative. His insights into things are truly arresting and his understanding of the human mind and all it's endless tricks is tremendously profound.

Allen's career began very far back where he espoused Beat ideals and, of course, got himself involved in experimental Jazz. Later, with the 60's, of course, LSD, THC and the introduction of Eastern philosophies all blended into his experience to pre-condition him, if you will, for a mystical experience that led to a life-long commitment to creating music that seeks to raise the energetic vibrations of those who heard it, subsequently contributing to the elevation of the planet's consciousness. Phew! And god bless him for it. Allen's commitment to his vision has never wavered the slightest in his very long life. His music can be transportingly serene and meditative, "It's A Fine Air For Fliss" and "No Other than the Mother", touching the heart and resonating deeply in the soul, and it can be teeth-grittingly experimental and cacophanous, "The Freedom of the City in a Suitable Box" and "333". There is whit and laughter too, lots of laugher. The absolutely hilarious and yet deadly, to-the-point, "Something Tells Me", where he uproariously but surgically removes every last layer of the ego is one of the highlights of this challenging and completely rewarding album. Not only does he mercilessly skewer all the seemingly limitless self-deceptions we all indulge in, he also skewers himself. "They Say, They Say" looks at how we identify ourselves through what others say of us and in that examination he admits that some of the criticisms that have been levied at him are also true. Not a 'concept' album, per se, at least not in the 70's sense, "N'Existe Pas" is album that is thematically based around the notion of the falsehood of the ego. Through each song, everyone of them different, Allen disproves, if you will, the substantiality and the very self-sufficient existence of what each of us feel each day as the 'self". Heady stuff and yet it is done with such dextrous skill, wit and shocking disorientation. Hilarious and eccentric on first approach, subsequent listenings to "N'Existe Pas" reveals a profundity and compassion that 'blows the mind'.

"N'Existe Pas" is a rolling, tumbling, sometimes chaotic, sometimes blissfully meditative piece of pure wonder. Allen's skill at relaying very abstract, even spiritual thought in an everyday, sometimes violent, sometimes comforting, way is unparalleled anywhere in music. He has pulled the plug more times on a lucrative career in order to keep things simple and honest. His criticisms of the music business machine are as ruthless and vehement as anything expressed by his other highly principled contemporaries, like Roger Waters and Robert Fripp. Indeed, I have often thought of Daevid Allen as Robert Fripp's doppelganger. It could be seen that Gong is the 'flipside' of King Crimson. Allen is the light side to the dark, the 'enlightenment bliss and rigour' to the 'doomy, apocalyptic, misanthropy' of the Crimson King. But both men have shown a species of integrity that is virtually unmatched, for they've frequently pulled the plug on 'success' for the reasons of principal. Both great artists have uncompromising visions and the musical skills and imagination that breaks out into realms clearly hitherto unexplored. Fripp and Allen, as musicians are impeccable. They are prodigiously talented and their compositions stand up as some of the most daring in their field. Allen's work on this album, is a powerful testament to the amazing scope and vision of his entire creativity. One could reasonably say that "N'Existe Pas" is quite possibly the most completely representative of the full span of Daevid Allen's enormous talent and vision.

Daevid Allen and "N'Existe Pas" are not for everyone. Not by a long shot. But if you appreciate or even love, music of stunning originality, daring execution and disorienting experimentation, yet radiating an ineffable light, then this timeless piece of genius is for you.