Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life

The follow-up to Good Morning, another tranquil, organic outing by Daevid Allen that re-introduces his imaginary green hero, Zero, from the Gong trilogy. The music on the album wafts along at a casual pace, with unusual sounds such as tabla by Sam Gopal and harp by Marianne Oberascher. Despite his seeming frivolity, Allen has always had a vein of counterculture protest running through his music, and this comes to fruition in ‘Poet For Sale’, a song that Allen directs with venom toward the business end of music. ‘Only Make Love If You Want To’ is a hypnotic piece driven by a carousel-sounding synthesizer and Allen’s sly vocals. ‘I Am’ is an 11-minute musical rendering of a Daevid Allen morning meditation from his home in Deya, Majorca. This tune harkens to the spacey side of Gong, with Allen’s patented glissando guitar creating a serene, meditative state. The record closes with the acoustic ‘Deya Goddess’, dedicated to the moon goddess Diana. It’s an appropriate coda to Now Is the Happiest Time Of Your Life, one of the most pleasant records to spring from the fertile mind of rock’s oldest and most overlooked hippie poet.

Tracklist: 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 Nonsense Poem 7. Only Make Love If You Want To 8. I Am 9. Deya Goddess