Amid a flurry of lineup changes in the mid-1970s, including the departure of founding members Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, Gong drummer Pierre Moerlen found himself in charge of the band and with two albums remaining on their Virgin recording contract.
Pierre Boulez | Pierre Trudeau | Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Pierre Corneille | Jean-Pierre Rampal | Pierre Loti | Pierre | Pierre Teilhard de Chardin | Jean-Pierre Thiollet | Pierre Puvis de Chavannes | Pierre Cardin | Pierre Bourdieu | Pierre Amoyal | Pierre Huyghe | Pierre Bonnard | Pierre-Constant Budin | Pierre-Joseph Proudhon | Pierre Beaumarchais | Pierre Restany | Pierre Curie | Pierre Louÿs | Pierre Bayle | Marco Pierre White | Jean-Pierre Ponnelle | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Saint-Pierre, Martinique | Saint-Pierre | Pierre Monteux | Pierre Gassendi | Pierre Clémenti |
In 1975, when Allen left Gong, Malherbe along with Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett, Pierre Moerlen, Miquette Giraudy as Gong recorded 1975's Shamal.
The album was recorded just prior to Hillage's departure from the band Gong, and many of the players on this album are from that band: Bassist Mike Howlett, drummer Pierre Moerlen, keyboardist Tim Blake and saxophonist Didier Malherbe.
It has been covered by Serge Gainsbourg, under the title Marabout and with no credit given to Olatunji, on his Gainsbourg percussions LP (1964), by Santana, on their first album (1969), by James Last on his album Voodoo-Party (1971), by Pierre Moerlen's Gong on their Downwind album (1979), and by Fatboy Slim on his album Palookaville (2004).