After their amicable separation from Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth in March, Here & Now spent the balance of 1978 touring, finding time along the way to record their debut album at Foel Studio in Wales, with Dave Anderson producing. Though certainly influenced by Gong, Here & Now was an original outfit, combining the best of space rock with a punk attitude. Their debut album for Charly Records, Give And Take, is proof. "What You See Is What You Are" leads off: melodic and free-spirited, it's bolted onto a tight, solid rhythm before launching off into deep space.

The start of the Here & Now band stretches back to 1974 and the squats of London's Ladbroke Grove. Taking their name from the book Be Here Now by Ram Dass, the band's lineup was as fluid as their improvisations: never recorded and performed for free. A sort of critical mass, however, was reached at Watchfield Free Festival in 1975.