You

Gong | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 23, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B000000HU1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,316 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kiss like ether, March 20, 2001

By 

loteq (Regensburg/Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You (Audio CD)

Back in the mid-'70s when Pink Floyd and Camel, to name just two popular bands, were offering what could be regarded as space-rock for mainstream audiences -- playing radio-friendly songs which combined slow tempos, atmospheric instrumental passages and cinematic lyrics -- Gong continued to explore the wacky, jazz-influenced side of the genre and remained far to the left of rock's center. With the preceding two albums of the "Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy", "Flying teapot" and "Angel's egg", it became clear that Gong wanted to break away from all sorts of traditional song structures, and "You" takes this concept to its logical conclusion by providing a vehicle for the band's improvisational approach. As a result, "You" is easily the most eccentric, innovative album of this famous trilogy. Having said that, I'm sure that "You" isn't an album for everybody, despite its title: It's sometimes atonal and slightly discordant, lacking in immediately catchy melodies, with sudden saxophone explosions and syncopated rhythms which are somewhat closer to free-jazz than to the music you usually associate with the spacious cover art-work. Just don't expect a pop record like "Dark side of the moon" -- let yourself carry away to "Planet Gong" where everything works outside of the accepted sphere of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo templates. The listening adventure begins with three short tunes which can probably be seen as a counterpart to the album's very advanced second half: While the 1 1/2-minute "Thought for naught" relies on psychedelic flute sounds and ultra-deep vocals by Allen, "A Pothead Pixies' advice" drifts towards jazz-rock (for a lack of better description) with its mesh of vibraphones, sax, and rhythm guitar. After this, however, the music shifts to a completely different gear with the space-age synth textures and Gilli's whispering vocals of "Magick mother..", a track which flows seamlessly into the the faster-paced, rhythm-heavy "Master builder". One thing which is apparent on the aforementioned track and on the longer pieces of this album is that Hillage's solo-centered guitar style is not so much allowed to shine through; the guitar is just another instrument in the mix and Gong seem more concerned with the sonic texture they can get from their instruments. The real highlight of "You" is the 9-minute "A sprinkling.." -- if you like some of the Orb's earlier soundscapes, then this will blow you away. In essence, this is what the mid-'70s Gong were all about. The way the first half of the piece builds is rather similar to electronic music, from the fantastically subtle, melodic layers of synths to the marching rhythm four minutes in, Gong create a fascinating trance music which had much impact on the ambient-house movement of the late-'80s and whose echoes can be heard throughout The Orb's mega-work "Adventures beyond the Ultraworld". Next up, we have the 2 1/2-minute "Perfect mystery", a slight precursor of the dense, vibraphone-heavy jazz-rock Gong would play on "Gazeuse!" and "Expresso". However, this track is inserted at the wrong point into the album because it's framed by two very spacious tracks and tends to ruin the cohesion of "You". Dark atmopherics coupled with a jerky drum/bass combination introduce the 10-minute "The isle..", but the entire piece comes off sounding too anti-climactic unless you regard it as background music. Finally, the 11 1/2-minute "You never.." is a great song to close out the album, featuring several quirky vocal chants by Allen and twisted, constantly turning collages of sound which do not reach the visceral drive of "A sprinkling.." but still have a relaxing, otherworldly quality of their own. In conclusion, the three long pieces make this album really worthwhile whereas the shorter cuts could probably be seen as 'useful and funny bonuses'. Recommended, even though the newly interested fan can pick up many songs of "You" by purchasing one of Gong's various compilation, such as "The very best of..".

Like the band's other early-'70s albums, "You" has gone through several different compact disc reissues. The edition here which is sold by Virgin Records offers the original cover art-work and will be satisfying enough for most fans. In the late '90s, Charly Records released a version with digitally remastered sound, but unfortunately decided to ditch the wonderful cover images in favor of a very bad and pedestrian art-work which caused the record to sell very poorly. A Japanese import version of "You" is also available, featuring digital remastering and restoring the original art-work. And finally, I want to mention the double-disc set "You remixed", perhaps a very interesting alternative for younger people who prefer a framework of modern techno rhythms from the likes of 808 State, The Orb, and Moodswings.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CAVEAT EMPTOR !, November 29, 2004

By 

C. Goetz "notallwhowander" (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You (Audio CD)

I received a copy of Gong's [b]You[/b] a few days ago. This is the 2004 re-master released through Virgin records. It is also a "copy controlled" CD. Now the online CD seller did note this in the product description, but I didn't really know what it meant. Well a "copy controlled" disc means that it isn't fully compatible with every CD player out there.

On the back of the sleeve, in very small print, it warns that the disc might not play back on every car stereo. Well, it doesn't play back on every portable/personal CD player either. It did fine on my home, component, DVD player and on my very new Sony boom-box, but on my four or five year old Phillip's disc player it get drop-outs and cracks at odd intervals through out the disc. Now 90% of my listening is done via my "discman", so I've paid retail for a disc I effectively can't listen to, not to mention how they've choosen to jack the cover art with their "copy control" logos, disclaimers, and rants against on-line file trading.

I'm pretty sure that this was a decision made at Virgin and not one that lay with the band. Now Virgin is free to do what they like with their product, but I'd suggest avoiding stuff with the "copy control" logo/technology on it, especially if you have older equipment. The best I can tell is that they have engineered errors into the sound file that most newer players can detect and fix, but when you try and rip the file, it is inherently corrupted. This is a ridiculous measure, because anyone can stream the music into their computer real-time and get an uncorrupted file. Or use the program Total Recorder, to do the same thing from the sound card. It is at best a speed-bump rather than a barrier, one that has already extremely inconvenienced me, not in trying to copy or trade the music illegally, but from legitimate enjoyment of a disc I purchased in good faith.

Of what I have heard of the content of this disc: it's brilliant!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True magic(k)ians!, September 30, 2005

By 

Michael Washbrooke (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You (Audio CD)

Every now and then there comes along some music that convinces me that when artists collaborate with like-minded musicians, they can actively and intentionally channel, well, something, call it a Muse if you will: Gong's YOU is one of those albums.

When I listen to this album in the right frame of mind I swear that there are whole passages of music that don't appear on the album at other times--maybe that's the Invisible Opera. Maybe that's why they call it "space music"--I dunno!

This album contains some of the finest instrumental work ever laid down: listen to Hillage channeling the Octave Doctors via his axe-work on the track "A Sprinkling of Clouds" and you'll know what I mean. Needless to say, this is truly a magic(k)al album that can permanently change consciousness. Thank you, Captain Capricorn et al!