Customer Reviews

You

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!

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!

I can't think of a better way for Gong to close the Radio Gnome trilogy as You. You shows Gong at their absolute best. Never had I heard Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe, Pierre Moerlin, and Tim Blake play better than they had on this album. This is by far Gong's most instrumental album in their Daevid Allen days, as there is tons of absolutely killer jams. "A Sprinkling of Clouds" is simply one of the best Gong songs I have ever heard, with tons of great, spacy synths, lots of guitar jams, and at the end, killer bamboo flute courtesy of Didier Malherbe. For me this was one of the greatest space rock albums I have ever heard. Unfortunately Daevid Allen, Tim Blake, and Gilli Smyth left after this album leaving the band to turn to a less interesting direction. This album was what people listened to before there were such groups like Ozric Tentacles. If you're a lover of space rock, you should not go without this album.

Gong end their trilogy (Flying Teapot,Angel's Egg are the others) with this beatiful masterpiece. It's a raving sampler of psychedelic dreams, delicate fairytales, superb musicianships and great sounds (it's still amazing how good was the recording and the mixing of this album, considering it was 1974). David Allen, Gilli Smyth and the others will fly you to a sideral dimension where you will meet strange creatures (the Pothead Pixies, who are the core of Gong's mythology), you will enjoy every possible kind of sound, the final result being you hooked forever to Gong music, spending a lot of money buying all their CDs!:-)) If you can, see them live if you're so lucky to get them around....it's been a strange, strange experience....

Gong never was my favorite band, for that they are a bit too silly. Still YOU is the best I've heard from these space cadets. (They were the first or at least one of the first, as I am far too young to give a proper opinion about the matter, to use spacey synth sounds along with acustic instruments). Anyway YOU delivers a real good listen when it comes to the instrumental passages. When it comes to Daevid Allen and his silly singing, well then they have lost me. It's no secret I would have preffered my man Steve H. to do the vocals. Nevertheless YOU is a fine album and a very influential one too.

Not many albums can claim to create new inter-connections between axons and dendrites. This one does. The universe is our home and Gong is our music. It's a very sad reality to think that only hippy types will ever hear this. If only youngsters, teamsters and gangsters would take a few minutes of their lives to listen...

This is the third part of the Radio Gnome trilogy of albums released by Gong in the early to mid 70's. Like George Clinton's creations with Parliament, the concept is starting to lose it's appeal towards the end of the series and the Radio Gnome concept plays very much a back-seat role on this one. It's the sidemen who star on "You", leaving Daevid Allen's short pieces in the shade as they take the space rock developed on "Flying Teapot" and "Angel's Egg" to a new level. The best tracks on this LP are the 3 loooong tracks "Master Builder", "A sprinkling of clouds" and "Isle of Everywhere". These show that the interaction between the musicians had developed to an incredible degree. The jolting but tight rhythms of "Isle of Everywhere" and the slow burning "Sprinkling of Clouds" are worth the price of admission by themselves, and blow almost all other progressive/space/art rock recorded in the 70s to pieces. Pink Floyd? Who cares.

While it lacks the overall cohesion of the other two and drifts off at the end in a dissappointing fade out rather than an exciting finale, "You" is still worth getting. After this Gong became bombastic jazz-rock with the emphasis on the rock. The subtlety of the music was lost and it never came back.

For anyone who gets really hooked on this period of Gong (and it isn't hard believe me) - check out the live recordings "Live Etc", "Live at Sheffield" and the "Post-Modernist Radio BBC sessions" for examples of just how good this band were at their peak. Some of the silliness of the studio recordings is done away with and you are just left with the music, which for some parts is all you need.

Ever read 'The Buddha of Surburbia'? (Excellent book by the way). Well in the televised series in the first episode the cool teenager puts on the second side of this album to play to the nerdy (but also cool) virgin. The choice of music for that scene was perfect as this recording embodies that era. It marks the turning of a more sophisticated Gong - the musicians are more experienced and the whole album is more together and sounds more professional. There are a few wacky numbers but it really shines for its 'other-worldniness' feel. And that second side (the last two tracks for those in the CD revolution) well, 'the buddha' says it all...

One of the best, and most underrated prog rock albums ever. Great guitar and horn/flute soloing, and tight, groove-based rhythm section work. Tim Blake's synth sounds are unreal - possibly the best use of the instrument in a fusion setting. This record does not disapoint. Buy it!