You Think You Really Know Me

Gary Wilson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 23, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Motel Records
• ASIN: B000063VEC
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,339 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gary, just aa average north sider..., June 11, 2002

By 

Peter Stanko (Endicott, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Think You Really Know Me (Audio CD)

I too grew up with Gary, in fact that's my photo on his cover. The original was black and white and had an eerie feeling about it. However, the Motel folks did a very nice job with the re-issue, some pictures I haven't seen in years.
I can remember sitting around in Gary's and Butch's basement watching Gary recording, mixing on his 4 track...with professional tape of course, you know the $6 buck stuff. Just shows you that you should never give up your dreams, and day job.
I think the success of Gary's music is that while growing up in high school years and those that follow, we all have had experiences that tug on our emotions and have known girls like "Karen", "Cindy" and others...(oh yeah, Cindy was like a mink).
It's probably best Gary never locked up with them because they would have ripped his heart out....but he would have new material for more music.
But back to his CD, bare in mind this was cellar music, in the mid 70's on 4 track tape. Just pure genius for a north sider...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of My All-Time Favorite Albums, May 24, 2002

By 

Frank Doris (East Northport, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Think You Really Know Me (Audio CD)

Although it's true that Gary Wilson might not be everyone's cup of tea (especially if you like your pop music on the conventional side), I have long considered this one of the greatest albums ever recorded, brilliant, utterly unique, funny, moving, bizarre, wonderful! (I was lucky enough to buy an original copy when it first came out, and have been singing its praises ever since.) But most of all, "You Think You Really Know Me" is REAL--a totally honest, non-commercial creation from someone making music the way he wanted to, completely from the heart, as opposed to the music-by-committee mediocrity littering the airwaves today.

I am thrilled that "You Think You Really Know Me" has been re-issued, giving a wider audience the chance to experience the artistic singularity that is Gary Wilson, and his unique musical world of mutated jazz-pop, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Farfisa organ, synthesizer melodies and bass lines, fuzz guitar, sophisticated chord changes, bizarre sonic interludes--all coalescing in demented (or tongue-in-cheek? only Gary knows for sure) odes to make out parties, red lips, groovy girls at the beach, Cindy, Linda, Karen...this feeble description does not even begin to convey the full impact of this decidedly unconventional album. You simply have to hear it to get the feeling.

Most people I know absolutely flip over this record when I play it for them--especially musicians--and I can tell you, it is one of the five albums I would take to a desert island were I forced to save only a handful of treasured recordings. Believe it! It is a record I simply HAVE to play again and again at regular intervals--I love this album!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This music transcends everything, May 22, 2002

By 

Fred Roberts (Hamburg , Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Think You Really Know Me (Audio CD)

A student in the year 2100 studying the music of the latter part of the 20th century may seek to define our musical culture by an analysis of the top ten, poring over countless music reviews or even tallying song titles with the most remakes. Whichever method is chosen, the sheer volume of the task will overwhelm and - quite possibly - bore the student. The music that was exciting and fresh one day became worn out and superceded the next by something slightly different, but not quite different enough to shock or alienate those unwilling to think about the music they hear. Waves and waves of this. By 2100 this body of music may be completely washed away and irrelevant, survived by just a few outstanding exceptions...

My advice to the 22nd century student is to forget about the mass-produced music and concentrate on the anachronisms, the creative monuments left behind by a few brilliant musicians/bands: Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, The Velvet Underground's Velvet Underground & Nico, and whichever other titles belong in the list, Gary Wilson's You Think You Really Know Me is definitely among them. These will stand. Listening to You Think You Really Know Me, the one thing I do know is that I am hearing art. And what strikes me the most is how personal the lyrics are, more personal and honest than we might even like to be with ourselves. I'd love to read what that student in 2100 writes about Gary Wilson's music, because our contemporary mind set may prevent us from fully understanding today.