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Gong - Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 3 - You CD (album) cover

RADIO GNOME INVISIBLE VOL. 3 - YOU

Gong

 

Canterbury Scene

4.26 | 1147 ratings

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Flucktrot
Prog Reviewer
4 stars For the longest time, Gong made me wonder why they could rock out so well and simultaneously leave large breaks in their albums consisting of gibberish, nonsense, and half-baked ideas.

Then I stopped caring and only listened to the parts I liked, which is when things got much better for me in all things Gong.

What I like: Master Builder, A Sprinkling of Clouds, Isle of Everywhere. These are great songs--no doubt about it. Regarding Master Builder, I still can't figure out what time it is in, because it just cooks along and it's hard to spend time counting when there are great jams to be heard! Sprinkling took some time to grow on me, but it is a fantastic build to a totally unrestrained jam from Hillage and plenty of dissonant choir ooohs and mellotron. Isle is the ultimate chill jam, with subtle time variations in 4, 6 and 7, but progressing ever so noticeably. I sometimes find myself having trouble waiting for the part toward the end where Hillage lets it rip, but then I always remember the great sax I'm missing along the way.

These songs have a great restrained, yet crazy feel, with a wonderfully unique combination of synth dones, flutters, choirs and other effects, all set to excellent percussion and a nice mix of horns and winds--even some xylophone in there I think! Great, creative stuff!

The other songs are more goofy, and I have little good to say about them.

1974. Consider how good and unique this all sounds, all without today's fancy equipment. This sound took a big roster of players, and it was worth it. Maybe they simply didn't have enough energy to fill a whole album of great music. Regardless, You is a keeper for the highlights, and also a non-masterpiece for the rest.

Flucktrot | 4/5 |

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