Avtor: Peter Podbrežnik
Izvajalec: Gong
Založba: Snapper Records
Izid: 2014
Trajanje: 62:07
Ocena: 4.5/5
»I See You« is most likely the last album in the history of the legendary French-British progressive rock band Gong, given that on March 13, 2015, their founding chief Daevid Allen bid farewell to the sad reality of the “earthly dimension.” The cult Australian musician, who as a founding member of Soft Machine back in the late sixties had already helped lay the foundations of progressive rock, left behind a grieving Gong family, which has grown to an impressive number of members over the past decades, along with an extraordinary musical legacy that includes some of the landmark albums of the so-called Canterbury scene. Daevid, the creator of his own psychedelic space-rock mythology, which reached its peak with the »Radio Gnome Invisible« trilogy, stayed remarkably creative until the very end of his days, despite his venerable age and a treacherous illness. As late as March 2014, the same year »I See You« came out, he guested on a solo album produced by his collaborator and esteemed occasional guitarist Andy Bole.
Of the “old guard” of Gong musicians, besides Allen, »I See You« also features longtime bassist Dave Sturt (Jade Warrior), who handled the electronic samples too, while Daevid’s wife Gilli Smyth joins in as a guest musician. Another family member on the album is Daevid’s son, Orlando Monday Allen, who took care of the drums and production and contributed the lead vocals on the track »The Eternal Wheel Spins«. Most of the vocals were of course Daevid’s, while he was kept company on guitar by the Iranian-British guitar oddball Kavus Torabi (Knifeworld, Cardiacs) and the Brazilian guitar master Fabio Golfetti (Violeta de Outono). Ian East took care of the woodwinds convincingly on sax and flute.
Allen didn’t manage to hold on to a lineup as impressive as the one on its predecessor »2032« (2009), where pretty much the classic Gong lineup took part, but the somewhat younger musical talents, led by Torabi and Orlando Allen, rose above all expectations and made an album fitting for the farewell of one of the most colorful characters in the history of progressive rock. In every respect, »I See You« is a classic Gong album, with plenty of psychedelic/space-rock elements and a pleasant pinch of jazz fusion courtesy of the woodwind arrangements.
The title track, which has just the right dose of spaciness, psychedelia and melody, could sit on any classic Gong album from the first half of the seventies, while punchy tracks like the jazzy-psychedelic experiment »Occupy« and »When God Shakes Hands With The Devil« prove that the mischievous gentleman and eternal social critic Allen kept plenty of rebellious spirit right to the end, and he voiced it at every opportunity. One such embodiment of Allen’s character is the juicy, bitter social sermon titled »This Revolution«. The special thing about »Pixielation« is that it appears exclusively on the CD version of the album.
Listening to some of the »I See You« lyrics, it often feels like Daevid already knew, while recording the album a year before his death, that he didn’t have many days left on this world. That’s most obvious on the ten-minute »Thank You«, where he thanks, among others, his wife, his son and all the musicians (»thank you for the music«) he worked with throughout his rich musical career. The closing instrumental »Shakti Yoni & Dingo Virgin«, the last Gong track on which Daevid and Gilli Smyth appear together, is a fitting ambient swan song for the end of an era.
Always lucid and mischievous, the old Gong wizard bid farewell with »I See You«, the final voyage of his flying teapot, in a surprisingly brilliant way, crafting a last musical act that stands right up there with the peaks of his rich discography. It’s very unlikely that the remaining members of the latest Gong lineup will carry on under the same name after Daevid’s death, but they may well stay active under the leadership of Daevid’s son as a new “offshoot” of the sprawling Gong family. The eternal anarchist and utopian Daevid would surely have wanted that too. Meanwhile, he has reached another dimension aboard his flying teapot, and his final destination, planet Gong, which is everything the Earth should be if the voice of reason and the law of universal justice had prevailed on it.
This review is dedicated to the memory of Daevid Allen (1938-2015).
Lineup
Daevid Allen – vocals, guitar
Dave Sturt – bass guitar and computer samples
Oralndo Allen – drums, vocals on “The Eternal Wheel Spins”
Kavus Torabi – guitar
Fabio Golfetti – guitar
Ian East – saxophone, flute
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Gilli Smyth – backing vocals
Production
Orlando Monday Allen
Track List
1. I See You (3:33)
2. Occupy (2:54)
3. When God Shakes Hands with the Devil (5:40)
4. The Eternal Wheel Spins (7:04)
5. Syllabub (4:32)
6. This Revolution (3:50)
7. You See Me (2:40)
8. Zion My T-shirt (6:18)
9. Pixielation (4:42)
10. A Brew of Special Tea (1:22)
11. Thank You (10:35)
12. Shakti Yoni & Dingo Virgin (9:30)
