RADIO GNOME INVISIBLE VOL. 3 - YOU

Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 3 - You is the sixth full-length studio album by psychadelic jazz/ rock act Gong and the third and last in the Radio Gnome Invisible triology. It´s also the last of the Daevid Allen era Gong albums. I enjoyed the two predecessors in the Radio Gnome Invisible triology Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 1 - Flying Teapot (1973) and Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 2 - Angel's Egg (1973) but found neither of them truly excellent. So I was really hoping for something a bit more interesting with this last album in the triology. And I can say that Radio Gnome Invisible Vol. 3 - You is by far the best album out the three.

The music is still psychadelic/ spacy jazz/ rock with a weird humour in the lyric department. Sort of like Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention meets Hawkwind on a day when they decided to play jazz/ rock. There´s some really excellent sax and flute playing, a tight and powerful rythm section, lots of spacy synth sounds and some fitting stoned vocals. This description of the music would also have fitted the two predecessors but this time it´s like everything works much better. The compositions are generally much more focused than was the case on the rather incohesive predecessors.

The album kicks of with three short psychadelic tracks and I was beginning to get worried that Gong would continue for the rest of the album like this ( not that those songs are bad they just not excellent) when the fourth song Master Builder kicks in and takes my breath away. Wow what a powerful psychadelic jazz/ rock song. A sprinkling of clouds is next and it´s a 8:42 minute long song that builds to a climax. Perfect mystery is a nice little psychadelic pop tune with slight avant garde rock leanings not unlike what Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention could cook up sometimes. That song serves as a breather before the two ending songs The Isle of Everywhere and You Never Blow yr trip Forever which clocks in at 10:21 minutes and 11:24 minutes respectably. The two songs actually seque into each other to form a more than 20 minute long psychadelic jazz/ rock trip and I don´t hesitate to say that this part of the album is the highlight for me along with Master Builder. Powerful music to my ears. The silly lyrics are put a bit in the background on this final album in the triology and it suits the music very well that there´s more focus on the instrumental parts instead of the vocal parts.

The musicianship is outstanding. Great guitar, flute, sax and synth soloing and that extremely powerful rythm section.

The production is really a success IMO. Warm yet edgy when that is needed.

From what I had read about this album before I listened to it, I was expecting it to be the best album by the Daevid Allen era Gong lineup and that is certainly true to these ears. Even if you wouldn´t ordinarily enjoy Gong´s rather original approach to music you should give this one a try. It´s definitely worth it and that´s spoken by someone who is not particularly a fanboy. A sure 4 star rating is warranted. An excellent album.