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You - You

Artist:	You
Title:	You
Label:	self produced
Length(s):	72 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1997?
Month of review:	03/1998

Line up

Vir McCoy - guitars, vocals, bass, ziltron
Justin Katz - bass, vocals
Brett Jacobson - guitar, vocals, bass
Patrick Kaliski - drums, vocals, percussion
John Schroeder - sax, flute, clarinet, synths, bass, space echo, vocals, gongs
P.J. Medina - drums, vocals, lutz vaca percussion

Tracks

1)	La La La	1.33
2)	Gramma Got Born	5.06
3)	Gnomes	4.28
4)	Senegal	4.37
5)	Ape-man	4.23
6)	Ak-ak	2.33
7)	She's My Girlfriend (tonight)	3.45
8)	S.M.F.	3.43
9)	Aeschylus	1.07
10)	Blister Accordian	1.07
11)	Ca-ca	8.11
12)	Mr. Mann	2.53
13)	Mucus Boy	2.48
14)	Buster Keaton	4.16
15)	Almond Fog	1.56
16)	Lorax	5.47
17)	Sandbox	4.08
18)	Choo-choo Butterfly	4.40
19)	The Sun Is Smiling	3.34

Summary

One of those albums where I will try not to go over the songs one by one, this is a low-budget release with lots of music from what seems to be a wacky band that played with many a "famous" person (Blues Traveller, Maceo Parker, Bootsy Collins). Not surprisingly, not because of the people they played with, but the name of the band of course, they cite among their biggest influence the French band Gong.

The music

La La La is just a bunch of children singing, you guessed it... accompanied by acoustic guitar. At least it sounds like it. Gramma Got Born has those typical space sounds with lots of echo. Plenty of psychedelic guitars a la Hendrix here and like on the rest of the album rather odd lyrics. Gnomes is a funny little track, a bit sneaky with flute, lots of bass. The music of this track and the lyrics as well owe quite a lot to Gong in their old days. After the worldlike Senegal, we come to the ironic Ape Man. In weirdness one should compare this band to Primus and even better Phish. Whereas Phish is based on Zappa/Grateful Dead, this band is more based on Gong, but the music is more groovy and rocking than this "French" band. Ak-Ak opens with somewhat familiar sound and by the quality of them seems to have been culled from a vinyl record. Strange moaning, squeaking sounds. She's My Girlfriend is sixties psychedelic type song. S.M.F. stands for Stupid Motherfucker and features some prominent saxophone wringing. Aeschylus is a synthy piece, a bit bouncy but with quirky vocals. The short Blister Accordion not surprisingly features accordion, but played backwards. With over eight minutes the longest track on this disc is Ca-Ca which is about the people on earth cleaning up their own mess. The song is accompanied with a comic giving a pictorial explanation of the content. A groovy track. Then follow another eight groovy tracks with influences from funk, jazz and psychedelica. Among which, Mucus Boy is a track with strange, explicit vocals and lyrics about someone being ill or allergic; Buster Keaton is lounge jazz with the famous Fender Rhodes playing a prominent role. Almond Fog is a rowdy, bluesy rock track with growling vocals. Lorax is an acoustic song, but Sandbox is again a raunchy bubbly rock song in the Hawkwind tradition. After the peaceful Choo-choo Butterfly -- in which they nicely put some bee sounds, but also some train sounds. A weird combination but it works -- the album closes with track 19, The Sun Is Smiling, which has a sixties beat atmosphere.

With regards to sound quality I could spot some noise in the quieter parts especially in the beginning of the cd.

Conclusion

Generally psychedelic, varied instrumentally and musically, and lyrically tongue-in-cheek, this is a release that might please fans of Gong and newer psychedelic bands alike. Like Phish, the Ozrics and Gong, this band is not to be taken seriously. The influences range from world to psychedelic (in the Hawkwind and Gong way) to funk and jazz and the "real" songs are typically quite groovy with a few deviations to sixties music. Although the music is nice to listen to a few times, the band pays a little too much attention to composition and too much time to being funny and like when you heard a joke a few times, it wears out and the album being as long as it is, it is quite a sit. I like them best in the raunchy rocking tracks such as Almond Fog and Sandbox and in the languorous tracks such as Choo-Choo Butterfly and The Sun Is Smiling. Something to check out for the people who enjoy the bands just mentioned, but a love of groove seems to necessary with this band and do not expect long trips here.