seyo It takes some time and a few listens to swallow the eccentric psychedelia of Planet Gong mythology, especially for a non-English native. After it is done, you cannot but admire the positive lunacy of these "hippie" freaks in their effort to tell the story of Radio Gnome Invisible, Pot Head Pixies, Zero the Hero et al. This is the first part of the famous trilogy and it is already well-rounded concept with longer songs of which the title track is by far the best. The sound and production is however quite weak, at least on the Charly CD issue SNAP025CD. Still, very good piece of art which deserves a special place in anybody's collection.

Warthur I always think of the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy as being about tension - the tension between short, snappy psychedelic songs as favoured by Daevid Allen on the one hand, and long spacey instrumental sections as performed with gusto by the band on the other. Angel's Egg is dominated by the first approach, and You by the second, leaving Radio Gnome Invisible as the album where the two are more or less in balance.

And I have to say that whilst it isn't quite the groundbreaking, landmark album that You is, it's still pretty damn good. Gilli Smyth gets a welcome chance to take on the lead vocals in Witch's Song/I Am Your Pussy, the magic trio of Didier Malherbe on sax, Steve Hillage on guitar and (especially) Tim Blake on synthesisers are firing on all cylinders, and Daevid's loopy tea-based mythology is presented with just enough of a knowing wink to let you in on the joke. Anyone who likes the more psychedelic and spacey end of the Canterbury spectrum would be well advised to check this one out.

Sean Trane With this opening chapter of the Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy , we find that the Flying Teapot is actually a spaceship emiting Radio Gnome waves to expand the minds and awareness of the Planet GonG whose inhabitants are Pot Head Pixies. Quite a programme as you can see. Gong was always subject to personel changes and comes in Tim Blake and Steve Hillage , both will influence the music to a point that they are much instrumental in the success of YOU.

Side 1 has only two tracks and Radio Gnome Invisible takes you back at the Camembert days but with all the subtleties of the musical progress of the group. One of my favorite track is the title track and its 12 min filled with spacey noises over an infectious rythm. With this track on can listen on how YOU will be such a success. This is easily the highlight of the album.

Side 2 starts with two shorter track , one allowing Tim Blake to expand on his universe of early synths. But clearly the last two tracks are another highpoint of this album: Zero The Hero is another central piece of this album but also of the whole trilogy as well as it introduces the Frodo equivalent of LOTRing trilogy. It is filled with absolutely mirific ambiances and previews some of the beautyful athmospheres of Angel's Egg. Malherbe is again top notch here. The last track Witches Song/I Am Your Pussy is dedicated to Gilly Smyth's charater and is schizophrenic in musical style and provide a great end to this chapter.

Again for years , so many different reissues (both on vinyl and Cd ) of this album have not done justice to the great sleeve artwork which is absolutely necessary to understand (is that possible?) the story . Recently Charly Records released a mini sleeve Lp restauring the full original artwork complete with the innerfold (but strangely enough not the lyrics) on the Victor label, cat. # VICP 61172.