Gary Wilson: You Think You Really Know Me?

Ladies and Gentlemen… Gary Wilson & The Blind Dates!
.
.
A Band so bizarre, they flustered the CBGB punks to the point of confusion and disgust. The same crowd that grew to love Stiv Bators. 
 
Imagine that.
 
You Think You Really Know Me (Front) 1977 – MCM
.
Gary Wilson’s main claim to fame, recording-wise, ‘You Think You Really Know Me‘ is one of the more disturbing (and interesting) albums I have had the pleasure of listening to. And that is saying something, considering some of the ‘outsider’ acts in my library; The Shaggs, Luie Luie, Kit Ream, and The Monkees – just to name a few.
.
“Sick Trips take the place of someone else’s Blind Dates…”
– When You Walk into My Dreams
You Think You Really Know Me (Back) – 1977, MCM
Released in 1977, the best I can describe the music on You Think You Really Know Me would be ‘Stalker Rock’ – a bizarre mix of lounge lizard bleatings, 70s porn soundtracks, avant-garde angst and Steely Dan funk.  
In other words, an Americanized French Song era Davy Jones.
 
… If Davy never got the girl.  
… And then sat in his parent’s basement for the next twenty years action-figuring a way to get her back.
.
6.4 = Make Out
.
Frankly, there just isn’t anything else quite like ‘You Think You Really Know Me’.  At least nothing I have ever heard before.  Heck, a great majority of Wilson’s later work doesn’t even come close.
.
I took her to the dance last Friday night.  
I said, ‘Just wait there. I’ll be right back.’ 
She said, ‘Gary… that sounds fine.’  
When I came back, I told her I fell in love with her.
She said, ‘Gary, falling in love ain’t too cool.’
 
– Groovy Girls Make Love at the Beach
.
I Wanna Lose Control

.

The closest comparison I could make would be Kit Ream’s ‘All That I Am’ – although I would be hard pressed to define the exact similarities between the two albums.  ‘They both kind of creep me out’ will have to do.    

Sure… not many bands sound like The Shaggs, either.  
But why in the world would they want to?
This one is an absolute winner.

One Reply to “Gary Wilson: You Think You Really Know Me?”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *