Kavus Torabi : Daevid Allen's final album, I See You is such a transitional Gong record in so many ways, not that any of us realised it at the time.
Work on the album had just commenced around the time I was asked to join and Daevid was in fine health but by the time we were at the mixing stage he was undergoing intense treatment for his cancer which would ultimately prove unsuccessful. As you can imagine, the record was completed under extremely fraught circumstances, very different to the upbeat way it started. Getting it over the line was not an especially joyful process. Decisions needed to be made under a great deal of pressure and, with emotions running high, they weren't always the right ones. Nonetheless, I'm so happy Daevid got to hear it completed, that he loved it and that we got to put it out into the world. When, during his final months, Daevid expressed his desire for the band he had assembled to continue without him we felt pretty uncertain about the prospect. Yet here we are after ten years of constant touring, three studio albums (with a fourth on the way) and a double live album later, looking back at the record which launched the current incarnation of this wonderful mythology.
Hearing Frank Byng's remarkable new mix, thankfully completed without time constraints, has brought an increased sonic clarity which accentuates the eccentric psychedelic majesty of the original release. I was moved to tears hearing it. For me, this is the definitive version of I See You, the record I always hoped it would be.
Gong I See You 10th Anniversary Edition CD or 2LP
Albion Dreaming: A Popular History of LSD in Britain by Andy Roberts revised and updated - Psychedelic Press
One Of The Spirits Burning (A Musical Memoir), by Don Falcone : adventures with Daevid Allen, Nik Turner, Cyrille Verdeaux, Michael Moorcock, and more… USA · UK
