BY Steven Rosen | Posted 07/23/2008
You Think You Really Know Me: The Gary Wilson Story
|
|
2008, Not Rated
Gary Wilson's self-released 1977 album,
You Think You Really Know Me,
is prized by record collectors constantly in search of Rock's "great
lost masterpieces." It's included as a CD in this two-disc package,
along with a documentary by Michael Wolk about the life and rediscovery
of Wilson and the recent re-release of the album by the hipster label
Motel Records.
By the standards of other experimental bands of the era,
like Pere Ubu or Suicide or Captain Beefheart, Wilson wasn't all that
accomplished or mature -- his music was a goofy mix of obsessive
teen-angst chanting informed by an interest in John Cage and fusion-era
Miles Davis. That's probably what makes it so unusual and endearing in
a bizarre way: silliness intermingled with weirdness. As we learn
(through Wolk's eyes) about his life, we begin to suspect Wilson has
become a social burnout since 1977 -- he left hometown Endicott, N.Y.,
and apparently never returned, even to visit his father and band mates,
who are interviewed. Once the film finds him in San Diego, now
middle-aged and working as a clerk in an adult bookstore, our worst
fears seem confirmed. Except that Wilson turns out to be an in-control
guy, surprisingly circumspect about his music and his life. He's also
unemotional and enigmatic. At a visit to his family home, he's more
interested in his old stand-up bass than his dad! The film, which
expertly combines Wilson's old home movies with clips from horror films
that influenced him, is very well put-together. It shows only snippets
of his recent performances -- organized by Motel in support of the CD
-- in Manhattan and Endicott. They look like fun, with him in
horror-movie-like makeup; it would have been nice to have more.
Grade: B
 "Pin It")
