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Long one of my favorite bands. I've got just about everything from the
first album (w/I Lost My Head, etc.) through 'The Missing Piece' on
tape. My faves were about the middle 6 recordings: Glass House,
Acquiring the Taste, Octopus, Free Hand, Power & Glory, and
Live-Playing the Fool.
The live release they put out really brought out the fact that they
could replicate all the intricacies of their studio work on stage, and
crunch it as well (like on 'Just the Same' and a blistering medley
of 'Peel the Paint'/'I Lost My Head'). Didn't much care for 'Civilian'
and 'Giant for a Day'.
I saw them twice, once as an opening act for the Mahavishnu Orchestra
(incredible double bill, that one) at the Felt Forum in NYC around '72,
and as a headliner at one of the Schaefer open-air shows in Central
Park (Starcastle opened) in '74. I was immensely pleased both times. Some
really fine musicianship.
I think Playing the Fool, Octopus and Power and the Glory have been
released on CD. This and some other stuff is in Note 412.* of
WANLAD::UK_MUSIC is a GG topic as well.
I miss these guys.
Peter
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| Speaking of vinyl ...
I can remember coming across a couple of albums before becoming as
gung-ho for GG as I am now, but because I didn't buy them, I don't
remember them very clearly.
One was a single-LP with a pair of large, red-and-white striped boots
on the cover. Was this a "best of" collection. [I'm pretty sure it
was in import. This was in the late 70's.]
Not long before "The Missing Piece" came out [which was one of the
second or third GG LP I bought], there was a double LP (NOT Playing the
Fool, which I have) that had a mostly bare cover (orangey-brown, I
think) with a single, small photograph of one (or more) of the band
members on the front cover (or was it the back cover?). Since I
thought it might have been a collection, I didn't buy it; but I now
wonder what it was to this day. [Any one from NJ remember "Peaches"
records? When they first opened, they had everything.]
-mark.
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| Liner Notes from "The Missing Piece" CD
=======================================
If the years 1974 to 1976 had been a vindication of Gentle Giant's
dogged determination to be accepted on their own terms, the period
which followed was to be something of an anti-climax, as the band
suffered mixed fortunes in a changing marketplace. For a number of
reasons, "Playing The Fool", a double album of live material recorded
on their 1976 European tour and released eight months before "The
Missing Piece", proved to be a turning point in the band's history.
Giant acquired a sizeable European following quite early in their
career, the Italians, Swiss and Germans proving particularly
enthusiastic. The breakthrough in the States had come in 1974's "The
Power And The Glory", and although British listeners remained largely
unimpressed, by 1976 the band were beginning to enjoy the rewards of
six years of hard work. "Playing The Fool" appeared in January 1977,
when the British music scene was in upheaval with the advent of Punk
Rock and the so-called New Wave. What little recognition the group had
gained at home was cruelly swept aside by fashion, and the musical
skills which were the cornerstones of Giant's musical philosophy were
suddenly despised.
Bassist Ray Shulman remembers taking stock: "It was a kick in the
teeth, but also a jolt to stop complacency -- it was a general shake-up
for everybody, really. With the pressure to become more commercially
viable on the one hand, and the fact that we had a very loyal audience
on the other, we were in a dilemma ..." Chrysalis, who had seen the
band do very well, especially in America, over the previous eighteen
months, now viewed Giant's commerical prospects rather less
optimistically. "They could still rely on us to recoup our advances,
to sell a reasonable number of records in all territories-- we'd
become a pretty reliable act, but it was getting no bigger."
The impact of the new music was less marked on the Continent, and in
the States, at least for a time, its effect was negligible. Not
surprisingly, Giant were persuaded to concentrate on the European and
American markets, and apart from an appearance on the BBC's 'Sight And
Sound' (a simultaneous broadcast on TV and radio) in January 1978, the
band never took to a British stage again. They inclined towards a more
direct style, making a conscious effort to inject more energy into their
output, and with an eye on contemporaries like Genesis, adopted a less
complex, more commercial sound.
Classically-trained keyboardist Kerry Minnear looks back on this
period of Giant's developmebnt with mixed feelings: "At this stage,
certainly, one or two members of the band were becoming frustrated by
the straitjacket we'd made for ourselves ... Because of the nature of
what we were, we felt obligated to play quite experimental music all
the time. Ray was getting quite heavily into Punk because it was just
a total burst of energy and enthusiasm, and I think that appealed to
him because it was so completely different to what we were. I confess
I was a bit nonplussed by some of the things that were going on in the
band ... Personally, I had much less enthusiasm for breaking free of
these restrictions we'd placed on ourselves."
Another factor also influenced this shift to a more straightforward
style. Until now, Giant had taken new material out on the road only
after it had been recorded. There was a feeling in the group that a
different approach might bring a new vitality to the music, and several
of the numbers included here were played live before being taken into
the studio. Different arrangements were tried in concert, and those
which worked best on stage were used when the songs were finally
recorded, bringing a more concise feel to the end product.
Although transitional in nature, "The Missing Piece" boasts several
numbers equal to anything the band released on earlier albums. "As Old
As You're Young" is a charming example of Kerry Minnear's medieval
minstrelsy, and "I'm Turning Around" is a powerful ballad which
deserved a better reception than it received when issued as the first
of two singles lifted from the album. "Memories Of Old Days" is a
finely-crafted atmospheric song graced by Gary Green's delicate
acoustic guitar work, and "Two Weeks In Spain", the second of those
unsuccessful single releases, is an excellent straightforward rocker.
Despite the quality of the material, "The Missing Piece" was not a
commercial success. It was their last US chart album, and die-hard
Gentle Giant fans generally seemed reluctant to accept the change of
dynamic it offered.
Ray Shulman remains philosophical about the choices that were made:
"Perhaps we should have carried on being ourselves and resisted advice
from anyone else, just seen what happened. Maybe if we'd reconciled
ourselves to a small, loyal audience we could've stayed more
experimental, but you can't turn back the clock, and I think that what
we went on to do was still interesting, still very good ... From the
outset, all the different changes in Giant happened for a reason, and
every album reflected the mood of the band at the time."
"The Missing Piece", available now for the first time on CD along
with Gentle Giant's four other Chrysalis-period studio albums, remains
a fine collection. If anything, the range of music it includes
emphasises more than ever the versatility of the band. Its relatively
poor sales say more about the changes taking place in the music scene
at the time than they do about the album itself, and all the excitement
of Gentle Giant's unique chemistry is here to enjoy.
Alan Kinsman.
Many thanks for their assistance to Kerry Minnear and Ray Schulman.
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