Why Is Interview One of The Weaker Giant Albums?
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=130137
Printed Date: March 04 2025 at 02:24
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Why Is Interview One of The Weaker Giant Albums?
Posted By: SuperMetro
Subject: Why Is Interview One of The Weaker Giant Albums?
Date Posted: November 29 2022 at 19:18
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When it comes to Gentle Giant albums, all the ones in between debut and Interview are considered masterpieces while Interview is left out of the mix often being seen as inferior. Here is probably how I would rank the 8 I heard: 1. Free Hand(Title Tack) 2. Acquiring the Taste(House, Street, Room) 3. In A Glass House(Title Track) 4. Octopus(Rancoteur Troubadour) 5. Debut(Nothing At All) 6. Interview (I Lost My Head) 7. The Power and The Glory(Proclamation) 8.Three Friends(Peel The Paint) While Interview is only 6th, it is no far in quality from the other ones. I Lost My Head and the title track are the highlights. I enjoyed the break on Interview and the infectious vocal melodies and for ILMH, watching Derek scream his brains out after that acoustic section is something to behold. I can picture all the tracks being apart of some news or talk show.
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Replies:
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: November 29 2022 at 19:40
| I guess it's a matter of personal taste, and most of the people who vote for an album according to how much they like it, will make the difference in how an album is rated. |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: November 30 2022 at 00:04
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All strong and impressive but I don't enjoy 5-8 nearly as much as 1-4. I find my bottom four a little lacking in warmth, atmosphere, beauty, fun playfulness and catchy tunes. I suppose I miss Phil Shulman's alto and tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, cello, mellophone, piano, plus occasional percussion and vocals. But Interview is at least as good as it's predecessors. 1. Acquiring the Taste (Pantagruels Nativety) 2. Debut (Giant) 3. Three Friends (Schoodays) 4. Octopus (Advent of Panurge) 5. The Power and The Glory (Proclamation) 6. Interview (Another Show) 7. In A Glass House (An Inmates Lullaby) 8. Free Hand (Talybont) On Free Hand and IaGH which I enjoy the least, I typically prefer the two least representative (and least popular?) tracks.
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Posted By: unclemeat69
Date Posted: November 30 2022 at 05:06
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The band had been touring long and hard (for GG standards) and they were exhausted and also had less time than usual for writing, rehearsing and recording this album. ------------- Follow your bliss |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: November 30 2022 at 06:13
Hi, I dislike these ratings, specially since it has a tendency to lower the level of ability and amount of work by the band to stand up ... you don't go around saying the 5th is better than the 9th and then create a poll, or that the 3rd is the masterpiece. That is something that is ridiculous and not for folks that love the music ... not the numbers in the polls, that DO NOT REPRESENT anything whatsoever, except a lot of people's lack of ability to listen to something different and other musics alongside. Sorry, GG, with all its albums ranks way up there on top of most anything ... ANYTHING out there specially the metronomic and repetitive bands that are considered "progressive". ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
SuperMetro wrote:Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: November 30 2022 at 06:18
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Interview is the band's most overtly complex album. Personally i think it's just as good as the album's that came before. I would even go as far as to say it is better for my ears. It's the same scenario as to why many liked Thick As a Brick over Passion Play. There is a threshold of complexity that listeners seem to stall at. As a musician myself i love the more adventurous complex arrangements of Interview. Sure the concept is nothing special but the musical delivery consists of what prog dreams are made of. Gentle Giant were geniuses. Even the more pop flavored albums that came after Interview were brilliantly constructed. Keep listening to Interview. It'll grow on you :) -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 02:47
 ''yawns'' for the 6125th time |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 02:56
I tend to bracket some GG albums together for me the first two come as a pair and so do Freehand and Interview which see more intention to create 'hooks' . Octopus is arguably a more rock based approach (in GG terms) and saw the band moving away from the quirky first couple. The albums I find most interesting are Three Friends and Power and The Glory. Probably the latter is my favourite but Three Friends has the most beautiful moments. I like Interview a lot and would rank it above the first 2 based on personal preference and also ahead of In A Glass House which I've always found sterile and cold. That I would put last of the classic period (1970-1976). As said it's all personal preference and we can relate to and enjoy music as we choose. There is no real objectivity and no politically correct music. There is just music. This site allows people to explore but also to be guided if they want.
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Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 03:24
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Been awhile but a pretty good record as I recall. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 04:26
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I certainly don't consider Interview as one of the weak (or weaker) GG albums. FTM, I rate it above TP&TG and FH, their previous two albums, and maybe even 3F. However, I do think Interview is the last good studio album of theirs... And the second-last good album overall, (Playing The Fool being the last one)
I'm not even sure Interview is that complex... it certainly seems more accessible (and warmer - less clinical) that FH & TP&TG. It alsoi has some reggae moments, which I tremendously enjoy. . ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 04:47
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 08:08
I think it's the moment where GG's technical chops and emotional styles coalesced into perfection. There are lots of technical workouts on Interview. I've always been perplexed by the lower ratings. To my ears it's another masterpiece. ------------- https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 08:34
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Interview is not a weak album for me. Giant's debut album is the one I find weak, and don't listen to it much anymore. |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 08:38
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^ I love the debut too. In fact i love all 10 albums from debut to
Civilian. One of the best prog bands of all time in my book :)
------------- https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 09:14
| ^Agree, they are one of my favorite bands of all time. Loved them the first time I heard them, and repeat spins don't diminish that newish glee I get listening to them. Their music is timeless. |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: December 01 2022 at 09:22
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^ and NOBODY sounds like them! They really stand out even after all these decades of copycat prog bands. ------------- https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 03 2022 at 02:05
| For what it's worth I do think that PFM achieved a similar level of complexity and perhaps more warmth on their first 3 Italian releases but that's a debate for another thread.. |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: December 03 2022 at 06:23
Of course there were other artists / albums that reached similar or more complexity. Warmth is in the hands of the beholder. Sometimes warmth is boring and psychotic is the flavor du jour! I love PFM too ------------- https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: Boojieboy
Date Posted: December 15 2022 at 18:04
| I don't consider it weak, and would put it above Giant For a Day, first album, and even Free Hand now (the last because that hasn't held up as well with me over the decades). |
Posted By: Jacob Schoolcraft
Date Posted: January 08 2023 at 18:15
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Interview is not weak regarding composition and performance. The opinion which travels the internet is as such that the album is not good and several people point out its so called weaknesses. As to how or why this opinion grew in popularity I'm not sure. I've been hearing the negative viewpoints on the Interview album since the 70s. A lot of knockers aim at "Give It Back", "Empty City", and "Timing" as simplistic and therefore Gentle Giant is short handing us. Or it's stated that "Another Show" is too much like "Cogs In Cogs" and that it all sounds like YES anyway so why bother? These opinions about Interview are ancient fossil. Some people who are not exactly informed take these opinions as facts. Over decades these opinions were spread out like a cow flop and people believed it. Especially when critics voiced strongly against it ...trying to alter your thinking so you won't believe it's ranks with the other progressive sounding GG albums. The publications industry doesn't help matters really. They would perpetuate hogwash about the album. Just like they often did with Jethro Tull albums. |