TOTALLY OUT OF THE WOODS - THE BBC SESSIONS

It's hard to believe that if you claim yourself as fan of Gentle Giant and you don't have this CD! I'm not kidding. This is an excellent live record by Gentle Giant. Even, if you are not a die hard fan of the band but you are a prog fan, you should consider owning this album. The government-owned radio station BBC had a program called "Sounds of The Seventies" which featured music from less well-known bands, including Gentle Giant. It was hosted by various DJ's but eventually become the predominant domain of John Peel who seemed to take something of a shine to the band. For me personally, Gentle Giant is a legendary prog band with avant-garde complex music. The influence of Gentle Giant music is enormous until today with bands like Spock's Beard, Echolyn, Hamadryad, and many others.

The album starts with an organ-drenched "City Hermit" (4:45) which has tight composition and good melody. I really enjoy this track which I have never heard before. For me, this is an excellent track. It flows almost seamlessly to a mellow track "Isn't It Quiet And Cold?" (4:23) which features nice vocals and eerie violin work. What Neil Sedaka got to do with Gentle Giant? Of course nothing. But, it's interesting that under track 3 "DJ's Presentation" (0:26) when the DJ mentioned the name of Sedaka. It seemed like the DJ just aired Neil Sedaka just before "The Advent Of Panurge" (5:24) by Gentle Giant's fifth album "In A Glass House". Wow! I salute BBC who dared to broadcast the music of Gentle Giant with complex arrangements right after pop music by Neil Sedaka!

"Way Of Life" (5:44) is a song with "weird" melody line but great vocal harmonies backed with discrete music and many tempo and style changes. This song indicates how complex the music of Gentle Giant is. But I like it very much. "The Runaway" (6:36) concludes CD One nicely (if you can digest this kind of music!). Again, I do enjoy this concluding track because it has great melody, great vocal harmonies and dynamic music with many changes in tempo and styles.

CD Two starts with what one of the best choirs available on planet Earth - "Konots" from the band's album "Octopus". People who do not understand this would definitely hate this song but those who have known Gentle Giant would definitely praise this song as wonderful one! "The Boys In The Band" (3:54) demonstrates the band's exploration of acoustic guitar work in a complex setting. The ending part contains great music in the vein of their style with unique organ work, follwed with "Organ Bridge" (0:53). It brings to another great song "The Advent Of Panurge" (5:36) seamlessly. Wow!!! It's so great, my friends .!!! I do admire the band. Other tracks are excellent as well. My favorite is "Proclamation" which demonstrates powerful and clean vocal combined with great music that accompanies the vocal.

Initially, I would give an excellent rating but as it grew on me with many spins I cannot find any shortcoming from this double CD. So, I consider this as a masterpiece work by the band! Keep on proggin' ..!

"Minds are like parachutes - they only function when they are open."