THE POWER AND THE GLORY

After their successful work In A Glass House, Gentle Giant started shifting towards more avant-garde territories. The band didn't estrange their signature "Britishness", however, characterized by English middle-age or renaissance art music influence. At the turn of 1974, Gentle Giant recorded Power And Glory, the concept album dealing with corruption and ruling with medieval context as a metaphor. It was released a few months after Watergate Scandal, which made the subject matter even more ambiguous.

The music of Power And Glory shows a group in their creative peak. I firmly believe this is Gentle Giant's Close To The Edge. The band fuses English folk music with than pioneered avant-rock influences retaining the classic Gentle Giant sound. The elements of what we now call symphonic prog are still very much present.

As always, the band's musicianship is excellent. Kenny Minear's phenomenal minimalistic keyboard playing is now enriched with a jazzy bass electric piano sound. Gary Green's dark overdriven guitar sound plays a prominent role on various rhythm parts, while on some parts he imitates traditional folk instruments like lute. Ray Shulman's signature bass tone appears once more with Derek Schulman's one-of-a-kind vocals. The new drummer John Weather has a dynamic, precise and accurate playing style and deals perfectly with rhythm changes.

The album consists of ten songs, all fairly short but with a great variety to them without standing in different musical territories. "Proclamation" and "No God's A Man" are probably the most representative of the album, but all of the songs play a crucial role in the album's overall feel.

In conclusion, Power And Glory is a very accomplished work. Musicly, it is a highly eclectic and a very rewarding journey. Furthermore, it showcases Gentle Giant's erudition through the lyrics and the conceptuality. This is an essential progressive rock album, so obviously it belong in every progressive rock fan's collection. Highly recommended, five stars!

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