GIANT FOR A DAY

GENTLE GIANT was prog's greatest cult band as it emerged from nowhere in 1970 and cranked out one stellar album of the most eclectic arrangements possible under the banner of rock music and thus this band was so ahead of its time that it has literally taken the rest of the world decades to catch up with these musicians' experimental mix of disparate musical genres into an overall sound that was and still is unmatched. While the band has become legendary, things weren't so great for this talented crew of multi-instrumentalists who were known as being too complex and progressive for even the progressive rock crowds but there were a few stalwart hardcore proggers of the day who rabidly followed the great GENTLE GIANT wherever they went through thick and thin. Well, that's until the band decided to take a turn to the poppy side of the force. So much for tolerance from the rabid fans.

In the mid-70s as the musical tastes were turning towards more simplified forms of music from the perceived overweening pomp of prog found itself in an existential crisis. Either adapt to the newer trends or die. True that certain newer strains of prog like the avant-garde weirdness of Henry Cow and Univers Zero was finding a new niche in complex music as well as crossover artists like Rush but for the most part even the bigwigs of prog like Yes, Genesis and Jethro Tull were taming things down a few notches. Having been one of the underdogs at least in terms of commercial success, GENTLE GIANT was also forced to do or die so do they did. While a few more trendy musical elements like reggae trickled into "Interview," it was the band's ninth album "The Missing Piece" where they decided to go in a more pop direction but on that album the band was sort of sticking their feet in the swimming pool without committing to jumping in. All that changed on the band's tenth album GIANT FOR A DAY which found all the provocative use of counterpoints, medieval themes and prog excesses completely disappearing for good.

Despite this album being almost universally panned and also happening to be the lowest rated of any GENTLE GIANT album, GIANT FOR A DAY is actually quite an eclectic album in its own right. While all the prog elements that graced the band's most ambitious albums like "Octopus" and "In A Glass House" are nowhere to be found, the five members of lineup of GENTLE GIANT still incorporated many styles and ideas into their pop rock hooks and as far as catchy melodic melodies go, GIANT FOR A DAY is a much more cohesive and satisfying pop rock album than its predecessor, at least in my world. While it's clear that GG was going for pop crossover mainstream success in hopes of joining the ranks of mega-selling acts like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac or David Bowie, the band was still subtly sophisticated in how they crafted their tunes and if one listens carefully, it's obvious that these guys were still quite passionate about the music they were crafting as much attention was paid to crafting the very best melodic pop hooks possible.

The album begins with a familiar style of GENTLE GIANT with the opening "Words From The Wise" which finds the band's vocal harmonizing usher in an energetic rock groove with Gary Green setting the stage for a guitar groove led song structure with pounding bass and drums as the subordinate rhythmic heft. Other catchy guitar led hooks unfold on the upbeat rockers "Little Brown Bag" and "Rock Climber," the latter which displays the use of stride piano runs from Kerry Minnear. Two softer acoustic guitar ballads include "Take Me" which sounds something like a Supertramp song in the vein of "Give A Little" and the only tune that Derek Schulman didn't provide lead vocals, the Paul McCartney sounding "Friends" which featured drummer John Weather as vocalist in chief. This tune sounds right of the the "Yesterday" playbook and is actually equally compelling. Weather's voice is a surprise in how tender and precise it is.

My favorite cut of all has to be the extraordinary title track which finds the band crossing the line into new wave with a jittery Devo staccato robotic groove with a call and response between Schulman's lyrics and guitar licks. The track is off the charts catchy and the only song off this album that the band has ever played live. There was no tour to support this album which could be one of the reasons it may have been mostly forgotten. Another cool song is "Spooky Boogie" which is a playful instrumental that would make a good Halloween playlist. I could totally see this in tandem with an Elvira, Mistress of the Dark video where she's doing one of those nipple ring twirls. You know where she does one, then does the other and then both simultaneously? Ha! Other styles i detect vary from Steely Dan jazz-rock in "No Stranger," the boogie fueled soft rock of "Take Me" and the tear jerking "It's Only Goodbye" which milks the guitar for all its worth into a sad sorrowful lick that crafts a very distinct melodic development.

For prog snobs this will surely cause them to lose their lunch as the prog years had been completely extinguished and the pop hooks are all sprinkled with sugar and saccharine possible but out of all the sell out prog bands that crafted mesmerizing and really cleverly crafted pop rock hooks, GENTLE GIANT really hit a high note on GIANT FOR A DAY and along with albums such as Yes' "Drama" and "90215," Genesis' early 80s albums, King Crimson's "Discipline" and other progressive pop albums by Asia and Supertramp, this GENTLE GIANT album ranks high on my list and is actually an album i love to play on a regular basis. The tracks are super catchy, pleasantly diverse and yet just off-kilter enough to stand out from anything else even by GG itself. Yep, i'm in a lonely room loving the heck outa this album but if you view this from an objective lens with no comparisons to the past and judge it solely on its own merits, then there's no denying that GIANT FOR A DAY is a really brilliant pop rock album that if done by a more commercial band could've been a huge hit. In other words, the music is so much better than the awful album cover could possibly convey. I LOVE IT!