INTERVIEW

First released in the UK on Chrysalis Records on April 23, 1976. This album was, in fact, my first GG acquisition. I'd seen their album covers for years and had even been recommended their albums by my younger brother, but somehow never had the courage to try anything. Plus, none of my proggy friends at college were listening to them, so there was none of that spillover effect. I had, literally, never heard a song of Gentle Giant's before buying this album (as a new release). While I didn't dislike it upon first listen, it was more jagged and angular than I expected. Successive listens helped it earn some respect--and the song "Empty City" the "reward" of being something I rendered to one of my tape collages. But, soon I gave up on the album--and sealed myself off from trying any of the band's back catalogue. (I have to admit that the album art also kind of repelled me as being too silly or infantile. Perhaps the Saturday morning children's show of the similar title, "The Friendly Giant," had skewed my thinking in this way. I remember thinking that the band was trying to attract a crowd from a children's point of view--not unlike the soon-to-arrive band They Must Be Giants.)

1. "Interview" (6:54) this one opens with studio sounds/conversation left on tape before the band starts playing. The music is every bit as sophisticated and unique in its GG quirk but does seem to be displaying some newer advances in keyboard sound and overall engineering. The imaging and panning effects of the final mixes are particularly noteworthy as being different as well as the Gary Katz/Steely Dan-like clarity. Not a particularly favorite GG song for me, but a very interesting and enjoyable aural/listening experience. (I LOVE Gary Katz' sound realization). (13.375/15)

2. "Give It Back" (5:08) interestingly, this song sounds, to me, very much like a STEELY DAN song circa 1975--both stylistically as well as sonically. (8.75/10)

3. "Design" (4:59) another Beatles-esque "silly interview" segment opens this song before an a cappella barber-shop quintet song opens and develops. Household-sounding percussion joins in and participates throughout the song in various places and quantities giving it an even odder sound. This is definitely quintessential Gentle Giant but it's not my favorite. I hear a lot of what will become Andy Partridge's edgy XTC music in this song. (8.75/10)

4. "Another Show" (3:29) more sophisticated percussive weaving of all instruments in some odd meter while Derek's voice and Kerry Minnear's organ lead above Gary, Ray, and John's complex rhythm play. A song I like more intellectually than heartily. (8.75/10)

5. "Empty City" (4:24) opening with gently-played 12-string guitar is never going to be dissed by me; from the very first listen of this album this was my favorite song (and, for a long time, the only song I included in GG mixes and playlists). I feel that it's very rare for GG to present the listener with very engaging melodies but this one does so in several parts of the song. (8.875/10)

6. "Timing" (4:50) more typical GG with melodies that are challenging to get into; one can, instead, focus on the interesting Hammond play from Kerry Minnear as well as Ray Shulman's Jean-Luc Ponty-like electric violin. When Kerry switches to bluesy piano in the instrumental section, it feels again like STEELY DAN's Donald Fagan, but then he reverts to the loud Hammond for a Rick Wakeman-like finish. (8.75/10)

7. "I Lost My Head" (6:58) a return to a more anachronistic sound palette over which Kerry Minnear leads an airy English folk-sounding tune with his delicate psalter's voice. I love this style of music though it is rarely my stylistic choice for background music. There is a very inteeresting exchange/duet with Gary Green's acoustic 12-string ghitar and Kerry Minnear's clavichord in which a keyboard is used to create the flute/recorder sound of the lead instrument. A sign that the world is ending? (13.25/15)

Total Time: 36:22

Anyway, as I've finally vanquished my bias against GG, I've come to know all of their albums fairly well and this one still does not "feed me"--in fact, it rates as among their poorer productions from their ten year output. Not bad, just not anything here that I'd write home about.

B/four stars; an excellent exhibition of adventurous, experimental progressive rock coming from an era that was more distracting for the advances in computerized sound, sound engineering, and recording choices. Not GG's best but still of a quality that few other bands were matching at the time. Recommended.