INTERVIEW

A second "Free Hand" by design, furnished with another vocal workout, plenty of counterpoint and some added clarity. Although it's not a concept record per se, interviews are a recurring theme. Snippets of an interview inquiring about the band's style segue into the songs themselves, so in effect the music speaks for itself. There are subtle differences between "Interview" and "Free Hand"; the arrangements are leaner, more muscular, driven largely by the intricate interplay of keyboardist Kerry MINNER and Ray SHULMAN on bass. Although I found the second side of "The Missing Piece" pleasant, "Interview" is the last GENTLE GIANT record to fire on all cylinders. The vocal tapestry woven on "Design", the way "I Lost My Head" gambols into a great burst of anger, the soft and dreamy soundscape of "Empty City", these rank right alongside the best songs from their last two albums. In fact, like all good GENTLE GIANT albums, there isn't a bad song to be found. The counterpoint may be more exposed, sinews lacking the soft skin and fur of earlier works like "Three Friends", but if you revel in the band's ambitious counterpoint (and you must have to have made it this far) then you won't mind hearing Kerry, Ray and Gary Green mix it up under a musical microscope. To test yourself, try "Timing." If you like that bite, buy the whole biscuit.

This was the second GG album I owned, and at the time I thought it was heaven. As I bought more from them -- "Acquiring The Taste", "The Power And The Glory", "Octopus", "Free Hand" -- each record seemed slightly better than Interview, and it slid slowly down the ol' imaginary list. Even so, this is the last GG album to belong in the company of giants, and if you want to skip ahead to this without buying the albums before it, no harm done.