THE MISSING PIECE

This album ended my quest for Gentle Giant albums back in the mid 90's when I first got it. I had been buying up all the albums I could find by them (on CD). I was a bit wary of this one, due to the date and the fact that it seemed that all of the prog bands of the 70's had regressed into lame pop attempts by 1980 (I didn't know anything about Gentle Giant at the time, except what was in the liner notes.......I was not on the internet back then). Much to my dismay, I discovered that even a band as unique and brilliant as Gentle Giant could fall to the less is more simplicity of commerical music. I hated the album from first listen and was depressed and disillusioned (and feared that prog had really died in the early 80's.......I wasn't even aware of the second wave back then, let alone the first).

Jump forward to the present and I can be a bit more kind to this album. Well, the second half of it anyway. The first 5 tracks are simply aweful coming from this band. To be fair, they are not terrible tracks in and of themselves. But knowing what GG are capable of, I just find they are only ever dissapointing, no matter how often I hear them. Had they been done by some 80's pop hits band, they probably would be considered a high point of that era. But as it is, they just seem lame and tired (despite the fact that some of them display an almost punk level of energy in the performance). Aging proggers trying to be relevant, when posterity would much prefer they had packed it in after Interveiw or at least tried to further refine what they did on the previous albums. But given the musical climate of the times (and undoubted record company pressure), you can't really blame them. But you don't have to say nice things about the results either.

On the other hand, the last 4 tracks have grown on me, especially Memories Of Old Days (an appropriate title if ever their was one), which would not have been out of place on any of their earlier albums. As old as you're Young harks back to Isn't It Quiet and Cold? from the first album. Winning and For Nobody are good songs that, while not exactly reminiscent of their earlier work, are much better attempts at simpler structures than the earlier tracks.

As I said, I never bought the next two albums after I had gotten this one. And having heard a friends copy of Giant For A Day, I never plan to get them. This definelty fits the description for two stars, and even then fans will have problems with this. Still, for the die hard fan it is worth getting for the last 4 tracks.