IN A GLASS HOUSE

With the departure from Philip Shulman, Gentle Giant's sound suffered a little, mostly in the vocal department, but also the acoustic guitars are less present, which is a shame really.The typical GG style is still present though, with a rather frantic approach to songwriting, short fast paced melody's and rhythms alternated with short melow parts.

Most if not all GG albums are hard to really get into, and it generally requires several listenings before one can appreciate fully what is going on in the songs, this album is no exception, only it is even more difficult to get into this one.

The best songs on this album are the opening song The Runaway, the fabulous Way Of Life, the more upfront rock of Experience, and the title track. A reunion and Inmate's lullaby are rather boring, but do have some beautifull slow music present, but it breaks the tempo too much for me really to enjoy it.

The two live bonustracks are both great, showing Gentl;e Giant in a more heavy style, with some good guitar solo's, the sound production isn't very good, but certainly a nice adition to the album.

Overall I enjoyed this album, but it isn't my favourite GG album by a mile. Three stars will suffice I think.