LIVE AT THE BICENTENNIAL

When I had first heard that there was going to be a new GG live album, I was rather curious. My first thought was that it might just end up being another "Official Bootleg", But when I saw that it was to be officially released by Alucard. According to GG's official website, the concert found in this album, actually had been released as part of the Glasshouse "Official Bootleg" series under the name "In'terview In Concert". "Live At The Bicentennial" uses master tapes generously donated to the band and remasterd by Rich Hilton. Compared to it's Glasshouse counterpart, "Live At The Bicentennial" features higher quality audio and is completely uncut. After I had read all of this, I was assured of the releases quality and quickly pre-ordered. Then, on the day of it's arrival, I excitedly popped the CD into my computer, and upon finishing the CD rips, sat back and entered the show...

The first track starts off with a rather rowdy crowd crying out for giant, which someone listening to a GG live album for the first would never have expected from the fanbase of Gentle Giant! Something of note here, is that the introductory fanfare heard at the start of this album is the same as the one heard on "Playing The Fool". However there is one major difference, the fanfare in this release is in it's complete form, unlike the faded-in version heard on "Playing The Fool". Once the intro completes we quickly move onto "Just The Same", GG's go-to song to start of a show during this era. Gary and Ray's guitars have a greater presence throughout this track than heard on "Playing The Fool", but other than that, it's pretty much the same as preformed on "Playing The Fool".

Next up on the set list is "Proclamation / Valedictory", which also appeared as the 2nd track on "Playing The Fool". Like "Just The Same", this track is pretty much the same as on "Playing The Fool", along with the greater guitar presence that will continue throughout the rest of the track.

Continuing on in the Playing The Fool set list is "On Reflection". But, before they start with the track, Derek takes some time to address the audience, mentioning the American Bicentennial and the Boston Tea Party. Now you may notice a bit of an electric hum in the background as he's speaking, however there is no need to worry, once they begin playing it is hardly noticeable unless you listen closely.

Now, here is normally where "Funny Ways" would appear in the album, but shockingly "Funny Ways" is absent from this release! (Heretical, I know.) Instead we have the song "Interview" appearing fourth in the set list instead. The song starts out with a replication of the dialogue from "Interview", just who exactly is saying them I'm not sure (If you know who it is, please send me a message!) Aside from it's bootleg counterpart, this release is probably the only release that I know of with "Interview" in it. "Interview" as performed in this album has a much more lively feel to it as compared to the studio version, making it quite a refreshing substitute for "Funny Ways".

Moving on is we have another concert staple, "The Runaway / Experience". Over all, there's not too much different here that what you've already heard from this track in other live releases. One little quirk of note, is that if you listen closely during the "Glass Beats" at the start of the track, you can hear the audience counting them.

For the sixth track on the set list, we have "So Sincere". Now, for those who aren't familiar with live Giant, when this song is played live it eventually morphs into a chaotic drum / percussion solo known as the "Drum and Percussion Bash" featuring all of the band members playing along on the drums. On the Glasshouse version, the drum bash was, (sadly), cut out, But here the drum bash and all of it's quirkiness has been restored.

Now we reach the 2nd CD, and are immediately greeted by another of the older concert staples, "Excerpts From Octopus". Which, as the title says, consists of excerpts from the album "Octopus". The song is the usual excerpts from octopus, so aside from the occasional variant, there really isn't too much to say about it. Though. Derek's Sax playing does sound rather pushed to the background at the very start of the track.

Another track rather unique to this release is the track "Give It Back", Which as Derek stated at the start of the track "Sounds like a cross between Gentle Giant and Bob Marley". In fact, the band seems to take that comment to heart when playing the track live. A lot of the keyboard part has been trimmed from the song, and the instrumentation has a much more reggae feel than the studio version. Even Derek seems to take a more reggae style approach to his vocals during this track.

If it wasn't clear what album was being promoted during this show, it should be now once "Timing" follows right after. Now, what's interesting here, is that "Timing", a nearly five minute song normally, has been extended to 13 minutes. (easily the most extended version of a single song on the album.) What exactly did they do to make a nearly five minute song into a 13 minute one? Four words, Eight Minute Violin Solo. The majority of it is seemingly improvised, with the violin sound echoing as if Pink Floyd had decided to form a string ensemble. Though honestly, it starts to become a bit tiring after a while, and a point of slight annoyance are the audience members who seem to intentionally shout so that their voices will also echo into the mic.

Now take a moment to guess which track would possibly be the finale for the show. If you guessed "Free Hand", then you're right! During this period "Free Hand" was their closer of choice, a good companion to their opener, "Just The Same". Like "Just The Same" It isn't preformed all that differently live than how you're used to it being performed, though one interesting thing is Ray playing the keyboard melody just once at the start of the track.

Over all, "Live At The Bicentennial" is a very refreshing live album, (especially those GG fans used to wading through "Official Bootlegs" of abysmal quality.) The inclusion of tracks from "Interview" played live alone makes this release a must-have for any GG fans, as "Interview" tracks were a rather rare occurance in GG's Live repertoire, and with them being offered at this good of an audio quality is a miracle. So for those of you who own "In'terview In Concert", I say you throw that album in the trash and order the album you deserve. Don't just sit hear reading, go give it a listen, and then you'll be able to see for yourself just how good it is!

In the past, I've been more than disappointed at the quality of GENTLE GIANT live albums. It's hard to find some that have good enough production value that you can actually enjoy them thoroughly.

Live albums, especially from the Interview - Civilian era are sort of disappointing. A key disappointment is the bootleg (and misspelled) Prolouge', which had one of the worst productions I'd ever seen. Other live albums have fluctuations from 'meh' recording to awful recording. The only live album that I've seen as incredibly good is Playing the Fool, one of their first live albums to hit the stage. This live album is good enough to join Playing the Fool with my favorite live albums. The production is good, you can clearly hear the crowd's excitement, and you can tell that the band members are having fun.

Aside from that, the setlist is also pretty good. It as usual opens with some material from The Power and the Glory', which goes to Free Hand, to Interview, and bridges with the usual coupling of 'The Runaway' and 'Experience' (my favorite GENTLE GIANT track), which are both from In A Glass House. Just to say, the way they play 'Experience' is just dazzling.

As usual, they play not individual tracks from Octopus, instead playing 'excerpts' from it instead in an epic-style. They wrap it up with the fan favorite, the seven and half minute long 'Free Hand'.

Overall, this is a Gentle Giant live album to add to your collection, a great one at that.

Go give it a listen.

Gentle Giant is maybe the major prog band with only a few good quality live recordings, the official Playing The Fool, the BBC recordings, King Biscuit and a few isolated tracks on Under Construction. The Gentle Giant bootlegs, a bigger part now accesible as official releases are mostly medium to bad quality in terms of sound. Unfortunately The Bicentinnial is no exception. A part of the tracks were already releasd as Interview In Concert. Thanx to a new more complete and better sounding master the concert was re-released. The concert comes from the 1976 US tour prior to the European Fall tour where Playing The Fool was recorded. The tracks that differ from PTF are Interview, Give It Back and Timing (including the Quadra sound violin solo by Ray) Now, the source must be a soundboard recording and is better then Interview in concert but has still lots of distortion especially on bass and drums and an overall thin sound. A good choice for Giant fans, otherwise Playing The Fool is the record to get from the same period

This is a virtual unedited live concert performance of the band at the Calderone Theatre in Hempstead NY on the eve of the US Bicentennial celebrations for a promotional tour of their album, Interview and comes from the same period of touring that the band released their more familiar, Playing The Fool album. What we don't get are the encore pieces from the latter album, Sweet Georgia Brown/ Peel the Paint/ Lost My Head, which is a pity because Peel the Paint is a highlight of any Gentle Giant concert. Instead we get extended versions of three tracks on the Interview album, Interview, Timing and Give It Back. Timing is especially good because you get about 10 minutes of improvised violin and echo effects. Give It Back is a Bob Marley reggae piece with lots of drum and xylophone. The track Interview is very tongue in cheek with Derek Shulman's voice introducing the song in the format of a radio interview with alternating bass and organ riffs giving it a rolling rocking feel.

Most of the other songs on the Live at the Bicentennial album follow a similar pattern to the Playing the Fool album. So Sincere has some of Gary Green's best electric guitar work before John Weathers begins his extended drum solo. All the musicians are super talented who work within the basic structure of the songs to explore nuances you don't think are there from their studio versions. My only other complaint apart from the exclusion of the encore pieces from the concert, is the band's preference to play excepts from the Octopus album rather than the individual songs from that album. I prefer the fresher sounding unedited Bicentennial album to their better known Playing the Fool album if only for greater audience ambiance you get on this album. The voices aren't as clear, but I don't think it matters. The bonus of having three tracks off the Interview album performed live, makes this a very valuable addition for fans of Gentle Giant to add to their collection.

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Posted Monday, June 29, 2020 | Review Permalink