KING BISCUIT FLOWER HOUR PRESENTS

The only bad news here is that all of the songs can be heard on several of their other live efforts. I don't have the time to spend listening to all of their live albums to see if there is any appreciable difference between the various versions of any particular song. The sound quality is good on this album, but there are a few places where the editor left too little space between songs (a pet peeve). Also, at one point, an idiotic audience member bellows something during a very quiet passage, which serves to remind the listener that not all Gentle Giant fans are geniuses. Oh well, the price is right!

Live album from Gentle Giant? Ugh . why not man!! Even though there are many versions of live recordings the band has released, each version is always interesting one to have including this one. This one was recorded on January 18, 1975 at The Academy of Music in New York City. On set list, I don't think you are surprised with it as the songs are regularly played in other live set by the band. What I really enjoy about live recording is the ambience of the show especially having to enjoy their music without any visual presentation. The only thing I can do is to imagine who plays what based on my experience watching the Giant on The Box DVD set. This is particularly due to the facts that the band has always played with many kind of instruments on top of regular ones: drums, guitar, bass, keyboard. In total, they play more than 30 type of instruments: be it woodwinds, violin, cellos, acoustic bass, vibraphone, brass, etc. I do enjoy the vibraphone solo in "Funny Ways". Hey, subconsciously, Funny Ways who has always been the track that I always skip, is now regaining its presence to my mind. Having been 30 years listening to the band's music? You may say I'm out of my mind: How come it takes so damn long to love a tune? Well, I am.

The other thing that I love about this album is, of course, the communication done by Derek Shulman right after Funny Ways especially when he says (it always the same with other live set): "In A Glass House!" followed by weird sounds of breaking glass. Again, I'm amazed with the consistency of these sounds with other live set. "The Runaway" starts off nicely followed with "Experience" which is characterized by unique clavinet at the opening. "Knots" is my favorite - opened dynamically with dynamic drumming by John Weathers.

In summary, if you are not die-hard fan of the band but you like their music and you have owned Playing The Fool CD, forget it, don't buy this CD. But, if you love the band very much, my words on above two paragraphs may help you. I hope. One thing for sure . Keep on proggin' .!

Progressively yours, GW

"He tries to make her afraid by not being afraid." - Knots by Gentle Giant

To me, any good quality recording of Gentle Giant during their peak years is a prized recording. This one took place right after the amazing The Power And The Glory, but even limited to about forty-five minutes, manages to fit in quite a bit of great material from four of the six Giant albums up to that point.

And incredible these songs are. From their intricate structures and beautiful melodies, harmonies and arrangements, to the fact that these five guys could actually perform these songs on stage, the best word to describe it is: incredible.

While most of the selections on this recording can also be heard on Playing The Fool, the full version of Knots, The Advent Of Panurge and the other variations of the music are enough to make this worthwhile.

And to Derek (the record company executive) Shulman, who later seemed to almost regret the music his band made, playing "The Biscuit" was a sign of success back in the seventies. Maybe you guys weren't getting rich, but you were creating something important.

That's the recording regarding a famous radio concert witnessing the "Power and the Glory" Tour...of course it was one of their best performances live, even though not all the fans agree about the quality of such gig and the performance itself of G.G., which someone doesn't regard as their best example on stage...their approach was easier here, in comparison to the old complex arrangements (according to their previous baroque music and classical structure of the songs). But even though They played in the vein of the traditional rockers here, the present live was not inferior for instance than "Live Playing the Fool" (dated 1976), despite of this latter being a little bit "scholastic" in the execution, also regarding the controversial recording which wasn't so clear...of course a few unforgettable tracks like "Knots" or "The advent of Panurge" (tracks#6 and 7) make us soon forget the defects within this radio performance, which was played with a lot of energy anyway. Unfortunately this time the exaggeration concerning the vocalism (which sometimes seems out of tune) is really able to disturb me just a bit. Nevertheless- however- the instrumental parts were so powerful, even when They played simple energic rock...Nowadays the music witness has been picked up by Echolyn (despite of their new "avant-gard" pop arrangements of these latter, today less baroque) and I should say by the Hungarian After Crying too, especially when They forget an emulating approach in the vein of King Crimson and F. Zappa: well actually all these bands have been often able to maintain the polyphonic complex arrangement, as it's regarded typical for the "G.G trademark", but the British masters of this music genre in the early seventies were the first ones and you cannot underrate this fact...so the producers are always forgiven for the choice of editing a radio concert by means of the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" label, especially considering a lot of "sound" purists all around the Recording Studios often ready to criticize and...nevermind at the end you could also add another half star at least!

Review Nº 834

As many of we know, Gentle Giant was formed in 1970 by the three multi-instrumentalists the Shulman brothers, Phil, Derek and Ray. They were joined by the guitarist Gary Green, the keyboardist Kerry Minnear and the drummer Martin Smith and formed Gentle Giant. During their short live, Gentle Giant only lasted ten years from 1970 to 1980, the line up of the band was very stable. It had only the departure of one of the Shulman brothers, Phil, in 1972, after the live tour to promote their fourth studio album 'Octopus' of 1972, and two changes of their drummers. Malcolm Mortimore replaced Martin Smith, in 1971, after the release of their second studio album 'Acquiring The Taste' in 1971 and John Weathers that replaced Malcolm Mortimore, in 1972, after the release of their third studio album 'Three Friends' in 1972.

'King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents' is one of the many Gentle Giant's live albums that was released in 1998. This live show was recorded at the Academy of Music in New York City, in 18 January 1975. It was performed one year after the release of their sixth studio album 'The Power And The Glory'. This concert captures Gentle Giant at the top of their form and at the peak of their fame. This is a short live album with about 45 minutes. The tracks are the same of their other live album called 'Experience', released in 2002. In reality, it features the same tracks but in a different order.

'King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents' has only seven tracks. The first track 'Proclamation' is a live version of a song released on their sixth studio album 'The Power And The Glory'. The second track 'Funny Ways' is a live version of a song released on their eponymous debut studio album 'Gentle Giant'. The third track 'The Runaway' is a live version of a song released on their fifth studio album 'In A Glass House'. The fourth track 'Experience' is also a live version of a song released on their fifth studio album 'In A Glass House'. The fifth track 'So Sincere' is also a live version of a song released on their sixth studio album 'The Power And The Glory'. The sixth track 'Knots' is a live version of a song released on their fourth studio album 'Octopus'. The seventh and last track 'The Advent Of Panurge' is also a live version of a song released on their fourth studio album 'Octopus'.

King Biscuit Flower Hour was an USA radio show that regularly presented especially organized concerts for over two decades. This release shows Gentle Giant at their best and in the peak of their fame. At the time there were signs that hard work, ambition and musical wilfulness would finally bring the band relatively wide recognition. Gentle Giant came to New York with the successful and musically successful album 'The Power And The Glory' in the band's luggage. Incidentally, the previous album 'In A Glass House' was only available as an import in the USA, since the record bosses considered it quite unsalable. Despite this commercially farsighted behaviour, 'In A Glass House' sold 150,000 copies over there at the time. The great highlights of this live concert would include the vibraphone solo on their track 'Funny Ways', the keyboard transition between the tracks 'The Runaway' and 'Experience', the drums/chime parts of the track 'So Sincere', and the acoustic guitar duo on the track 'Knots'. So, we can say that 'King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents' contains concert highlights that are very well known to all Gentle Giant's fans, were here again they are of the first class performed with the addition of some instrumental passages made for their live performances. Added to this, we need also to highlight the virtuoso mastery of the all instruments played by all band's members, the contagious and unique joy of playing of all performers of Gentle Giant and finally, the excellent compositional talent of the all band.

Conclusion: As I mentioned before, 'King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents' is a live album with the same live tracks of 'Experience', but with a new different musical alignment. The 'King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents' is, without any doubt, a great live album with a beautiful live atmosphere. For me, is totally irrelevant the different musical alignment, because I sincerely like of the alignments on both live albums. However, despite the quality of this live show, I still prefer the live show on 'Playing The Fool'. In relation to the selection of the tracks, I can only say that it's absolutely irreproachable. However, not all of their first six studio albums were represented on it. It hasn't songs of their second studio album 'Acquiring The Taste' and hasn't songs of their third studio album 'Three Friends'. So, it has one song from their eponymous debut studio album 'Gentle Giant', 'Funny Ways', two songs from their fourth studio album 'Octopus', 'Knots' and 'The Advent Of Panurge', also two songs from their fifth studio album 'In A Glass House', 'Experience' and 'The Runway' and it has also two songs from their sixth studio album 'The Power And The Glory', 'Proclamation' and 'So Sincere'. So, as a conclusion, despite I prefer 'Playing The Fool', 'King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents' and 'Experience' are two excellent live albums of Gentle Giant. So, to buy one of them is, without any doubt, a great option because we are in presence of some different and but also excellent live material from a great live band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)