THE LAST STEPS

I have collected many Gentle Giant bootlegs even though I know that most of them the record quality is really bad. I don't really know I keep buying it at secondary market - because I cannot afford bootleg retail price which typically very high and unreasonable. Lucky I live in a country where most people do not like bootleg records except my die hard Led Zeppelin friend - Tatan A Taufik who has more than 150 collections of LZ bootlegs. Unbelievable!

This "The Last Steps" by Gentle Giant is basically a previously unreleased live recording of Gentle Giant's last concert in the USA, at the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. It is an official UK release from Red Steel Music, distributed by Terrapin. But, even though it's tagged as "official", the audio quality is nothing different with my other bootlegs like "Interview" in concert etc. I really do not care about audio this time, although I have never claimed myself as a die-hard fan of Gentle Giant. If you ask me, I am a die-hard fan of Marillion under Fish era full stop. But it does not mean that I stop my musical boundaries only to those symphonic or neo prog kinds of music - as you have seen how diverse my reviews have been. In fact, you can find many prog met reviews that I have posted right here at this wonderful site - a site of a free world democracy: you can say any opinion about prog music here.

Let's have a look on this album by Gentle Giant. All songs presented here are truly excellent. Do you still remember my review on "Civilian" which I praised highly their hard rock ever exploration in "All Through the Night" ? Oh man .. right here with this bootleg the band plays it brilliantly and very lively! I do not really care about the sonic quality but this song does deliver GREAT mood - very uplifting mood, really! If you like this track, I am pretty damn sure that you would agree with me that this live version is very dynamic. It seemed like the band played it wholeheartedly.

The next track is a title track "Free Hand" which is also performed wonderfully by the band. I can see the energy the band members indicated during the concert. Having seen the DVD "Giant on The Box" I am pretty sure that the band members have done great on stage. I feel like I am now watching them alive by imagining those gigs recorded at the DVD. "Knots" is also excellent.

Under "Playing The Game" (5:01) the band gives some more improvisations by letting guitar to perform longer solo. Well, I cannot elaborate song by song review. For me is very sure: if you love the band, you would definitely purchase this bootleg regardless the sound quality. It's bootleg, anyway, what do you expect! Oh by the way, I need to stress the performance of "Inside Out" which sounds really great amidst audio quality.

So, if I give this with two stars, it does not mean that this is a bad album at all but it's only DEDICATED to die hard fans. If you are not, you should not purchase this album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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