INTERVIEW

Gentle Giant

Eclectic Prog

3.74 | 911 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Flucktrot
Prog Reviewer

Many compare this album with their previous release--Free Hand--and seem to believe that Interview is in many ways inferior. Not bad, of course, but not up to their previous standard.

In all honesty, the approach and quality of music contained within Free Hand and Interview is quite similar, and the same high points and flaws apply fairly equally to both. As with Free Hand, I just don't think anything on this album is great, even though the overall range is very solid, from good to very good.

The best tracks for me are the opener and closer, Interview and I Lost My Head, respectively. Both showcase the newer (at least in that time) Gentle Giant approach, with good melody, upbeat rocking, but still keeping some of the classic Gentle Giant texture and intricacy with softer moments and a variety of instruments and keyboard contributions from Minnear. Perhaps they are just a bit repetitive, but unlike other tracks on this album, this at least gives you a chance to "dig in" to some of the good grooves they lay down.

The rest are solid tracks but not great. Some, such as Give It Back and Another Show, just don't have much good material and never had a chance to stand out. Others, such as Empty City and Timing, have some interesting touches but could have been extended a bit in my opinion to hold together better. The by-now-standard innovative song, Design, features a dreamy chorus with Kerry's unique voice floating over, and it sounds less forced than the parallel track from Free Hand (On Reflection).

It's clear that the Giant were getting a bit formulaic by this point, but when that is largely a good formula, why complain? I find this to be a solid album with a few notable highlights. If I Lost My Head is the final "classic" Gentle Giant composition, I think they sent themselves off quite well!

Flucktrot | 3/5 | 2010-6-5

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Share this GENTLE GIANT review

Social review comments () BETA

Review related links

Send comments to Flucktrot
Report this review (#285121)
Buy GENTLE GIANT music online with PA partners
Show all GENTLE GIANT MP3/Stream
Go to GENTLE GIANT page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
Go to Interview page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
Search the Forum for GENTLE GIANT related discussions