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After the success that Phil, Ray and Derek Shulman experienced
as Simon Dupree and The Big Sound (the band had a hit single
with the song "Kite"), the struggle to break through as
Gentle Giant must have been frustrating. The band couldn't
initially get their first self titled album released in
the U.S. (although the artwork was used for their third
album "Three Friends" as Columbia felt that the artwork
for that album was too psychedelic and too 60's looking)but
did break through gradually eventually garnering a good
sized following in the United States and the U.K. ***
As "Acquiring The Taste" and "Octopus" gradually took
off the band seemed to be on its way to capturing an appreciative
audience. The band quickly found itself struggling again.
Gentle Giant survived the one-two punch of losing a key
member (Phil Shulman the oldest of the Shulman brothers
in the band) after "Octopus" and went on to pull together
making one of their most challenging sounding albums to
date. "In A Glass House"demonstrated that the band could
rise from the ashes and floursih. the band but the band
carried on as a five piece and produced one of the finest
albums they ever made "In a Glass House" only to find their
record label wouldn't release it. With "Free Hand" they
regrouped producing one of their most confident, melodic
and complex albums. This remaster improves on the DRT remaster
from five years ago and is only flawed by not having the
bonus live track that release had, some compression applied,
minimal denoising and limiting. ***
“In a Glass House” found the band under enormous stress
and the band more than rose to the occasion. This IS one
of Gentle Giant's finest most challenging and complex albums
yet it remains melodic and creative. From the propulsive
percussion which uses a sample of the sound of breaking
glass for the opening track “The Runaway” to the unusual
child-like percussive arrangement at the beginning of “An
Inmate’s Lullaby” the album demonstrates a new found edge
and fire in the band’s playing. *** "In A Glass House" is
the first of three strong and incredibly played classic
albums the band made. Having it rejected must have hurt
given that the band put their heart into the album. With
songs such as "Way of Life" with its almost otherworldly
sort of modern medieval influence composition and playing.
The themes that lead singer Derek Shulman tackled on "In
A Glass House" all had to do with some sort of imprisonment--from
the emotional to the physical. ***
A vague concept album "The Power and the Glory" followed
in the wake of the band's "In A Glass House". Unfortunately,
the band had lost some of its momentum in the U.S. when
Columbia Records (their U.S. label)elected NOT to release
"In a Glass House". With a new label (Capitol at the time),
"The Power and the Glory" managed to land in the middle
of the top 200. "No God's A Man" managed to tackle the same
complex themes and questions that Jethro Tull's "Aqualung"
took an album to examine. ***
While the title of the album alludes to Graham Greene's
novel of the same name (or just to the doxology often added
to the end of the Lord's Prayer) Giant's album is totally
an original work examining many of the same common themes.
It follows a just band believing he can use power to change
things for the good who, ultimately, is corrupted by it.The
music acts as a perfect counterpoint to the lyrics often
in witty, unexpected ways. "Power" finds Giant confident
at at the peak of their musical powers. ***
Arguably, “Free Hand” is the band’s most mature and
most consistent album. Unfortunately many early CD versions
of this album DIDN’T sound good (one of the worst CD transfers
outside of “Three Friends” and “Interview” in their original
CD incarnations). The DRT had improved clarity and detail
but sounded a bit harsh. The new Alucard edition improves
on the DRT with better E.Q. choices and a warmer more natural
sound to my ears (your mileage may vary). Derek Shulman's
impressionistic lyrics focus consistently on what appear
to be failed relationships of one sort or another. ***
The next album “Interview” (which hasn't been reissued
yet)would be their most challenging, complex and LEAST commercial
sounding of their albums. "Interview" which is being reissued
with the next batch of albums gives the band a chance to
satirize the inane questions from interviewers looking for
meaning in their songs, trying to interpret their work,
trying to find a meaty quote to characterize the band or
generally misreading their work which often had references
to everything from psychatrist R.D. Laing ("Knots" from
"Octopus") to both literary and philosphical references.
***
After “Interview” the band elected to pull into the
fast lane and introduce more mainstream arrangements and
streamlined song structures with the much maligned “The
Missing Piece”, “Giant For A Day” and the New Wave influenced
“Civilian” their last studio album. “Free Hand” manages
to merge the band’s brilliant playing with some of their
richest and most rewarding songs. ---
Sound:
These versions on Alcuard sound less harsh with better
E.Q. choices and a warmer sound than the 2005 DRT remasters.
Detail was better for both of those editions than previous
ones as well as clarity which you can chalk up to the master
tapes or digital copies being used for both of these. There
appears to be some limiting applied as well but for a modern
remaster the Alcuard 40th Anniversary remasters sound quite
good. If there are some drawbacks with these editions compared
to previous ones they are balanced out to some degree because
we have better source tapes for the CDs. ***
Band bassist Ray Shulman and mastering engineer Fred
Kervorkian went back to the original original master tapes
to assemble this edition. Be aware that while this sounds
better than either of those previous editions with a smoother,
less “harsh” digital sound. I should note that the tools
that the mastering engineer used here to give the remasters
a more “modern” sound was fairly tastefully done and this
doesn't have the overwhelming bad qualities of most modern
remasters. The reason that Kervorkian used the selective
band compression was to give the album a slightly more "modern"
sound and he does succeed at doing this without betraying
the overall sonic quality of the album. Dynamic range is
comparable to the 2002 edition of this album. ***
If you’re willing to accept some of the mastering compromises
for the sake of better clarity and detail, you’ll enjoy
these remasters particularly compared to the harsher E.Q.
used for the DRT reissues from five years ago. The best
comparison I can think of is that this shares a lot of the
assets and drawbacks of The Beatles remastered CDs. As with
The Beatles remasters, these were designed to compete with
more modern remasters without slamming listeners’ ears into
brick walled sound. ---
Extras:
The 2005 live bonus tracks aren’t included and while
they weren't essential to enjoy the album for those who
didn't see the band in their prime these track(s) gave a
nice hint as to how they sounded live even though many of
these live tracks sounded like they were pulled from cassettes
recorded through the soundboard. ***
You get the original album, the lyrics and the album
graphics reproduced for this edition. That's it. The 3D
style cover for “In a Glass House” is not faithfully reproduced
here if that matters to you but the graphics still look
terrific. “The Power and The Glory” doesn’t have the booklet
cut like an unusual playing card (the first CD edition did
have that mimicking the original vinyl album cover). There
aren’t any liner notes which is a pity because they WOULD
give new fans context for the albums. We do, however, get
lyrics for all three albums. ***
The versions of the album available for digital downloads
DO have bonus live tracks. It’s a pity this is the only
way to get these tracks. The digital downloads here are
NOT the same as the ones on the DRT CDs (some of the same
songs show up but from different performances and years).
The good news is that the CDs are budget priced compared
to most new releases AND the download versions of the albums
are inexpensive. When you combine the two they add up to
the cost of a new release so if you purchase the downloads
AND the CDs you'll get the best of both worlds so to speak
although it will cost more. Final Words: Despite facing
major setbacks including the loss of a key member of the
band, their U.S. label Columbia Records refusing to release
their album and having to revamp their music for a five
piece vs. the original six piece line up, Gentle Giant rose
from the ashes to produce three of their most mature, creative
albums of their career. ***
The mastering is good although it does lack subtly
compared to the earliest editions, the clarity and detail
are superior to previous editions as the ¼ master tapes
were used, in many cases, for the first time. The new remasters
aren’t brickwalled although some limiting was applied along
with selective band compression and no noise software in
Protools. The result is that the albums sound more modern
but haven’t completely lost the qualities that made the
original albums so unique sounding. ***
Are these perfect remasters? No. Are they GOOD sounding?
Yes. If you’re an OCD audiophile you won’t like these BUT
if you’re looking for good sounding versions of these classic
albums with improved clarity and detail (as well as better
E.Q. choices on the part of the engineer), these are solid
CDs worth picking up. I think that the mastering engineer
did a good job of straddling the line of creating a modern
sounding remaster (the direction of Ray Shulman) AND trying
to retain as much of the original sound of the master tapes
as possible. ***
While later albums such as "The Missing Piece" and
"Giant for a Day" received harsh critical assessment when
they were first released time has been kind to them for
the most part. The real stand out albums though are the
trio recorded just after Phil Shulman left the band which,
along with the terrific live album "Playing the Fool", presents
the band in peak form. Recommended.
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