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Playing the Fool - The Official Live: Difference between revisions
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Playing the Fool - The Official Live (view source)
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== | == Liner notes == | ||
<cite> These liner notes are reproduced with the kind permission of Terrapin Trucking (UK) Ltd. </cite> | |||
When Playing the Fool appeared in January 1977, it was simultaneously the best and the worst time for Gentle Giant to release the only official live recordings of their eleven-year career. The previous two years had been, and would remain, the most intense period of the band's existence. Following their move to Chrysalis early in 1975, Giant embarked upon a punishing schedule of touring and recording which saw the release of two excellent albums, Free Hand (August 1975) and Interview (April 1976), each followed by extensive live excursions covering thousands of miles in Britain, Europe and America. During May, June and July 1976, Gentle Giant played 51 dates in 90 days, including visits to such widely separated cities as Edinburgh, Rome, Vancouver, Dallas and Boston. | |||
This gruelling schedule gave the band a degree of cohesion which was, at times, awe-inspiring. There is little doubt that Playing the Fool caught them in brilliant form, successfully capturing the power and excitement of the band's live performances, and demonstrating their ability to reproduce much of the mind-boggling complexity of their studio recordings on stage. Had it appeared six months or so earlier, the album could, perhaps, have made a greater impact; instead, the rapid and dramatic rise of Punk and the New Wave had led to a radical re-appraisal of musical values. Progressive rock, with its emphasis on musical expertise and adventurous composition, was suddenly reviled by many sections of the popular music press, and prevailing trends ensured that Playing the Fool received a generally less than enthusiastic reception. | |||
Plans to release a live album took shape during the Summer of 1976. Since joining Chrysalis, Gentle Giant had enjoyed more support from their label than at any time since initially signing on the dotted line for Vertigo back in 1970. Their confidence and enthusiasm were renewed, and this was reflected in both the quality and quantity of their work during the period. There was a feeling in the band that the time was right to undertake live recordings, a feeling reinforced by the feedback they were getting from their followers, as keyboardist Kerry Minnear recently explained: "We'd had a lot of people telling us how different we were on stage, more dynamic and exciting... and we'd always worked hard on presentation, doing rearrangements, whole new musical sections, links between songs and so on, so from our point of view we certainly believed there was value in our live shows. Chrysalis obviously agreed, because there were no objections when we said we wanted to do the live album." | |||
The Maison Rouge mobile was duly hired for two weeks in late September and early October 1976, and something like half a dozen shows were taped. On their return to England, the band spent a month at Advision Studios choosing and remixing the recordings, a process which, like every aspect of Giant's recording activities, involved the whole group. "During these sessions, the whole band would be at the mixing desk - each one of us had a pot or a fader... it would've made a wonderful photograph!", drummer John Weathers recalls. "Everyone in the group was so totally committed to getting the best result." From the outset, the intention had been to present the recordings without overdubs - au naturel, as Chrysalis put it - and to a large extent this was achieved. A few parts were re-recorded - one or two backing vocals had been somewhat lost in the live mix, and Kerry's clavinet had to be patched in because of an incurable problem with electrical interference from a lighting rig - but in every case the original part was reproduced as nearly as possible in the studio, the only consideration being to enhance the sound quality where the original was unusable. | |||
Playing the Fool presents the material in the same order as it was presented on stage; the only difference between listening to the album and being at a Giant gig of the time was the omission of a brace of tracks from Interview, then the band's most recent studio offering. Drawing from every period of their career, and to a greater or lesser extent from all eight of their previous albums, this is essentially a greatest hits package with added dynamism. The sheer energy of much of the material provides a serious challenge to Giant's undeserved reputation for a frigid, mechanical approach to their work, and supports John Weathers' assertion in a 1975 Zig Zag interview - "They can rock, these boys!" | |||
The album opens, as did the live show, with a specially-taped introduction which leads into a rendition of "Just the Same", virtually indistinguishable from the original. This, in turn, is linked to "Proclamation", slightly re-organised and with the quiet middle section ommitted. "On Reflection" provides the first evidence of Gentle Giant's efforts to re-vamp their material for live performance. The song is introduced by an acoustic quartet of violin, cello, vibes and recorder playing a delightful arrangement of the original's second theme, before the stunning four-part vocal round which opens the studio version kicks in. | |||
Further evidence of this approach is provided by the next offering, a fifteen-minute suite of tracks from the album Octopus (1972), an important release which had established the band in America, and enhanced their reputation elsewhere. This collage of pieces contains several fine examples of Giant's versatility, including an acoustic guitar duet, and a jaunty recorder quartet. Delving further into their past, "Funny Ways", from their self-titled 1970 debut, gives Kerry Minnear the opportunity to cut loose on vibes. | |||
Two numbers from 1973's In a Glass House are then given a fairly straight run-through, before another slice of Gentle Giant audacity; a reading of "So Sincere", from 1974's The Power and the Glory, starts out by following the original for the most part, but is soon transformed into an orgy of percussion which sees all five members of the band hammering away at an assortment of drums. Without warning, the thundering ceases abruptly, to be replaced by the delicate sound of bells, vibes and glockenspiels tinkling away. Finally, the drums return, and the track ends with another deafening barrage. Gentle Giant chose their name to reflect the textural contrasts in their music, and those contrasts are rarely more evident than on this recording. | |||
The final section of the album is given over to some determined rocking, concluding with a superbly solid "I Lost My Head", intriguingly prefaced by a short excerpt of "Peel the Paint", a lone survivor from 1972's Three Friends. | |||
Included here, but absent from the first CD re-issue of Playing the Fool in 1989, is "Breakdown in Brussels", which is in fact a brief rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown" featuring the violin of Ray Shulman and Gary Green's acoustic guitar. The Brussels gig was almost wiped out by a complete failure of the power supply to Kerry Minnear's keyboards just two numbers into the set. While electricians and roadies scurried to and fro in a desperate attempt to cure the problem, Ray and Gary performed some impromptu pieces, of which this was one. A partial solution was found, and the gig continued with a much-reduced array of keyboards, but the delay provided not only a glimpse of the humour so often (and so inaccurately) said to be lacking in the band, but also only the second non-original ever to appear on a Giant album - the first being a short heavy-rock version of the National Anthem which closed their debut release! | |||
During the course of a 90-minute performance, Gentle Giant played almost thirty different instruments between them, switching from one to another with the same consummate ease that the music changed in style, texture and tempo. Chrysalis' publicity of the time described them as "Just five one-man bands putting it all together", which perhaps stretched the analogy a little, but certainly set the tone. Their musicianship was beyond a doubt, their commitment total, and on stage Giant were the embodiment of the philosophy which drove them on - they could never see the point of repeating themselves, and constantly looked for new ideas, and new ways of expressing them. Accordingly, they took the opportunity presented by live performances to re-model old favourites, not simply to allow them to be played live, but to keep things fresh and interesting for all concerned. | |||
The result was a show packed with strong material, littered with surprises, performed with a rare conviction. Playing the Fool captures the mood perfectly - it's a fitting tribute to the ability of a unique band, and, had they not already used it, The Power and the Glory would have been an entirely appropriate title. | |||
''- Alan Kinsman. With thanks for their assistance to Kerry Minnear and John "Pugwash" Weathers.'' | |||
== Reviews and Ratings == | == Reviews and Ratings == | ||