The Missing Piece review from Keyboard Magazine

Contemporary Keyboard, January 1978

(Submitted by Steve Lottich)

It seems that with The Missing Piece, progressive-rock multi-keyboardist Kerry Minnear and his friends are looking for a hit single: side one contains five short cuts in place of the usual three, and on "Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It," a palpable, if slightly tongue-in-cheek, Chuck Berry influence raises its dragon head and breathes fire on the listener. The riffs are crisp, angular, and utterly inimitable, as always, but a new interest in the subtle structural complexities of 4/4 is now evident. Also as always, Minnear is positively stingy when it comes to doling out leads. There's some unaccompanied organ on the fadeout of "As Old As You're Young," but even that is riff rather than solo. He invariably finds the right notes for the texture, though, which is no small accomplishment. Not, perhaps, the best Giant album yet - but when you're *that* tall, it's impossible to slouch.