Gentle Giant: Free Hand

Album: Free Hand
Artist: Gentle Giant
Year: 1975

This is post #1 and I am listening to 'Free Hand' by Gentle Giant as we speak. I am not a critic, so I am not going to give it stars or thumbs or thumbtacks or anything like that. I will say that this album is very interesting to listen to. One minute into a song I'll have to check and make sure its still the same song. Its full of surprising changes in mood and tone and key and so far I am having a very positive reaction to this record. This is the first one so I'm not exactly sure what format I'm going to follow but I think I'm going to break it down song by song.

1. Just the Same

This song just has one of those openings. You know you are in for something. Starts with snapping, and then the piano joins in followed by guitar then vocals, drums and bass all come in at the same time. This song and Gentle Giant in general have some interesting guitar effects. This song has a quick tempo until an interlude that's really atmospheric until it builds up into a solo and then it hops right back into the verse. The lyrics seem to be about autonomy of self or something like that. They aren't very explicit and they are very repetitive but the vocals in the song are great.

2. On Reflection

In this song Gentle Giant exposes their medieval influence by flute and string and glockenspiel(?) Or something. That's one of the things that's really incredible about this band is that most of the members are multi-instrumentalists so you might hear drum and bass and guitar in a song, but you also might hear flute and fiddle and upright bass. Most of them are accomplished vocalists as well, there's a great segment of this song that is a cappella. Towards the end of the song drum and electric guitar emerge in melodious glory. I would argue that this is a standout track.

3. Free Hand

I think this is one of the best songs on the album. The intro is very anxious, very quick and it builds into beautiful hooks and a very good verse. Its got very accessible lyrics compared to the other songs and is obviously about a relationship, perhaps a broken one, and the ambiguity that it has introduced into the narrator's (vocalist's) life. These guys know how to write songs, the song structure is varied, the parts are complex and intertwined, and yet this song retains a feeling of pop. Some people are deterred from pop but here I think its a very beautiful thing, because Gentle Giant is hiding things that aren't seen in pop songs, in a pop song. Again, I'm not a critic, so perhaps I'm abusing this lingo but, there's something here that is very different and I like that. There is a pretty long instrumental interlude that again builds into another verse, stronger than the last. The vocals are more stressed, they are more powerful, and the ending is just great. If you don't listen to the whole album, then I would pick this song to represent it.

4. Time to Kill

This is an example of the abrupt mood changes i was talking about. The song starts out heavy and foreboding, but the verse is in a major key and is much different in feeling. This song probably has my favorite of all the lyrics. It seems to be about a mysterious drifter or someone very lost. In the middle of song, after the third verse, there is a different vocal part that is beautiful with the guitar and bass. After that it returns to the opening and then it repeats the second and third verses and fade out to the end. Overall not the strongest song on the record, but a good song nonetheless.

5. His Last Voyage

I like the opening in this one. Its aimless, wandering, it also debuts an acoustic guitar for the record. The opening is much slower than the other songs, the vocals are cloudy and dreamy. Literally this song is about a ship at sea, at one point they declare "fate rules over hope." So with anchors up his ship is kind of wandering I guess, looking not for adventure but a "way of life." I like that. Not after too long the song turns into a loungy kind of groove, the vocals remain the same but its a good combination. Probably the best guitar solo on the whole record is in this song. Its absolutely great and if you listen to the song only for the solo it would be worth it. So do that.

6. Talybont

Here are those medieval influences again, only this time they are a bit more aggressive and prevail through the guitar's wah-effects, which suddenly shifts into harpsichord and flute and back again. This is the only instrumental song on the record, but I think its interesting to listen to, you've probably never heard anything like it and its pretty dang good.

Closing Remarks.

Gentle Giant is a British band and Free Hand is their seventh album. They were notorious for being very experimental in their genre, which was already pretty experimental. They are usually listed amongst the progressive rock bands of the 70's-alongside Yes, Genesis, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. From what I understand this album was an attempt to be less experimental and more straightforward, and I've listened to other Gentle Giant records and I think they achieved that without sacrificing their art too much, that is, without selling out. This is a very good album and at the very least this artist deserves your attention! I'll be back tomorrow with another!