Customer Reviews

Power & The Glory

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A vague concept album inspired by Graham Greene's novel of the same name (that focuses on the abuse of power, religion and corruption) "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 skirt the bottom end of the charts.

The remaster from Alucard (the band's own label)in some ways improves on the DRT; "Glory" doesn't sound quite as harsh here as on that reissue (the original Capitol release sounded extremely good with a smoother analog feel). Fred Kervorkian has used some compression and different e.q. choices on this remaster. The resulting album is something of a compromise with better, richer detail than before but the use of specific band compression also means that the CD sounds less "natural" than the previous Capitol version. Dynamic range is mostly kept in tact which is a good thing and the remaster isn't brickwalled as many remasters are. There is limiting applied as well as some denoising (at the request of the band) but it isn't as obtrusive as I thought it would be. The best comparison I can think of is that this shares a lot of assets and drawbacks as The Beatles remasters.


The one drawback is that this reissue along with the others that were previously on DRT have had all the bonus tracks removed. For some albums such as "Free Hand" that might not be all that big a deal since they were live recordings but "The Power and the Glory" DID feature the previously withdrrawn title trackthat the band had recorded under duress as a possible single and for possible inclusion on the album. If it HAD been released when this album was, I suspect "Glory" would have sold better since the title track has a catchy riff and melody that would have earned it airplay on FM and perhaps even some AM radio stations at the time. Eliminating that track from this reissue was a mistake even if the band felt it wasn't a great song.

Overall the sound quality is pretty good for a reissue particularly in light of what passes for a "remaster" today with harshly compressed, dynamically squashed sound. Even if this edition of "Glory" is missing the bonus title track, this version is an improvement on the DRT with much better e.q. choices and a less harsh sound. The detail is crisper, sharper here than the Capitol version of this CD which more than likely didn't use the original mastertape (this reissue does). All hype aside (there's hype on the back of this about it being mastered at 24 bits but the album still had to be dithered down to smaller bit size for Redbook CD), this does best the DRT and in my humble opinion does sound better than the Capitol version even if that verion is warmer sounding simply because a better source tape was used for the mastering.

Cautiously recommended because of the missing bonus tracks. "The Power and the Glory" isn't Gentle Giant's finest album but it holds up remarkably well 35 years later.

In many ways, a breakthrough for this underappreciated quintet, Gentle Giant seemed poised to take on the mainstream with this, their first release on Capitol Records in 1975. They even enjoyed their first (if not only?) airplay on L.A.'s KMET with the song "Playing the Game". Despite other reviewers' claims of more dissonance than other albums, that is maybe the case on the first two songs, but the rest of this collection is pretty solid, funky, more repetitious and accessible than this exceptionally creative group had been up to this point. For more dissonance, check out the later release "Interview".

Further clarification is in order: One reviewer claims this to be GG's first concept album. That claim belongs to "Three Friends", released two albums previously. Others have compared GG on this release to Pink Floyd and Van Der Graaf Generator. They are nothing like either of those groups, though I can hear a slight similarity between the openings of "Aspirations" (a beautiful, reflective, jazzy piece) and "Plague of Lighthouse-Keepers". But to lump Gentle Giant in with other styles of prog of that period ..... uh-uh. They had a sound unto themselves, a deliriously syncopated, hard rocking blend of medieval madrigal and funk, and seemed to have more fun playing this highly complex hybrid of sound than many of their self-serious contemporaries. If you asked them what music they enjoyed, they would drop names like War, Funkadelic and Rufus ....... you get the idea.

Back to this album: Yes, there is a concept, and it does tell a very political tale of rise to power, ideals, confidence, manipulation, compromise, betrayal and abuse. Interestingly enough, Power and the Glory came out towards the end of the Nixon Watergate scandal ..... heard in that context, there's a whole other idea of why this album was well-received. Political implications aside, the music is perfectly performed (with just the right amount of dirty edge), cleanly recorded and, as stated before, contains a musical freshness and energy like few others before or since. It's kind of sad that something released nearly 30 years ago can be so much more alive and innovative than current fare ...... but I guess that really depends on what kind of ears one brings to it.

Ultimately, if YOUR ears are starved for something classic that sounds new, recorded at a time when notes and musical knowledge mattered, plug this one in, turn it up loud, and prepare for some serious (but fun) jaw-dropping ecstasy.

"The gentlest music I've 'eard ..... aside from thunderstorms." -the Giant

Those who saw Gentle Giant performing in their heyday were always surprised by how much humour played a role in the live GG experience, rambling jokes in between numbers being par for the course. After their music was branded as pretentious by music critics they even took to touring with a huge neon sign flashing the word "PRETENTIOUS" over their heads. This spirit of playfulness was reflected in most of their music, including Power and the Glory, one of their best albums. It was the first one I ever heard and my initial reaction was "whaaaaaat?", particularly when faced with the frankly insane and utterly brilliant So Sincere. Power and the Glory is not one of their most accessable albums - not that accessable is a term anyone ever applied to Gentle Giant anyway with their nutty time signatures and sometimes raw dissonance counterpointing fragile melodies. But boy does it repay anyone who sticks with it for a couple of listens. What strikes one perhaps the most, compared to much music production nowadays, is the sheer clarity of it. There is no fudging, every instrument is crystal clear and in your face. If this is your introduction to Gentle Giant you might want to purchase Free Hand or Octupus as well and start with one of those since they are a tad easier for the first time listener. But Power and the Glory is one of their best albums and certainly the one that I find myself listening to the most. Just remember that the whole idea behind their music was that it was supposed to be FUN! And you'll have a great time.

Gentle Giant's, "The Power and the Glory," epitomizes the blending of English cultural and music history with fusion rock. Musicians who have studied music will especially appreciate the fascinating harmonizing and timing arrangements in their songs. The music on this album was way ahead of it's time - not to mention way ahead of the present pop music scene! The band members are extremely talented and skilled musicians and their free-flowing arrangements give evidence to open-minded, eclectic music scene of the mid-70s. When you listen to this album you can see how musicians then could play what they feel (and turn it into an album) rather than worry about appeasing a narrow-minded "teeny-bopper" market. Every song is a classic and any curious listener who has not heard this band before, or has not bought one of their albums yet, has to start here. This is the best of the best. American listeners will find no other band that compares. - Forrest Woolman

Don't worry, you won't find the ramblings of Yes, the overblown melodrama of Genesis, the bombast of ELP here. This is my favorite of the Gentle Giant albums I've heard--it doesn't have the excessively "proggy" sound of _Octopus_, or the "too-clean" feeling of _Free Hand_, and it's got a lot more juicy dissonance than _In A Glass House_. The textures are highly contrapuntal and complex, and incredibly clean, because they're not smoothed over or sludged up by any attempt to sound "symphonic." It opens with "Proclamation", possibly the best song I've heard from GG, which is a complicated, funky song with an 80's-sounding vocal line, and whose middle section contains some of the best stacked dissonant vocal chords this side of Thinking Plague's _In This Life_. "So Sincere" is one of GG's most avant-sounding songs--it's polyrhythmic and incredibly frenetic. "Aspirations" sounds like a jazzed-up English folk song, and provides a beautiful moment of rest after the first two hyperactive tracks, without ever getting "too pretty." "Playing the Game" is very jazz-inflected and reveals the Renaissance influence in its middle section, and it's followed by the amazing "Cogs in Cogs", which includes a mind-blowing Stravinsky-like mobile involving two voices and two instruments playing and singing short ostinatos in four different time signatures at once. "No God's a Man" might be the weakest track, with an annoyingly "70's" sound to the vocals, but it's certainly not bad. "The Face" is more straightforward in structure than most of the album, but it's got an excellent guitar solo by Gary Green and lots of fun time-signature changes. The album closes with the brilliant "Valedictory", a reworking of "Proclamation" in a different tempo and rhythm and with different instrumentation, and when this song crashes into a sputter of rewinding tape just as a third batch of those big dissonant chords are about to come in, you don't feel like speaking for a while afterwards. 4.5 stars.

This was one of the last Gentle Giant CDs i bought, and i'm glad. If i had walked in and picked this CD up before any of the others, i may not have given it that second or third listen.

I struggled through the first track Proclamation. It seemed to me a lot 'busier' than most the Gentle Giant songs i had heard before. And then came track two, So Sincere. Oh boy, this song just annoyed me. As the rest of the CD played on and eventually finished, i was left with a kind of bad taste in my mouth. As another reviewer states below, keyboards play a more prominent role on this album, and it took some getting used too.

So i played it again, and again, and again and again. And again! Boy, does it grow on you!

Now, it's probably one of my most played CDs in my collection, though, as the 4 star rating i gave it indicates, it's not my favourite GG cd. I just seem to be in the mood to listen to it more often than with their other albums.

If you haven't heard Gentle Giant before, it's probably best you don't start here. Get one of their 'easier' to get into CDs, like Octopus, Three Friends & Acquiring the Taste.

Gentle Giant's Power and The Glory is a prog masterwork. Proclamation starts the CD out in great fashion. The song "Playing the Game" is a great song that kind of reminds me of Chris Squire's great solo work.It's melodic and complex in a good way. Once again, these guys are a prog treasure. Hail!

This album, their sixth, was the first to represent what I'd call their "middle period" sound. It differs from their first period (more progressive and varied) and is not simpler and more straightforward like their late period of music. So this probably represents Giant Giant as most fans would think of them. Most of the songs are good, though the album overall is not quite as good as the previous album (In a Glass House), nor the following one (Free Hand). But this is definitely an album that Gentle Giant fans need in their collection.

Apparently this album has been one of the best selling GG albums in America, if not the best selling.

Unfortunately, just like the vinyl release, the title song `Power and the Glory' is not on included on this CD release. I had the song on a compilation record years ago, and it is really good. I'm not sure why it keeps getting left behind. It would have made a lot of sense to include it with the other songs.

Okay, this is probably not the GG album for newbies. I was a fan before, and it took me a while to get into some of the cuts ("So Sincere" sounded like it was being played at the wrong speed for my 1st 20 or so listenings!), but it just grew on me until it became my favorite GG album. "The Giant" was easily the finest and most intelligent band of the "prog-rock" era, and this one is just incredible. From the opening "Proclamation" to Derek Shulman's primal scream of "Must be a REASONNN... Why things HAVE turned around..." on the final cut: "Valedictory", it just doesn't get any better than this. For the unitiated, try "Free Hand" first... if "Just the Same" and "On Reflection" don't grab you, save your time, you'll never appreciate these guys. Spectacular musicianship, great non-danceable songs (what in the HELL kind of time signatures do they use???), smart, bitter and satirical lyrics... AHH! Gotta go and play the CD!! I was so happy when this and other GG was released on CD, as my vinyl copies are about worn out. Others worth acquiring (other then the aformentioned "Free Hand") are "Gentle Giant", "Acquiring the Taste", "Three Friends", "Octupus", "In a Glass House" and "Playing the Fool/Live". "In-ter-view" is not bad, but after that BEWARE!!

This was Gentle Giant's first "full-concept" album, and it was very impressive in its day. The story of the unnamed, newly elevated ruler, his initial aspirations for his people and his nation, his burgeoning love of power and rationalizations for his excesses, and his descent into rigid dictatorship was ambitious and riveting -- if one took the effort to follow it carefully.

The music was very much of the kind GG was known for, both before and after this album: complex, experimental and challenging, but never so outre as to alienate the listener who approached it with an open mind and ear.

The Power And The Glory wasn't Gentle Giant's high water mark -- I'd award that distinction to Octopus -- but it was an outstanding work issued at a time when a great malaiase had begun to creep over popular music. Even today, nearly thirty years since its release, it stands well above the mass of small-group contemporary music -- and it's an important foundation stone for much that followed it.