If you are seeking to get into Gentle Giant’s singular discography, this is without doubt as good a place to start as any, and I might even go as far as to say the most recommended entry point. In the unlikely event of you being a fan of the band but not having this album, then what are you waiting for? It is simply inconceivable that you will not love it, and this is the way to get it. A band at the peak of their powers whose like we have not seen again since, this is an essential release.
In January of 1977, Gentle Giant did what the majority of Classic Rock bands did in that decade (with the odd exception such as Bad Company or Black Sabbath): they released a double live album. Back in those heady days of vinyl, before such things as digital recording media were even a glint in the recording companies’ eyes, these releases were far more than just stopgaps in between new studio material – they were often among the most celebrated releases of many a band’s career. Just take a cursory list of some examples: Deep Purple’s Made In Japan, Genesis’ Seconds Out, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same, UFO’s Strangers In The Night, Thin Lizzy’s Live And Dangerous, Jethro Tull’s Bursting Out, Uriah Heep’s Live, Kiss’ Alive!, Hawkwind’s Space Ritual and Renaissance’s Live At Carnegie Hall were all career-defining albums for the bands involved, while Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive release was a monumental success which thrust him to an entirely new level of fame. Part of the attraction was that this was before the days of bands being allowed by technology to release live albums and DVDs after almost every tour, and fans clung to the live releases which did come out as often their only exposure to the bands in the flesh, so to speak – but also there was a mystique about the gatefold double vinyl format which really was the only way to present these releases (sometimes there would even be triple releases, such as Yessongs or ELP’s Welcome Back My Friends extravaganzas). It was, without doubt, the golden age of the double live album, and in 1976, with Gentle Giant’s increasing success allowing them to undertake a massive world tour following the release of the Interview album, their time had certainly arrived.
Just like many of those revered albums listed above, the Playing The Fool album was an unqualified success, artistically and commercially. From my personal point of view, having become interested in the band after reading an interview with them in the studio in Sounds in 1976 (by Phil Sutcliffe, who recorded the part of the hapless interviewer for the Interview album at that same session), Playing The Fool was my introduction to the band when I bought it on its release aged 15. This was just as the punk explosion was beginning to really hit home, yet at a time when Gentle Giant still retained a certain cachet arising from their perceived ‘underground’ status, less populist and more of a cult item than relative giants such as ELP, Yes or Genesis – and the album fascinated me to such an extent that it opened the door for me to explore the rest of their catalogue over the next few years. It sounded pristine, and the performances frequently showcased the powerful rock side to their material which often got overlooked by those keen to portray them as merely tricky and wilfully technical. Now, almost 50 years later, we have an expanded and re-done version of the album with the subtitle The Official Live Gentle Giant replaced by The Complete Live Experience – which is precisely what this is.
Spread over three discs, this release comes as triple vinyl, 2CD or the version covered here which consists of two CDs and a Blu-ray, the latter containing the surround mixes in 5.1 and Dolby Atmos, as well as newly-created visuals (not the filmed shows, but well put together). These surround variants are a true audiophile’s delight, placing the listener essentially in the middle of the action, with the band’s instruments surrounding your head in the precise place where they would have been. However, such things cannot carry a reissue entirely, and the real proof of the pudding lies in what new material we have and whether the existing recordings have been improved for the average listener with two ears and a stereo system. And happily the answer to that question is ‘hugely’, with a full remix from the master tapes giving a whole new clarity and power to the music contained herein, with some of it entirely new.
The first reason for the new material is the reinstatement of two pieces which had been omitted for reasons of space on the original vinyl. Both from the just-released Interview album, these consist of a superb rendition of the song Interview itself, and also the perhaps less predictably played Timing, brilliantly recreated in its tricky substance and leading into a highly enjoyable violin solo from Ray Shulman which really comes into its own on the surround mixes, recreating the astonishing quadrophonic presentation of the original shows, as he uses echo and delay to effectively accompany himself. In addition to this, we now get Derek Shulman’s between-song banter and addressing of the audience – band introductions and all – and the advantage of now having the material presented in the exact order that the show followed at the time. This makes the pacing so much smoother, and the whole experience goes from a collection of great live performances to a great live show – a subtle distinction perhaps, but one which makes all the difference.
The original album came from four recorded shows, in Dusseldorf, Munich, Brussels and Paris, and the new booklet essay herein gives some insight into which performances were taken from which shows, and sometimes why. For instance, the quirky and surprising rendition of the old standard Sweet Georgia Brown, subtitled Breakdown In Brussels, carried that extra tag because it was an impromptu performance while a keyboard malfunction was addressed at the Brussels show, and only played the once – all of which gives it far more context, aided by its being moved from the original jarring position right before the last song of the album. Some of the pieces (including Just The Same, Proclamation and Funny Ways) have had to be taken from different shows owing to the unavailability of the original masters, but such was the band’s precision that the difference is scarcely noted unless you listen for it. Indeed, the opening double-header of Just The Same and Proclamation, different recording or not, remains a highlight here, perhaps more than ever with the power and the drama of the two pieces thrown into greater relief with the new mix. It was always a brilliant pairing, with the two songs matching seamlessly both lyrically and musically – so much so that, when I originally bought the album with no knowledge of the original material, I had assumed they had always been a two-part track in the studio, rather than as they were from two completely different albums. On the same powerful front, the closing two tracks Free Hand and the one-two of Peel The Paint and I Lost My Head both hit harder and more effectively than they ever did, closing the show perfectly. Even the Excerpts From Octopus medley, presenting key moments from that album in one 15-minute whole, still stands up extremely well – as a rule I don’t care for these medley treatments of older songs (as often employed by Genesis of course) but in this case the material is so well put together as a seamless piece that it is hard to argue with the quality. In fact, given the amount of music the band had to choose from, there are few selections to disagree with – perhaps the only song I might have swapped out for something different might be So Sincere, but it is hardly a major issue.
The album comes nicely packaged in a triple fold-out Digipak cover, with individual CD sleeves, and as well as the informative new booklet there is also a small foldout ‘poster’ insert recreating the original gatefold vinyl art. Interestingly, the booklet also explains that the album title, and the ‘Official Live’ subtitle, are a cheeky nod to a couple of 1975 bootlegs which had used the title Playing The Foole! The booklet which came with the original release and contained a nice potted history of the band is not reproduced, which is perhaps a shame, though to my knowledge it has never been used for any CD release of the album as it was. All in all, this is a marked step up for an album which was already an essential recording. If you have the album, this ‘reboot’ is absolutely worth upgrading to, while if you are seeking to get into Gentle Giant’s singular discography, this is without doubt as good a place to start as any, and I might even go as far as to say the most recommended entry point. In the unlikely event of you being a fan of the band but not having this album, then what are you waiting for? It is simply inconceivable that you will not love it, and this is the way to get it. A band at the peak of their powers whose like we have not seen again since, this is an essential release.
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