Label: Chrysalis Records
Release date: July 1975
Produced by: Gentle Giant
Album length: 36.50 min
Genre: Progressive Rock/Experimental Rock
Rating: 10/10
“Free Hand” was the seventh studio album from the legendary veterans of eclectic prog rock. Around this time Gentle Giant parted ways with World Wide Artists, who had started pushing them to crank out hit singles, and signed with Chrysalis Records. The big factor behind that drastic move was a successful European tour with their prog-rock comrades Jethro Tull, the flagship act on Chrysalis. Unlike on earlier tours, where other bands usually met Gentle Giant’s “special” qualities with incomprehension or even outright bullying, they quickly made friends with the Jethro Tull guys and built up mutual respect. In the cruel world of the music business, those became their only real friends.
Forging such tight bonds with the champions of progressive folk rock left its mark on the sound of “Free Hand” too. The album packed a generous helping of folk-rock spice and the most medieval troubadour-style arrangements in their whole story. Compared to most of their earlier albums, they wove a bit more melodic sensibility into the structures of the individual songs, while still keeping a high level of complexity and unpredictability. With their one-of-a-kind mix of scattered multi-part harmonies, polymetric schemes, unpredictable time changes and a mountain of improvisation, they were still among the most eclectic bands of their era. Besides the folk-rock elements and motifs from British medieval music, they once again didn’t skimp on jazz fusion and hard rock flavors, which they slipped into the songs with exceptional finesse and playfulness.
The lyrical themes, full of self-irony and biting satire aimed at the music industry, once again touched on various aspects of life in the band, much as they had a few times before. King Crimson and Pink Floyd were far from the only bands that, already at the commercial peak of prog rock, got gloomy visions of the future and sensed that something rotten had taken root in the music industry.
The incredible range of their unique compositional and instrumental language is on show from start to finish. With all the virtuoso instrumental sections, witty motifs, unconventional vocal harmonies and rhythmic layering, even the choosiest prog-rock gourmet’s heart skips a beat. “Just The Same” is a superb opening treat, with plenty of their trademark rhythmic polymers, unexpected swerves into symphonic motifs and a heaping helping of juicy jazz fusion improvisation. The usual Gentle Giant tomfoolery is there too, this time courtesy of handclaps and finger snaps in between. Derek’s theatrical vocal performance carries a sharp satire of the music industry’s decadence and its lazy, blanket attitude toward bands that don’t fit certain corporate criteria.
The excellent “On Reflection”, whose lyrics don’t hide their black humor about a failed relationship, is steeped in a distinctly Celtic sensibility and a sacred atmosphere. They conjure up this pastoral magic with scattered choral harmonies and the indispensable use of the vibraphone. This time keyboardist Kerry Minnear steps up as lead vocalist with a strikingly high-pitched performance that would make even Jon Anderson (Yes) blush. Once again they don’t forget to slip in mischievous harmonies and boisterous rhythmic combinatorics in the style of a nursery-rhyme motif, which recalls the swaying of a friendly giant. The title track, where they express their feelings about switching labels, is among their classics. A spooky opening arrangement is followed by numerous dramatic twists packed with hard-rock mannerisms, above all thanks to punchy guitar phrases courtesy of Mr. Green. The refined transition between symphonic, jazz and hard-rock elements is once again finger-lickin’ good. Derek’s charismatic-paranoid vocal ties it all together brilliantly.
“Time to Kill”, which opens with an electronic pattern that was revolutionary for its time, is marked by refined Celtic arrangements and unusual melodic polish. There’s an abundance of unexpected time changes and improvisation again, but Derek’s singing, backed by ethereal backing harmonies and decisive guitar phrases, gives the melodic arrangements the upper hand. The excellent “His Last Voyage”, the most complex creation on the album, is a song of many contrasting moods. It opens as an acoustic-flavored Celtic ballad with angelic vocal harmonies, but playful rhythmic ornaments in the background, especially on the vibraphone, quickly signal that there’ll be no shortage of gloriously mad instrumental adventures this time either. Through the angelic harmonies they start sneaking in witty jazzy improvisations, which of course include Green’s astonishingly good wah-wah soloing. The ending brings back the solemn harmonies and acoustic accompaniment in the finest Celtic manner.
Their dalliance with Jethro Tull is best illustrated by the splendid instrumental “Talybont”, which, with woodwinds and violin, features troubadour elements of a Tudor-era Renaissance madrigal. Here the listener can travel back to the days when the friendly giant sat at the same table as Henry VIII. The closing “Mobile” is a spirited blend of folk, jazz and hard rock, with Ray’s violin clowning around front and center. Despite the dominance of the folk-rock arrangements, they once again delight with unexpected twists into witty fusion sections. The lyrics deal with the lifestyle of constantly roaming from tour to tour, seen through the band’s eyes.
With “Free Hand”, Gentle Giant cooked up yet another evergreen sonic stew of exceptional stylistic variety, seasoned with a generous dose of their indispensable rascally humor and self-irony. Even today the album remains one of the best achievements in the band’s story, easily watering the taste buds of every prog-rock gourmet out there. Besides the staggering range in songwriting and instrumentation, what blows you away again and again is the production, which was phenomenal for its day and makes the album sound like it was recorded yesterday. “Free Hand” gave the band their best chart placing on the American album charts in 1975, which for guys who saw commercial success as a drop in the ocean is a pretty negligible stat. What’s far more interesting is that once upon a time, “way back when,” American listeners knew how to reward artistic individuality and creativity too. On home turf in Britain, apart from a handful of loyal fans, they were as usual largely overlooked. Sadly, the move to Crysalis didn’t save them from that label also getting bitten by the craving for radio hits and commercializing the band in the following years, which led to their premature but honorable exit from the music industry.
Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Just The Same
2. On Reflection
3. Free Hand
4. Time To Kill
5. His Last Voyage
6. Talybont
7. Mobile
Lineup:
Derek Shulman – vocals, saxophone, recorder
Gary Green – electric and acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Ray Shulman – bass guitar, violin, backing vocals, recorder
Kerry Minear – keyboards, vocals, backing vocals
John Weathers – drums, percussion
