Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Gentle Giant
Release: 1976
Length: 36:22
Rating: 4/5
“Interview” is the last album from the legendary masters of eclectic progressive rock that still deserves attention, even from those who aren’t among their loyal devotees. Their eighth studio effort has a sarcastic concept, structured as an off-kilter interview that ties the individual tracks together. The sonic and conceptual content of the album is a bravura parody of the music industry’s wrong turns and of those tiresome interviews where they had to keep answering the same boring questions over and over. Most bands would have welcomed the status of besieged “rock stars” with open arms, but Gentle Giant were always cut from entirely different cloth, drawing on the ideals of the golden age of progressive and experimental music, which was slowly winding down at the turn of the ’70s in favor of some less adventurous but more commercially lucrative musical forms.
With “Interview”, or more precisely its concept, Gentle Giant pretty much committed commercial suicide: they irked the already not-so-friendly British critics even more, while the label people, having recognized themselves in the songs’ messages, helplessly started tearing their hair out. The eternal prog-rock jokers and clowns just grinned mischievously and made one last classic Gentle Giant album, one that’s a pleasure to listen to from start to finish, even though you can already pick up some departures from their winning sonic tradition. Their last “real” prog-rock album was recorded faster than any previous Gentle Giant release because of time pressure, so in places it lacks a bit of the usual sonic polish and flow, though you can barely tell.
True to their compositional and instrumental tradition, there’s once again no shortage of ultra-complex instrumental sections, polyrhythms, crazy improvisations, unexpected time changes and dissonant polyphony, the stuff these musical grandmasters wowed people with in the past. Most of the arrangements, as is only proper, still feed on elements of jazz rock fusion, folk rock, symphonic music and hard rock. Here and there you even catch elements of reggae and pop, which means they still took progressiveness, in the sense of constantly weaving in sonic novelties, very seriously. “Interview” lags a bit behind their past masterpieces in atmosphere, mainly because it doesn’t have the usual helping of rhythmic witticisms, and you also miss a bigger dose of the playful troubadour arrangements that were all over its phenomenal predecessor “Free Hand” (1975).
Still, the album has plenty of reasons for every prog-rock gourmand to be satisfied and dig in. The music once again dodges strict genre definitions and limits. The mood in places is still cheeky and rowdy enough that it’s not hard to picture the gentle giant and his adventures. The title track blends a varied sonic mix of jazzy improvisations and unusual time changes. Derek’s unique, paranoid vocals are enriched with crazy keyboard arrangements and backed by chaotic rhythms. Spoken-word effects tie the individual motifs together, lifted from sonically distorted interview snippets, with which they treated themselves to a biting satire on journalists’ lack of imagination. “Give It Back” is a strange but fun experiment where the reggae influences on the rhythm are more than obvious. They don’t stay long in such rhythmic schemes and quickly get playful with the indispensable “nursery-school” tricks on vibraphone. Of everything on the album, beyond the rhythmic cheekiness, this one has the most associations with their trademark “gentle giant shuffle”.
The slightly creepy “Design” is full of trademark dissonant vocal harmonies, with keyboardist Kerry Minnear doing a great job in the lead, “angelic” vocal role. Drummer John Weathers meanwhile plays like a little kid with a rainbow collection of percussion, coaxing out the weirdest sounds he can. The fast-paced “Another Show” is a real treat for all jazz rock fusion fanatics, as incredibly witty rhythmic ornaments fight their way through hard-rocking guitar passages. Derek’s furious singing, teamed up with mighty guitar phrases, delivers an unusual dose of aggression. “Empty City”, which continues their tradition of unique polyphony, is one of the best moments on the whole album. They start by building a really beautiful pastoral, Celtic melody on acoustic guitar and “spacey” keyboards, followed by spirited folk-rock sections on violin. Tying it all together is Derek’s chameleonic vocal performance.
“Timing” has no shortage of rhythmic daredevilry, all unfolding completely outside the central melody built on Derek’s vocals. The closing track “I Lost My Head” is another one of the album’s peaks. It’s built from two contrasting halves that reflect the band’s gentle and hard-hitting sides. The opening part is built on tender but virtuosic pastoral-baroque arrangements, the kind you missed through most of the album. The closing part, with its punchy guitar phrases, energetic singing and massive drum fills, has an effect like thunder out of a cloudy sky. The metaphor for the final result of this peculiar sonic contrast between “sun” and “storm” is that wonderful rainbow on the album cover.
Even though Gentle Giant already showed some signs of vulnerability on it, mainly because of the tight deadline during its composition, “Interview” is a very good album that offers plenty of joy to all lovers of eclectic progressive rock and highly virtuosic use of instruments. True, they didn’t manage to create yet another masterpiece with it, but they still pulled off their last interesting release in the field of eclectic progressive rock, before the dramatic swerve to melodic rock and pop rock, where they sacrificed their compositional and instrumental intellect for the benefit of a greedy label. That’s why it’s surprising that the album is still often overlooked today, even by fans of the band. With its uncompromising sonic and lyrical mockery of the corrupt music industry and its henchmen, “Interview” was an incredibly brave move, but it also meant they’d started digging their own grave , one they would peacefully lie down in over the next few years, after a rather painful experience with pop.
Lineup
Derek Shulman – vocals, saxophone
Gary Green – guitar
Kerry Minnear – keyboards, backing vocals
Ray Shulman – bass guitar, violin
John Weathers – drums, percussion
Production
Gentle Giant
Track list
1. Interview
2. Give It Back
3. Design
4. Another Show
5. Empty City
6. Timing
7. I Lost My Head
