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Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory CD (album) cover

THE POWER AND THE GLORY

Gentle Giant

 

Eclectic Prog

4.31 | 1825 ratings

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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
5 stars GENTLE GIANT were on a roll pumping out one eclectic masterpiece after another and that certainly did not change with their sixth album THE POWER AND THE GLORY. The band remains as musically inventive and utterly unique for the times and was so far ahead of their time that 21st century music lovers are finally catching up to their challenging style of mixing, melding and fusing musical elements into a musical category that immediately screams GENTLE GIANT. This is actually a concept album about the age old tale of someone gaining political power in order to change things for the better only to be tempted by the dark side and falls into the trap of becoming exactly the opposite of the original vision. A grand concept that continues their line of intelligent story lines that are accompanied by some of the most challenging progressive rock music ever laid down to tape.

This is another album that flows by all too fast for me since this band has become one of my absolute favorites of all time. Too weird for some but fir me by the time i'm done with this album i want more and including more technical wankery included in the mix, but i never feel cheated listening to this in the least bit. While "Proclamation" begins the musical journey with the classic progressive keyboard riff, it takes no time at all for their unique brand of melodies that are certainly an acquired taste to take root.

What amazes me about this band is how they can take a simple melody and twist it here and tweak it there and stretch it a little in the middle and overdub a counterpoint and create a mad tornado of sounds that swirl around in a seemingly chaotic manner but somehow make it fit together to keep an overall melodic and rhythmic flow albeit an overtly complex one. "So Sincere" has to be one of the most twisted examples of how to get from London to Paris via all seven continents! Indeed one of my favorite tracks that i wish more tracks on here would repeat the formula of but even less frantic tracks that are more designed for a smooth emotional connection like "Aspirations" are so well crafted and beautifully constructed that i become the helpless fish taking the bait.

Ironically the song that has the same title as the album was released as a single but not included on the original release of the album but has since been included as a bonus track on newer remastered editions. It seems this band is finally getting the respect it deserves as the Steven Wilson remixes are sending them up the charts over 40 years after their release. This is excellent news because as much music as i consume, no one comes close to the melomania i feel when i listen to a GENTLE GIANT album like THE POWER AND THE GLORY. This is just perfect music for my tastes and like the whole string of albums up to and including "Interview" only get better after every listen. This album is yet one more pièce de résistance that 70s prog rock has to offer.

siLLy puPPy | 5/5 |

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