FREE HAND

This album is one of the best CD's in prog history, it reaches the same level as for example CLOSE TO THE EDGE by YES, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND by Genesis, BRAIN SALAD SURGERY by Emerson, Lake And Palmer or IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING by King Crimson. The album contains outstanding musical artwork, it is perfect, it is the best album of GENTLE GIANT and the most rocky one as well. There do not exist any outstanding songs on this CD because it is outstanding in general.

FREE HAND is a mixture of complexity, perfectionism, emotionality and playfulness. The album is very diversified but it does not lose a continous mood. Some songs sound happy (like "Just The Same", "Time To Kill" and "Talybont"), some are sad (like "His Last Voyage" or the incredible "On Reflection" which is a masterpiece of chant for several voices) and some songs are unusual agressive for the style of GENTLE GIANT (like "Free Hand" which is very beautiful at the beginning and merges into an agressive piece with a psychedelic part in the middle of the title or "Mobile", which is the most agressive song the Giant's ever produced, in my opinion).

It may be a little less freaky than for example THE POWER AND THE GLORY (which is GENTLE GIANT's freakiest album I think), what results in that you needn't listen to it that often to get into this album. But that doesn't make FREE HAND better or worse than other GENTLE GIANT albums. It is the ease these guys play those complex songs and the complete perfection (what I want to say with that statement is that each song on this CD is just awesome), I think.

A masterpiece of progressive rock, five stars!