EDGE OF TWILIGHT

Let me tell you, this double CD really blew my mind!

Before I bought this, I knew nothing about Gentle Giant, apart from their (excellent) live album PLAYING THE FOOL. (I also remember seeing a German TV registration of a concert from the same tour, way back in the Seventies. Even then it struck me how profoundly uncool the band looked. But the music was gorgeous!) Since this collection has virtually all the stuff on it from five of GG's best studio albums, I decided to give it a go. (Why buy five separate albums if you can get virtually the same material for the price of one and a half?)

And what a treasure chest this collection turned out to be! For 150 minutes at a stretch, you get all the virtues of classic 1970s prog, without a single weak track. The music is presented non-chronologically, but as long as you're not a GG connoisseur, you will never notice, 'cause the tracks seem to follow each other naturally.

I've enjoyed this music so much I'd like to get to know the original GG albums as well, but I don't know if I'll ever really get down to that. You see, EDGE OF TWILIGHT sounds like a perfect selection. I did, however, complete my "Classic GG collection" with IN A GLASS HOUSE which, for copyright reasons, was not included here.

P.S. Everyone's always going on about how complicated Gentle Giant's music is, but some of their tracks (e.g. 'Think of me with kindness') reveal a very naked vulnerability. There was nothing dishonest about this band!

P.P.S. Unfortunately, the set I happened to buy came without detailed liner notes, even though these were promised on the front cover.