EXPERIENCE

Basically just a cheap re-release of the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" CD from 1998. I picked this one up because I didn't have much Gentle Giant when I bought it, and because I had never heard how they sounded live. After realizing that this just was the "King Biscuit" CD only with different track placements, I picked up that one instead. I still haven't found out why Disky released this one since the same show already was available on CD, nor why they changed the tracks placements (the biggest mystery).

One thing's for sure though, if you can't decide between this one and the King Biscuit one, I can assure you that the KB one is a much better choice. However, If you can't find that one, then I could recommend this as an alternative. I should have given this one another star for GG's amazing live performance, but this release's pointlessness made it stay on a 2 star in my book.

I recently picked up this album in a cut price CD shop for the absurdly low price of three pounds. The extremely reasonable asking price earned the album an extra star - it's good but definitely non essential.

What you get for your money is 45 minutes of the 5 piece Giant playing live in the USA in 1975 on the Free Hand tour. The sound quality is pretty good (it was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour) and there are some interesting takes on a few of their classics. Knots (actually Selections from Octopus) contains an inspired acoustic guitar sequence that takes in some pretty tasty blues (Gary Green's first love) and an acoustic reworking of The Boys in The Band. It's only about half the length of the Octopus excerpts on Playing The Fool and skips over some of the better moments, but it's worth checking out for the acoustic interlude alone. The Advent of Panurge incorporates their tongue in cheek recorder quartet which slips in a few bars of Yankee Doodle for good measure, and is another demonstration of Gentle Giant's ability to play complex music with a knockabout sense of humour. The 7 track selection is pretty representative of the band's output up to that point, although there's nothing included from 3 Friends.

Playing The Fool and Out of the Woods are both better releases than this, but the arrangements are sufficiently different to make this worth owning if you're a diehard fan. If you're new to Gentle Giant and you see this lurking in your local cut price CD store it's a good introduction to the band at a bargain price.

I bought this album for £2.99 today and it is worth a lot, lot more! Gentle Giant are irresistable live; they are amongst the best musicians that have ever played together in the rock medium and they play complex, mediaeval-influenced jazzy rock with a wide array of instruments and prolonged and difficult solos; they also swop roles with aplomb! They use extremely complex and shifting rhythm patterns and vocal harmonies so their music is challenging in the extreme; they are not easy listening. All the tracks on this album are good but Funny Ways is perhaps a cut above the rest with its lovely violin and guitar intro and some fine singing. The acoustic guitar work in Knots is breathtaking and Kerry Minnear's keyboard work matches anyone else's. It doesn't include a lot of my favourite GG tracks but its easily good enough for 4*. Definitely recommended.

Your view of this album will depend greatly on whether you have already heard much GG. this is a very good selection of tracks. Every proghead should have GG in their colection & if this is your first exposure then you'll love it. If ou are already familiar with GG then while this is an interesting live album it's by no means essential.

If you have not then it's an interesting introduction. the characteristic vocals are on display in Knots. Proclamation has always been one of the jazzy favorites for me. experience is another. Funny Ways is a fabulous journey.

It's impossible to listen to this without appreciating just how good GG were. I wish I had heard them in the late 70s when I was listening to Yes (inter alia).

if you like Yes and Tull then you should definitely like GG and you wil really like this album. rest assured though that there are better GG albums..

As I understand this is a cheapo to buy. If that is the case, then do not hesitate to grab a copy ...it'll be money well spent.

Excellent-ish