The Power & The Glory vs. Free Hand
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Polls
Forum Description: Create polls on topics related to progressive music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=111582
Printed Date: May 04 2024 at 12:11
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Topic: The Power & The Glory vs. Free Hand
Posted By: thebeastmustdie
Subject: The Power & The Glory vs. Free Hand
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 13:41
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two consecutive mid 70s Gentle Giant albums that (imo) demonstrate their slicker more polished side, without sacrificing the prog elements as much as some of their later ones did. for me Free Hand is the more enjoyable and engaging listen, interested to know what you guys think. |
Replies:
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 13:51
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Both excellent, I prefer Free Hand but Power is just as good. ------------- |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 14:03
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I suppose Free Hand.....but all of the GG albums require work from me to enjoy them at times. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Wanorak
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 14:33
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The Power and the Glory. ------------- A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!! |
Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 14:45
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TPATG for sure. The last one I really love. ------------- Soldato of the Pan Head Mafia. We'll make you an offer you can't listen to. http://bandcamp.com/jpillbox" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp Profile |
Posted By: Tapfret
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 14:55
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P n G....not even close. ------------- https://www.last.fm/user/Tapfret" rel="nofollow">  https://bandcamp.com/tapfret" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp |
Posted By: gr8dane
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 15:03
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I have tried and tried,but can't get into this band. Coincidently I tried again today with Free Hand,and yet again,no cigar. So neither. ------------- Shake & bake. |
Posted By: Cosmiclawnmower
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 15:07
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------------- |
Posted By: noni
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 15:17
Free Hand still rated high on the main site and I love it. 
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Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 15:28
Same for me.
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Barbu wrote:Posted By: Magnum Vaeltaja
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 15:42
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Not a fan of either. ------------- when i was a kid a doller was worth ten dollers - now a doller couldnt even buy you fifty cents |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 16:14
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Both are great, but I choose for Free Hand, also the tied hand down. ------------- 
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Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 16:33
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TPATG ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 16:38
| The Power & The Glory |
Posted By: ForestFriend
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 17:00
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The Power And The Glory. I think it's strong all the way through, whereas side 2 of Free Hand isn't as memorable. |
Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 17:31
| Free Hand---has some lovely vocals |
Posted By: ProfPanglos
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 18:03
| The Power and the Glory. Both are stellar albums, but The Power and The Glory is, uh, more powerful and glorious. |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 18:22
hein? ------------- |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 20:19
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I'll take In a Glass House over both. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 20:55
I don't know what you have heard from the band, but I think I can relate, somewhat. The first album I got to give them a try was "Playing the Fool", so I would check out songs from several albums, and I just couldn't get into it (I haven't yet), so I almost gave up on the band. However, somehow I decided to give them another chance, since I did love the song "Funny Ways", and besides that song, the albums had mostly songs from after Phil left the band... so I ended up getting their first 4 albums. I really loved the first 2 ones, really much warmer and with more enjoyable melodies, the other two did have their good moments, but I guess the path that led to their later albums was already there. Besides those ones, I have heard The Power and The Glory, and I thin Free Hand (perhaps also In a Glass House) on Youtube, and still just can't get into them. |
Posted By: ProfPanglos
Date Posted: July 25 2017 at 22:09
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My girlfriend (now my wife of 25 years) turned me on to both King Crimson and Gentle Giant on the same day. I could "get" KC, but GG took me a few listens. (It was "Three Friends" that she played for me.) |
Posted By: mechanicalflattery
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 00:58
| Free Hand has Just The Same, On Reflection, and His Last Voyage. It's an easy win. Power is still quite good, but probably the weakest album in the stretch of Acquiring The Taste to Interview. |
Posted By: zachfive
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 02:21
Nailed it. Free Hand is front to back excellent. PnG I never really connected with like I had with so many other GG albums. Hell I think I play more Civilian than I do Power. One a side note I actually quite like Civilian. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 02:27
| Both are fantastic albums (I'm one who obsesses over their first 5 albums...) though I like PATG over Freehand. |
Posted By: b_olariu
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 04:05
| The power is my fav GG album ever, Free Hand is close behind together with Octopus and Three friends |
Posted By: BarryGlibb
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 04:32
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Freehand is GG's pinnacle album IMHO. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 04:34
| OMG !!! Where does Glass House factor into all these responses ?? I know the poll isn't about this, but man, the earlier GG definitely influenced my decision in this poll..... |
Posted By: maryes
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 05:30
| Another very difficult choice, but "Freehand" by a "hair" ! |
Posted By: thebeastmustdie
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 07:37
pretty much agree, although definitely find their earlier stuff like octopus and 3 friends more erm 'challenging' than these 2 surprised how close it is, I half thought power + glory might run away with it... |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 08:21
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From Octopus to Free Hand. All four are 10/10. (I voted for Free Hand though.)
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Posted By: digdug
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 08:53
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love both went with option 3 ------------- Prog On! |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 09:27
Love them both, prefer Power & The Glory on headphones and Free Hand blasted on a loud stereo. Too close to call  ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 11:02
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Could never get into 'Glory and never understood its magnetism here. Freehand readily and regularly sustains my listen whenever I reach for quality 'Giant. ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 11:04
------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: unclemeat69
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 12:48
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Free Hand ------------- Follow your bliss |
Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 19:16
Me too. For this poll though, The Power and the Glory.
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Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 26 2017 at 19:28
| Says, "You can not vote in this poll." Oh well, I'm a noob.. Probably need a certain number of posts first. |
Posted By: PrognosticMind
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 02:16
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TPaTG is one of the best progressive rock records of 1974. It never ceases to surprise me how many prog pros can't get into this band! ------------- "A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?" |
Posted By: thebeastmustdie
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 02:17
oops, could be the reason. vote when you've racked up some more posts. and welcome  btw Glass House has never quite done it for me...not sure why. might have to revisit, I know it's many GG fans' fav album of the lot |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 04:22
I don't like either The last genuinely enjoyable GG album for me is Octopus. After that they morphed into this pseudo Robin Hood outfit that feels incredibly forced to these ears and ultimately doesn't do anything for me. Acquiring The Taste now there's a great GG album - one with balls and uumph ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 08:08
+1 ------------- |
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 09:41
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Free Hand is the best album they did: not a duff track on it. GG were brilliant but inconsistent and some tracks didn't work, but nothing on Free Hand falls below very good. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: jayem
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 10:12
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"Playing the Game" great song ! Free Hand for a better overall flow ------------- http://www.digger.ch/?lang=en" rel="nofollow - Support mine-clearing ! https://bandcamp.com/machinechance/?lang=en" rel="nofollow - bandcamp collection |
Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 16:22
Thanks for the welcome friend. It's a complex album, took me a few listens to fully appreciate some of the subtleties. If you do though, don't be surprised if it becomes your favorite GG album.
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Posted By: Olape
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 19:27
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Another vote for The Power & The Glory. GG is awesome from 1970 to 1977!! One of my top five bands. ------------- 
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 27 2017 at 20:50
For me the best are the first 2, and then the next two are still enjoyable, but indeed after that they lost me (or I lost them?). |
Posted By: Dopeydoc
Date Posted: July 28 2017 at 14:15
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Posted By: gr8dane
Date Posted: July 29 2017 at 05:10
Hi.The ones I tried over the years,Octopus,Free Hand, Power/Glory ,Glass House and Acquiring the Taste. AtT is the only one that I have liked somewhat.I guess I find that one the easiest to digest.The others I just find weird for the sake of being weird.Maybe I will try Playing the Fool. ------------- Shake & bake. |
Posted By: noni
Date Posted: July 29 2017 at 06:35
100% agree. Free Hand is GG best work and easy to listen to, while the others are a little harder to gel with.
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: July 29 2017 at 08:37
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The Power And The Glory is a great album, but Free Hand wins in my books. It is an example of a perfectly constructed album, and is the greatest GG album there is. Accessible, but still quirky, and brilliant in the same breath! |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 29 2017 at 12:20
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For me Acquiring the Taste is the greatest Gentle Giant album, but "Free Hand" (the song) is what originally got me into GG. Quite addictive song. I loved all of the Gentle Giant albums up to and including Interview. Gentle Giant was my favourite band when I joined PA. I found GG easy to get into, but harder to stay into. I pretty much lost interest in the band years ago. ------------- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am very into: a youtube playlist with two tracks per act |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 29 2017 at 21:21
No, I don't think Playing the Fool would work so well for you (it didn't for me, anyway)... it's got mostly songs from after Octopus. If you want to check another one out, and the only one you have liked (at least somewhat) was Aquiring the Taste, then you should check out their debut next, that one would be the most similar. And perhaps that will be it for you from this band (at the most, check out Three friends after that, but they already started getting weirder by then). The one thing I do like from Playing the Fool is that Funny Ways, which comes from the debut, is played in an extended version from the original, and I like it better. |
Posted By: thebeastmustdie
Date Posted: July 30 2017 at 14:43
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nice to see some appreciation of Acquiring The Taste here. probably my fav of their 'early period' albums just searching my hard drive and found GG's 1975 John Peel session which I bought off amazon ages ago (the mp3s) and had completely forgotten about. great version of the Free Hand title track on there |
Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 30 2017 at 15:01
Oh wow, I love that song.. I'll have to check that out!
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Posted By: thebeastmustdie
Date Posted: July 30 2017 at 15:36
| I just checked and the peel session version seems to be on youtube although says its not available here (uk). might be viewable if youre elsewhere... |
Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 30 2017 at 16:49
Cool I'm in the US, so it might there. I have to run to the store now but I'll definitely check that out later. I love me some GG!
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 31 2017 at 00:27
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Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 31 2017 at 20:35
I found it. Man, after just listening to a bunch of KC that sounded sooo good! How in the world are these guys not considered First-Tier? Take out whoever you want to make room for them(except Yes).. or ELP. Darnit.. or Genesis! But, wait a min, I'm not sold on Crimson just yet. So there you go.. Yes/Genesis/ELP/Gentle Giant. Problem solved! |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: July 31 2017 at 20:51
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I think the world of GG up until The Missing Piece. 7 studio albums of incredible Prog. Dunno what more I can say ??? |
Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: July 31 2017 at 21:23
Yep, you qualify as a true fan then.. You're good.
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: August 01 2017 at 06:25
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I must confess, I love both The Missing Piece, and Giant For A Day; not as progressive as their previous period, but that's ok. I don't like their Three Friends album; doesn't work for me. I have never heard Civilian. |
Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: August 01 2017 at 07:10
I love the debut, Acquiring, Octopus and TPATG and like Free Hand, Glass House and Interview. But I'm with you on Three Friends. To me it feels like GG's attempt to write a Kinks album - not their forte, and the music is uncharacteristically boring. It really does nothing for me. ------------- Soldato of the Pan Head Mafia. We'll make you an offer you can't listen to. http://bandcamp.com/jpillbox" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp Profile |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: March 27 2018 at 17:32
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I can't choose! ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: For Nobody's Bush
Date Posted: March 27 2018 at 18:23
| I think Power is a very good album, Free Hand, for me, sounds flat, I do love Talybont, tho. |
Posted By: Upbeat Tango Monday
Date Posted: March 28 2018 at 07:12
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Both are great, but I prefer Free Hand ------------- Two random guys agreed to shake hands. Just Because. They felt like it, you know. It was an agreement of sorts...a random agreement. |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: March 28 2018 at 09:10
| Free Hand!!! |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: March 28 2018 at 12:54
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The Power and the Glory by a bit ------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: BarryGlibb
Date Posted: March 29 2018 at 02:36
Tastes in music are amazing things.......Talybont (IMHO) is the least best track on Free Hand, which (IMHO) is GG's masterpiece. Free Hand (IMHO) romps all over TPATG. Proclamation, So Sincere and Valedictory all grate with me...I skip them and play the rest of the tracks , which, I must add (IMHO!), are all superb. |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: March 29 2018 at 21:30
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Free Hand, for me, their masterpiece. TPATG is a lot of fun too mind you. I love this period of GG music. ------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: DeadSouls
Date Posted: March 31 2018 at 10:04
| Power |