IN A GLASS HOUSE

With Phil Shulman gone after the brilliant Octopus LP you would be forgiven for thinking the boys in the band would scale back the ambitions for the follow up- In a Glass House. Instead they seem determined to crank everything up to 11 with this one. Denser rhythms , more complexity, heavier drums , and just generally more of everything.Personally I preferred Octiouses' colorful eclecticism whereas here, they create a more consistent sound all the way through. There is a lot of light and shade- after the thunderous opener "The Runaway" they go almost acapella with "An Inmates Lullaby" with mainly marimba and tuned percussion as accompaniments.The final track on side one "Way Of Life" is another heavy rocker.Unlike the opener which intersperses heavy rock with beautiful Medieval tinged recorder led passages this one is just rocks all the way through apart from a gentle middle section which features pleasant church organ and Kerry Minnear briefly taking over on vocals.Has anyone noticed how Derek Shulman always seems to provide the gruff vocals over the heavy parts and Kerry Minnear almost always sings over the quieter passage with him more measured pure voice? Just something I noticed especially on this album

Side 2 serves up more of the same and the first track "Experience" is arguably the most overtly Medieval sounding with a pipe organ as the lead instrument and vocals by guess who apart from a couple of brief heavy rock sections featuring guess who on vocals,Talk about schizophrenic.I really do like that track though.As with side1 the second track is a fairly gentle song "A Reunion" with guess who on vocals and also features Ray Shulman on violin which is a nice touch.The title track is essentially a two-hander.The first half begins with an extremely complex combination of 12 string guitar and violin before developing into a nice little Celtic flavoured rocker.Well for the first 4 minutes before suddenly changing gears again becoming another heavy rocker.

Overall this is a remarkably solid album and I would argue that it is also the definitive Gentle Giant with that combination of Medieval and heavy complex Prog which is a consistent throughout.Quite brilliant

5 stars

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