CIVILIAN

Prog's most celebrated cult band GENTLE GIANT spent the first half of the 70s releasing one innovative and exceedingly adventurous album after another capturing the hearts of the most ambitious progheads of the era but sadly those were few and far between which meant that while GENTLE GIANT would blow the minds of musicians and other fans who were willing to take the time to understand the complexities involved in crafting such musical meistrohood, the financial payoffs were quite bleak. Without knowing that it would take the public decades to catch up with the grand vision, GENTLE GIANT decided to bail ship and craft a more accessible crossover style of prog which began on 'The Missing Piece' and then went full on pop rock on the following 'Giant For A Day.' When any sort of commercial success failed to materialize after losing its dedicated fanbase, the band sort of panicked and made a rash decision to relocate to the USA.

Derek Schulman took the lead in the business affairs of the band and decided that the band needed to adapt a more American sound so in 1979 the boys left jolly old England and went Hollywood in sunny Los Angeles. The experience proved to be unpleasant as none of the GENTLE GIANT guys really liked it there at all but they were determined to give it all they had and craft the quintessential rock album that would blow away the competition and change their fortunes into the next Boston, Eagles or even Aerosmith and so the crafty guys who had formerly cranked out such prog masterpieces like 'Octopus' went into the studio and recorded a tamed down new version of GENTLE GIANT which resulted in the bands 11th album CIVILIAN. Long gone were all those bizarre contrapuntal prog workouts and so too were gone the days of those innovative vocal harmonies gone bonkers tinged with medieval splendor. In were shorter no nonsense hard rock power chords with 4/4 timing with some keyboard flavors thrown in for good measure.

And so it was. CIVILIAN emerged in March 1980 approximately ten years after the band's formation and in many ways is more of a harder rock rendition of the pop flavored psychedelic hooks that the three Schulman brothers were producing with GENTLE GIANTS precursor Simon Dupree & The Big Sound. To my ears the staccato keyboard stabs and gentle on the ears melodies are right out of that 60s era pre-GIANT playbook (just listen to 'Kites') however CIVILIAN takes the band into the contemporary pop rock territory where they wouldn't sound out of place on tour with let's say REO Speedwagon, Foghat, Foreigner, Journey or even early 80s Heart. Despite grandiose visions of breaking into the American market, CIVILIAN was pretty much shot down from the start with little or no interest which after a short tour finally was the last straw that made the band realize there were absolutely no more options at this point and broke up never to return again. While many claim CIVILIAN to be the worst piece of musical trash ever to emerge from a recording studio, the truth is that this is GENTLE GIANT and absolutely nothing they did was terrible, however it is true that this is the weakest of the pop trilogy of albums and the nadir of their otherwise impressive run.

Beginning with some new wave sounding keyboards the opening 'Convenience (Clean and Easy)' is a track all about the American lifestyle where things are designed for single consumption and to make a life on the go culture. The track pretty much sets the tone for the entire album with heavy plodding drums and bass along with hard rock guitar riffs, power chords and the noticeable absence of all those wonderful accoutrements such as violins, xylophones, flutes and all the other yummy ingredients GENTLE GIANT threw into the melting pot. CIVILIAN pretty much follow this template and acts as if it really were just another band from LA with simple to follow melodies, non-intricate rhythms, the predictable verse / chorus / bridge compositional style and lyrics that didn't stray off into esoteric existential quandaries. All packaged neatly for public consumption but the public forgot to come to the party.

Tracks vary in quality with some like 'All Through The Night' and 'Underground' being quite catchy and really addictively catchy pop rock songs but some like 'I Am A Camera' reeks of ridiculousness along with many more that are inoffensive but hardly memorable either. The problem with CIVILIAN is not that it is a hard rock album at all but in the fact that this sort of musical style places the focus on the lead vocalist. Unfortunately Derek Schulman does not have the vocal charisma of the heavy hitters of the era like Lou Gramm of Foreigner or Steve Perry of Journey and that is the album's biggest pitfall. The musicians get the job done but by deemphasizing the band's quirky prog workouts where Schulman's vocals worked perfectly, they inadvertently opened themselves up to that greatest weakness of all and when all is said and done these guys' brand of hard rock just seems rather ordinary. Likewise the pop hooks aren't nearly as catchy and quirky as 'Giant For A Day.' I hated this the first time i heard it as well but after many spins it has grown on me. Not a bad album at all but it certainly isn't a great one either and signifies the day this GIANT ended its decade long existence.