UNDER CONSTRUCTION

'Under Construction' is a well crafted compilation of unreleased Gentle Giant tracks, demos, and live recordings. Dan Bornemark and Dan Barrett did an excellent work in matters of sound and editing. The title 'Under Construction' already is carefully chosen : this record gives an insight of the Gentle Giant music in progress.It gives a good understanding of the way Gentle Giant composed their music and at the same time an overview of their entire catalogue from 1970 to 1976. CD 1 consists of unreleased studio and live material plus a sample archive(27) of isolated tracks from the mastertapes( isolated instrumental or rhythm tracks, highly interesting for understanding the way Gentle Giant constructed their music in the studio). Tracks 2 to 6 are unreleased studio tracks from February 1970 prior to the release of the first record. These tracks are not just leftovers but already typical Gentle Giant compositions. You find here already the composition skills of Kerry Minear, the blues guitar work of Gary Green and the instrumental skills of the 3 Shulman brothers : the birth of the Giant.Tracks 10 to 13 come from the Düsseldorf concert 23:09:1976( the same concert as the first side of 'Playing the fool'). CD 2 contains mainly demos and outtakes.The most interesting tracks are the Kerry Minear demos,stripped down acoustic piano arrangements, where you can hear the influence of Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Faure on Kerry's composing, for example in 'Schooldays'. The Set ends as it started with 'Freedoms Child' a beautiful unreleased Kerry Minear composition. If you are already familiar with Gentle Giant this record will give you a great inside look of the Giant's machinery. If you don't know Gentle Giant start with the other records and come back later!