INTERVIEW

Being a fervent GG fan, I refuse to give 'Interview' a perfect rating, despite being a great album per se (I'm sorry if I sound a bit "ho-hum" here). It's got its stunning numbers, like the amazing namesake opener, full of tricky complexity and some terrific Derek's singing, as wella as a crafty interlude based on delightful instrumental counterparts; other highlights are the ultra-hard rocking 'Another Show', built on a frenzy 5/4 tempo (some more great singing delivered by Derek at his angriest, and Minnear's Hhammond organ goes almost metallic here!), and the extravagant vocal-percussive tour de force titeld 'Design' (extravagant even for GG standards), where you can find circus folly, Mediaeval chorale and, finally, a superb African climax that adds a neck-breaking fire to the overt display of architectural intelligence. Having properly recognized the greatness of these three fav 'Interview' tracks of mine, I must also admit that I have the impression that the musical ideas instilled in 'I Lost My Head' and 'Empty City' are - to a certain degree - recycled from previous tracks ('Peel the Paint' and 'No God's a Man', respectively): they're good tracks indeed ('Empty City' is very moving to me), but they are also signs that some kind of slight exhaustion is penetrating into the band's creative forces. The other tracks are also worth mentioning here: the blues-infected rocky 'Timing' exhibits GG's ability to merge dissonance and punchy rock effectively, while 'Give It Back', with its pseudo-reggae ambience including calypso-esque twists, portrays with unhidden irony the band's own struggle to keep their artistic integrity intact after their previous album's moderate success. As I stated in the first lines of this review, I don't consider 'Interview' a top recording in GG's gigantic career, but definitely, it's still a great effort not to be avoided by any serious prog collector.