b o b

As I mentioned in my review of the live album Playing the Fool, this band seems to me to be a little overrated amongst prog fans. They tend to go overboard on complexity and counterpoint at the expense of, for lack of a better term, any kind of "flow" in their music. That being said though, I have to admit that I do like most of Free Hand. My first experience with Gentle Giant was hearing the title track to this album on the Supernatural Fairy Tales prog-rock boxed set. That song made me decide to pick up some of their stuff, and by lucky chance I found the band's first album and Free Hand at a used CD store a couple weeks later. The first album didn't thrill me much, but I found most of Free Hand to be enjoyable. Along with the title track, "Just the Same" and "Time to Kill" are great songs. The instrumental "Talybont" is also nice - it, and to some degree the last track, have a sort of Tull-like "electric minstrel" feel to them. While I haven't loved every Giant song I've heard, I'll probably end up getting some more CDs from the band based on the strength of this one. review by Bob Eichler — undated —

j o n f

I'm surprised how often Gentle Giant are accused of being emotionless; it seems to me that thematically albums like Free Hand and Three Friends are among the most sentimental in the prog-rock canon. While Three Friends deals with the bittersweet remembrance of schoolboy days, Free Hand focuses in great part on feelings of betrayal and rejection (apparently the band had just broken with their old label, which makes sense in terms of the issues explored on this record). Not surprisingly, then, these are my two favorites of the Gentle Giant albums I've heard, as they balance lyrical beauty and complicated musicianship almost perfectly. Free Hand was the most rock-focused release to date for the group. The songs are very tight and structured overall and I find much more restraint in these tracks than on earlier albums. Needless to say, this is a good thing, and I imagine the more straightforward (but no less complicated) approach of Free Hand plays a big part in its being a perennial fan favorite. One of the things I appreciate most about Gentle Giant is the way they use the human voice as an instrument instead of something total separate (which may explain why they are sometimes regarded as emotionless); nowhere is this better exemplified than "On Reflection," a fantastic track that features multiple vocal parts that bounce back and forth in a way in a unique fashion (Spock's Beard's song "Thoughts" makes liberal use of this technique, but they fail to match the original in terms of effectiveness). While I'm not in love with this album, it is very, very good and a natural recommendation to most prog fans. review by Jon Fry — undated —

s e a n

Gentle Giant's 1975 release Free Hand is the third peak of their output from my perspective. It features a move to a somewhat more conventional style, but which is still ultimately successful. The album featured a move to their new label, Capitol, and the theme of emancipation is apparent throughout the album. The cover features a portrait of two hands bound together, in front of which floats a disembodied hand in claw formation. The opener "Just the Same" features a maddeningly intricate polyrhythm, as the vocals appear to be in 7/8 while the rest of the music is in 6/8. "On Reflection" features a four-part fugue at the beginning, and some delicate recorder playing in the middle to accompany Minnear's vocals. The instrumental "Talybont" once again recalls a canon or fugue. At the same time that this musical bag of tricks is being opened and used, the album stays in a fairly accessible style. The music is never difficult or overly academic like some of their earlier work. The title track is a hard-rocking denunciation of the band's old label and the limitations it imposed. In fact, a listener may well miss a lot of what is at work here because of the ear-friendly way in which it is presented. It is only after some time that this album fully reveals itself as a veritable classic. review by Sean McFee — undated —

j o e

Signing to Chrysalis and released from their contract with World Wide Artists (one that nonetheless produced two excellent albums, In a Glass House and The Power and the Glory), Gentle Giant's pointedly titled Free Hand resounds with the band's disaffection from that 1½ year affair. The showpiece of the album is "On Reflection," which takes the breathlessly intricate vocal arranging that the band previously demonstrated on "Knots" (Octopus) and brings it arguably to a new level. The song, a meditation on an ended relationship, captures in its brilliant canon-driven opening the cyclical, unresolvable futility of post-mortem examinations of relationships ("it doesn't matter...all around all around..."). This canon bubbles down into a quieter middle section, with Kerry Minear's bittersweet vocal ("I remember the good things, how can you forget...") among the band's most moving passages. What strikes the listener is how effectively they use the contrasting sections, with the canon representing a ruminative intellectualization of the whys and wherefores of the relationship's dissolution, and the middle section representing a deeper, more simply stated emotional truth. "His Last Voyage" is a largely acoustic song of great beauty, also among the band's best tracks. Also, the band amply demonstrates their power as an electric unit, with music deployed playfully (e.g., "Just the Same" or the Celtic influenced "Mobile") or aggressively (e.g., the title track), but always exceptionally. It is on these tracks that their attacks on World Wide Artists come to the forefront lyrically. Given my own openly acknowledged love-hate rapport with Gentle Giant, I feel compelled to mention a few things on this one that I could do without, though these moments are only incidental. There's nothing inherently wrong with the instrumental "Talybont" (ostensibly named after a forest in Wales) musically, but it just has that whole prissy, medieval Gentle Giant thing about it that just drives me crazy. I listen to this and my head is somehow filled with disturbing images of men in armor prancing about to the banging of coconut shells exclaiming "Talybont!" I guess I can only stand for this aspect of the band in small dollops at best, my saturation levels on Free Hand having been reached earlier by the recorders on the middle section of "On Reflection." Another example of something I could do without would be the particularly abrasive vocal insertion on "Mobile" ("There are no hours/There are no seasons..."). Like I said, though, these are small points. On the whole, Free Hand is one of the prog rock benchmarks, and the Gentle Giant album that I would first recommend as a starting point for those who had never heard the band previously, when taken from the standpoint of accessibility and consistency, while still maintaining the band's artistic standards. review by Joe McGlinchey — 5-23-05 —

e r i c

Gentle Giant is one of my favorite bands of all time period. These guys are just so talented and they can do everything. They can rock, play extremely complex music and make it sound like they are playing 3 chord songs, great vocals, simply put - they had it all. There are a few different periods of GG, this would be at their peak, IMHO. The later albums had a stripped down straight ahead approach that caused many fans to hate this period though there is still some good music. The early releases were progressive, but you could hear a lot of bluesy roots to the music. The middle period is my favorite (Three Friends through Free Hand), which seems the most progressive. This diverse blend of songs includes "Just the Same" which flat out rocks. The counterpoint within the song is great and the live version of this song is even better. "On Reflection" has a great vocal arrangement, with some piano and recorders to accompany the vocal. "Free Hand" is also a heavy piece with alot of keyboard/guitar/and bass interplay, these songs are fairly complex and yet never sound forced. "Time to Kill" is upbeat with more surprises musically and vocally, very smooth feel with a lot of changes. "His Last Voyage" is a nice acoustic song with a church like vocal over the arrangement, very ethereal feel to the song, quite beautiful. The ending arrangement is very jazzy. The instrumental "Talybont" has a medieval feel, with harpsichord, recorders playing throughout the song. "Mobile" is the weakest song on the CD. It's ok, but shows the change coming within the band to do more straight ahead material. If you are a fan of progressive music then this and most Gentle Giant should be in your collection. Each of their albums have something to offer. review by Eric Porter — undated —

b r a n d o n

Most prog fans would say that Gentle Giant is not a band that is readily likable - that is, it takes time to get accustomed to their sound. This was my first purchase from this unique band, and I must say that I was immediately enthralled. There are tons of great melodic hooks here, to say nothing of the wonderfully intricate harmonies. The song selection is quite diverse and very satisfying. The music tends to sound insanely whimsical and frivolous if you're not paying attention (those more used to contemporary music may be put off by what could be construed as a dated sound), but once you do you start noticing the complexities and neat little musical tricks that abound throughout. An example from the "cool stuff" listed on the GG website in the links below: "During the verses of 'Just The Same', the bass and drums are playing in 6/4 while the piano, voice, and guitar are playing in 7/4." This is typical. Vocal harmonies (the four-part fugue in "On Reflection" is absolutely fantastic!), complex arrangements, diverse instrumentation, and such are all present in spades yet somehow don't detract from the melodic content and the occasional full-out rocker. Influences are difficult to place, but medieval and early-music inspirations are apparent on some tracks (most obviously "Talybont"). Though a bit more rock-oriented than much of Gentle Giant's other peak material, Free Hand is is a great place to start with this band, and remains my favorite by them. review by Brandon Wu — undated —