Gary Green
In 1977, progressive rock entered a very peculiar year. Although still a great commercial force, circumstances were nudging the genre gently towards obsolescence, as the mainstream gaze was redirected elsewhere. For Gentle Giant, a band with unassailable cult status and a loudly proclaimed disregard for convention, changing tastes presented a significant challenge. Recorded at Relight Studios in Hilvarenbeek, the Netherlands, the Portsmouth pioneers’ ninth album was probably destined to clash horribly with everything around it. A diverse and fractious affair, it was, for some, the sound of a band hedging their bets. For others, it was the last truly great album that they would ever make.
Newly remixed by Steven Wilson, has resurfaced in 2024: ripe for reassessment and considerably more fascinating than truculent cynics would have us believe. spoke with GG guitarist Gary Green, keyboard player Kerry Minnear and drummer John Weathers, to discover whether this notoriously controversial record was a radical, underrated gem or a confused
