Gentle Giant - In A Glass House

After the awesome "Octopus" it probably seemed too arduous a task to create another peak in musical creativity, and it is small wonder that members of the band denounced this album in retrospect as a disappointment. This seems exaggerated to us. Although not in the same class as its predecessor, the album certainly has its excellent moments. Maybe it has all boiled down a bit too much to some kind of formula: oppositions with break-neck complicated rock passages and virtuoso polyphonic parts on one side, and serene multi-voiced balladeering with mediaeval tendencies on the other. The opening track doesn't seem to be very inspired, an infamous breaking glass intro notwithstanding (used by Dutch labelmates Kayak as a sound-check). ''An inmates lullaby'' tries at least new roads by reducing all accompaniment to marimba and kettle-drums, arriving at an uncommon texture indeed.. ''Way of life'' with its oblique almost-spoken melody tries to create a contrast between grand-gesturing symphonic rock (not the Giant's best bet) and bone-hard polyphony in slices. This sounds a bit contrived, unfortunately. The other side has ''Experience'', a bit in the realm of ''The runaway'', but illuminated by the Renaissance-tinged middle passage, a small oasis. The warm ballad ''A reunion'' is very short for a GG track and has their own brand of self-taught strings up front. The title track clearly stands out. A waterfall of ideas and meticulously executed instrumental interplay, this is top-class Giant all the way. The last track is not mentioned on the British release (but is present on that record) and consists of 20 seconds recapitulating almost all that went before. Phew!