Artista: Gentle GiantÁlbum: The Power and the Glory
Año: 1974
Género: Rock progresivo ecléctico
Duración: 37:08 (CD: 44:58)
Nacionalidad: Inglaterra
Las remezclas de Steven Wilson son famosas por su capacidad de rescatar elementos que estaban ahí pero no podíamos escuchar por diversas razones. Aquí el Mago Alberto vuelve a la carga con la remezcla del guitarrista de Porcupine Tree de este clásico de clásicos del progresivo ecléctico. Imperdible.
La carátula está desarrollada (por el estudio Cream) a partir de una idea de los miembros de la banda que nació jugando con unas cartas que habían comprado durante una gira en Alemania (el diseño de los naipes que aparece arriba está en el interior del digipack de la edición de 2014). Es el rey de espadas, cuyas facciones nos muestran la determinación casi perversa del poderoso, y su actitud beligerante al tomar el puño de la espada. El rey, que mira de reojo a una probable amenaza o algo que codicia, está congelado en un momento que no podemos definir: ¿está por sacar su espada para empezar la lucha o más bien está enfundándola después de la batalla?
El momento en el que el disco sale a la luz, después de una exitosa gira en los Estados Unidos, donde la banda construyó una fuerte audiencia, fue de crisis política en todo el planeta, la primera crisis global después de la segunda guerra mundial. Habían pasado apenas diez años del asesinato de Kennedy y los Estados Unidos estaban sumergidos en la oposición a la sangrienta guerra sucia que Nixon inició en el Sudeste asiático, involucrando en secreto a Laos y a Camboya en la guerra de Vietnam. Aun así, y con el movimiento pacifista en contra, en 1973 Nixon corrompe todo el sistema policial y de seguridad del país para lograr su reelección, lo cual se desenmascara en el famoso escándalo Watergate.
Por eso se llegó a opinar que The Power and the Glory se refería directamente a Watergate, lo que fue desmentido por los autores, que más bien habían buscado proponer una reflexión irónica y desencantada sobre el problema humano del poder, el abuso de poder y la corrupción y no sumarse a un tema de denuncia coyuntural, haciéndose pasar por "militantes del arte", reivindicando alguna contracultura o aprovechando comercialmente alguna corriente de opinión (como sucede tantas veces).
Pero la reflexión venía al pedo para esos años. Watergate era el más mediático de los casos de corrupción y abuso político pero estaba bien lejos de ser el único: no hacía un año que Allende había caído bajo el asesino Pinochet; casi toda América Latina se encontraba en un proceso de guerra sucia (la guerra sucia en México está en su momento más grave; la operación Cóndor involucra a Sudamérica entera); el Medio Oriente se encuentra en uno de los momentos álgidos de su conflictiva historia reciente; Idi Amin gobierna con mano de sangre en Uganda; la guerra fría encuentra tubos de escape por todas partes, en fin, los fabulosos años 70. En ese contexto, esquivar el problema del poder sería casi cobarde. Y Gentle Giant fue siempre una banda enamorada del riesgo: en lo estético, lo poético, lo musical y lo comercial.
Pero pasemos al disco: la aventura musical de Gentle Giant encuentra aquí nuevas rutas en su trayectoria de experimentación. Si la métrica fija del rock tradicional, de la música pop en general, obliga a acomodar la necesidad de expresión dentro de un corset, Gentle Giant sigue el ejemplo de los serialistas y decide invertir el binomio: que la métrica y la armonía se ciñan a la necesidad de expresión. Desde el inicio, con “Proclamation”, escuchamos los juegos de tiempo, síncopa y polirritmo clásicos del Gigante (empieza con un pianito sabrosísimo); este tema es uno de los picos de su producción a lo largo de la década entera. El coro en el que se saluda al poder y a la gloria ("Hail to power and to glory's way"), día a día, rompe con la cadencia de R&B con la que inicia y descose un conjunto de disonancias, estridencias e incluso desafinaciones (el glissando de la voz) que da el tono de crítica y de mirada irónica sobre el deseo de poder.
“So Sincere” va aún más lejos, es jazz de vanguardia, es visionario. Es uno de los temas más experimentales en la historia del Gigante, al grado de que se ha criticado por incomprensible y también con aquel viejo argumento de “pretencioso” que les gusta a los críticos para descartar lo que no entienden. El caso es que la muestra de música entrecortada, disonante y arriesgada sobre la que se soporta la voz de tesitura renacentista, desnuda la intención de “sinceridad” del narrador: ¿quién le cree a un político cuando asegura que es sincero u honesto? Esa voz suave que habla de sinceridad lo hace desde la música más incomprensible, más instrumental y rítmicamente dudosa posible, dando a entender de qué se trata ese discurso engañosamente perverso. Es Ornette Coleman musicalizando a Henry Kissinger, ¡¡¡premio Nobel de la Paz 1973!!! “Sí, es decir, no / entendiendo mal, hace su promesa correctamente / ... / Tan sincero, tan sincero, tan sin...” Y aquí hay un juego de palabras: sin es pecado en inglés. Y se da el lujo de tener un solo de guitarra eléctrica hard jazz, bien distorsionado. ¡Son unos genios!
“Aspirations” es un respiro delicioso después la amenaza de “So Sincere”. Surge esa forma de manejar el sonido jazzero tan particular de GG: un piano fender Rodhes introduce en tonos menores una de esas baladas sabrosísimas, con swing, que solo ellos saben hacer. Recuerda desde a “Funny Ways”, la maravillosa balada del primer disco, hasta las que vendrán después en Free Hand o Civilian. Pero el texto indica esa forma irónica de aproximarse a sus temas que tienen los miembros del Gigante: es como el pueblo cayendo seducido ante las promesas del político en ascenso, el éxito de la mentira y el pueblo enredado en los tentáculos del poder: “Todo está en ti, haznos fuertes, construye nuestra unidad, todos somos uno, todo está en ti”. Un auténtico canto de las sirenas, con suaves solos de piano eléctrico, apoyados por arpegios brillantes de guitarra acústica y un juego de bajo y batería más allá de toda tradición: “Hagan sus reclamos con sinceridad”.
Una vez seducidos por el poderoso, a jugar su juego: “Plating the Game” es rock progresivo de la mejor factura, percusión polirrítmica para introducir un riff unísono de guitarra y teclado, hasta caer a un ritmo más constante. Derek empieza a cantar. El poderoso ya está disfrutando las mieles de su poder: “Estoy tocando fronteras que no había imaginado”, “Soy el rey en la competencia, ahora todas las piezas son parte de mi arte y mis tácticas / jugaré el juego y no perderé jamás”. Hay un puente en que el sonido se suaviza, es pianissimo y acompaña una idea: “mis pensamientos nunca dichos, las visiones en mi cabeza, la verdad nunca rota dentro de mis palabras silenciosas, nunca enunciadas”.
En “Cogs in Cogs”, uno de los temas más fuertes del disco, parece despertar, aunque quizá por accidente, la conciencia del pueblo engañado, al que el poderoso se refiere como el encaje de los dientes de diferentes engranes de la máquina. Es como si el rodar de los engranes fuera capaz de voltear la rueda, de hacer girar la fortuna para el poderoso, de engullirlo entre los dientes de las ruedas. Aparece el murmullo del descontento, las voces cambiantes.
“No God's a Man” es el momento en que el poderoso se da cuenta de que va a caer. La canción es interpretada por un conjunto de voces, los clásicos coros del Gigante; y la estructura es multipartes que se suceden y fortalecen la idea de cambio (al final, generan cierta esperanza en esta narrativa pesimista). El poderoso tendrá que disculparse, aceptar que la verdad lo era a medias. Un complejo compás cercano al vals acompaña el cierre del tema, en el que ruidios sintetizados, electrónicos parecen emular resortes de la máquina que se desarma.
“The Face” es un temna de contrapuntos veloces, cambiantes. ¡Ese afán de Gentle Giant de no hacer nunca sustain, de siempre construir la música como matemáticamente con piececitas de rompecabezas! La idea es que todo se ha ido a la mierda y el poderoso tiene que poner la cara de culpa, de arrepentimiento, aun cuando sabemos que no será sincera. Lo representan alocados solos de violín que son contestados por más alocados solos de guitarra sobre un ritmo persistente.
La desembocadura de toda la historia es una recuperación del tema inicial, pero ahora en compás de cierre, contrapunteado con un finale sinfónico: “Valedictory” (despedida), en la que el caído no puede sino culpar también al pueblo por haber creído en él. Y se despide, despechado, gritando "Nada debe cambiar", y anunciando con ello que la situación queda abierta hasta que aparezca el siguiente candidato a rey.
Aunque Gentle Giant vivía entre 1973 y 1974 un momento de éxito comercial aceptable, había exigencias de manager y disquera que agobiaban al grupo. Elegir el poder como tema para el álbum conceptual tiene que ver también con eso. El caso es que la disquera exigió un "tema comercial" para lanzar el single y los muchachos salieron con “The Power and the Glory”, un tema alegre en tonos mayores, sin mayor complejidad (si eso es posible en Gentle Giant) y con la estructura casi de un himno escolar que funciona como una especie de síntesis del disco; fue incluido como bonus track en las versiones CD, pero en realidad no añade nada a la historia. Sobre esto, Ray Shulman dice:
“WWA [la disquera] dijo, 'Ahora, chicos, tienen que ser comerciales, tienen que hacer singles, así que ahora vayan corriendo a escribirnos un single'. Así que hicimos tres números atroces. Esta canción es la peor. '¡Lo lograron muchachos!' Y fuimos al estudio, y les entregamos las cintas al salir. Lo lanzaron, les gritamos, y nos lo devolvieron, lo sacaron del mercado.”
Las reediciones en CD del disco incluyen esa canción así como una versión en vivo de “Proclamation”, como para demostrar que eran capaces tocar esa música cósmica en concierto y que no eran solo trucos de estudio. Después del “Hail!”, en el brake donde pasan, de piano y bajo a power quartet, ¡qué batería!, en el minuto 1:15, está ¡pocamadre!.
40 años después de compuesta esta obra redonda, extraordinaria, vino el momento de festejar el aniversario. Así que en 2014 salió una versión en blueray (que se agotó) y en DVD remezclada por Steven Wilson en sonido Dolby 5.1, que además contiene videos animados de las canciones. Parece que nadie se ha puesto a ripear esos videos porque no los puedo encontrar en internet (¿algún cabezón con acceso a ese material?) Lo que sí he podido hallar es un ripeo stereo de la remezcla de Wilson, en la que el genio inglés, buen fan de GG, se esmera en destacar los elementos de la música con buenas separaciones y definiciones tímbricas de cada instrumento. Vale la pena oírlo. Además, muy correctamente excluye el single mencionado y en su lugar nos ofrece como bonus track un interesante outtake instrumental de “Aspirations”.
Disfruten este discazo, el sexto en estudio; segundo sin el hermano mayor de los Shulman, Phil, y último de la primera etapa de Gentle Giant, antes de empezar un nuevo ciclo con Chrisalys y tomar nuevas rutas en diálogo con las movidas punk y postpunk a las que todos los progresivos de los 70 tuvieron que adaptarse (con mayor o menor fortuna), que se iniciaría con el genial Free Hand.
Botón de muestra, “Proclamation” en vivo:
“Cogs in Cogs” (seguida de “Proclamation”, pero no hace daño volverla a oir):
Y esta joya encontrada en youtube de un ensamble de cámara italiano haciendo “Cogs in Cogs”. ¡Es alucinante!:
Lista de Temas:
1. Proclamation
2. So Sincere
3. Aspirations
4. Playing the Game
5. Cogs in Cogs
6. No God's a Man
7. The Face
8. Valedictory
CD bonus:
9. Proclamation (live)
10. The Power and the Glory (single)
(Bonus del remix WILSON de 2014:
- The Power and the Glory
- Apirations (Instrumental outtake)
Alineación:
- Gary Green / Guitarras
- Kerry Minnear / Teclados, cello, voz
- Derek Shulman / Voz, saxos
- Ray Shulman / Bajo, violín, voz
- John Weathers / Batería, percusión, voz
Más lectura, reviews y referencias:
De la página del disco en la wiki oficial de GG, que incluye letras y datos:
A concept album about power and corruption. (Rumors that the album is actually about Watergate are reportedly untrue.)Las liner notes:
Some CD releases have a bonus track, The Power And The Glory. Ray Shulman, in Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press (April/May 1976), tells the story:The song was the A-side of the single, and it was indeed widely available in the USA from import dealers. (Thanks to Biffy the Elephant Shrew for this info.)
- "WWA said, 'Now boys, you've got to be commercial, you've gotta make singles. Now you run away and write us a single.' So we did three atrocious numbers. This song's the worst--'You've got it lads!'--and we went into the studio and handed over the tapes when we came out. They put it out, we yelled at them, and they gave it back--took it off the market."
Formed in 1969, Gentle Giant were hitting something of a musical peak as the seventies moved toward their mid-way point. Ever-presents Ray Shulman (bass), Derek Shulman (vocals, sax), Kerry Minnear (keyboards) and Gary Green (guitar) had been joined by newest recruit John Weathers (drums) to form the definitive line-up. All could - and did - swap these and other, more exotic, instruments, both in the studio and on stage, making them one of Britain's most proficient and versatile outfits. After four albums on that doyen of progressive labels Vertigo, they switched to World Wide Artists for two releases of which this is the second.
'We tried to get a more spontaneous feel by doing it all on first and second takes,' revealed Derek of this 1974 release, which featured a relatively straightforward (for them) selection of instrumentation nearer to the rock mainstream.
As with all Giant albums up to this point, the majority of tracks were brought into the studio by the writing partnership of Derek Shulman, Ray Shulman, and Kerry Minnear, with maybe a couple of numbers added as sessions progressed.
Two of the songs on this album, 'Proclamation' and 'So Sincere', were revisited on the live 'Playing the Fool', and comparisons with the originals here are interesting. 'So Sincere', particularly, was transformed into a thundering ten minute plus percussive extravaganza. 'Cogs in Cogs' also made it to the live repertoire, but not so successfully.
As with most Giant releases, 'The Power and the Glory' had an underlying theme, the lyrics dealing with politics and the Machiavellian attitude of those who dabble in it. The original closing track, 'Valedictory', is a reprise of the opener, 'Proclamation' - a device often used by Giant to emphasize their albums' concept format. Its heavier treatment harks back to the Giant of two or three years previously. The overall vocal arrangements and performances are certainly the band's best up to this point, with Derek Shulman outstanding.
A welcome bonus on this release is the title track 'The Power and the Glory' which, in typically perverse Giant style, didn't make it to the album. There was a good reason, however, it hadn't yet been written! It's only ever appeared as a single(backed by an edited version of 'Playing the Game') and on the compilation 'Giant Steps'; savour it now, as with the rest of the album, on CD for the first time.
'The Power and the Glory' was Giant's first Top 50 album in the States, where Capitol had snapped them up following the huge import sales of 'In a Glass House' (now available on CD as RFG CD 1001). They'd gone over contractless, showing considerable self-belief, and employed a tour manager whose contacts had brought them five nights at the Whiskey in Los Angeles. 'It was like a fairy tale,' Derek recalled. 'We had them queueing round the block. That gave us some more dates headlining around the country and "The Power and the Glory" went into the Top 50.'
The band then received a telegram from their management reading along the lines of 'Well done, lads, we knew you could do it!' But 'Free Hand', the following album and their first for new label Chrysalis, documents the band's dissatisfaction with those who controlled their destiny. 'It was a comment on getting rid of the management,' reveals drummer John Weathers, adding: 'It cost us a lot of money to pay the old manager off!' Giant toured the States twice in January and October 1975, and that country remains the territory where they are most highly regarded today.
The album might also have charted in Britain, but for thousands of copies apparently being leaked prior to official release, plus the aforementioned management problems. 'We made a big mistake,' acknowledged Weathers. 'We had a tour set up, but because of the management thing we pulled the tour at the last moment. We stiffed then in England: we were just about to break.'
Derek, now a US record company mogul, looked back on 'The Power and the Glory' two years later as 'too laid back, not quite the album we wanted', but confessed 'I still enjoy all our old albums'. And he should. After the 1976 success of the band's live LP 'Playing the Fool' (at the time of writing the only Chrysalis-era product available on CD), they started to take the songs on the road before recording them.
They'd contacted Chrysalis boss Terry Ellis, who'd been much impressed when they'd supported Jethro Tull in Europe and the States in the early-Seventies' Three Friends era. He signed them up, and they produced six more albums for the label before splitting in 1980. Capitol, who'd put "The Power and the Glory' out in America, were to remain their label there until the end.
The songs were getting simpler in an attempt to grab a wider audience - though, as John Weathers admits, 'the died-in -the wool fans seemed to like if as intricate as possible.' It was a gamble that failed to pay off here as Genesis - the band so often racked alongside them in the shops - got the vote. 'It was going to be them or us - we were pulling the same size crowds in America and Britain, the same people were buying our records as theirs, and they cracked it because the went commercial about two years earlier.'
Of the five Giant members featured here, only Weathers - who replaced Dire Straits-bound Terry Williams on the drum stool for Man - is still on the road. Yet 'The Power and the Glory', a more rounded and consistent album than its predecessor if a degree or two less intricate, stands proudly in its own right as a rewarding piece of progressive rock from one of the genre's master groups.
- Michael Heatley. Many thanks for their assistance to John Weathers and Alan Kinsman.
Pantagruel en Sinfomusic:
El grupo que grabó el séptimo LP de Gentle Giant se alejaba cada vez más del que había grabado su primer album cuatro años antes. Los cambios de personal no fueron demasiados pero la actitud de la música sí que era distinta. Ahora el grupo tenía el compromiso de hacer un album que vendiera bien. Su trabajo previo, "In a Glass House", pimero album para WWA no fue distribuido en USA debido a la negativa de CBS. Entonces algo curioso sucedió, el album se vendió importado de Inglaterra, algo poco usual pues cada disco valía el doble. Aun así llegaron a vender 150,000 de esas unidades importadas y eso sirvió para que Capitol aceptara publicar el siguiente album. Así que antes de grabarlo tenían ya el compromiso de hacer algo que se vendiera bien, incluso hubo un intento por hacerlos publicar un sencillo (la pieza que aparece como bonus) por primera vez, como lo cuenta Ray Shulman en una entrevista de 1976:"WWA nos dijo: chicos, teneis que ser comerciales, teneis que editar sencillos, corred y escribíd uno para nosotros. Así que grabamos tres canciones atroces. Esta era la peor con diferencia -- ahi la teneis ! Fuimos al estudio y las entregamos a la salida. La pusieron, gritaron un poco, y nos la devolvieron -- la sacaron del mercado."A la luz de esto se entiende que hicieran un album conceptual con más gancho que la visión personal de "In a Glass House", y el hecho de dedicarlo al mundo de la política justo el año en que el escándalo de Watergate alcanzaba su punto ´culminante puede parecer incluso un poco oportunista (Nixon fue obligado a dimitir un mes después de la publicación de este disco en USA y para entonces su famosa declaración: "I'm not a crook" era motivo de burla en todo el mundo, de ahi que muchos piensen que el disco habla en realidad del Watergate, algo que ellos siempre han negado). Sin embargo, en cuanto a lo musical no solo no dieron conseción alguna, sino que presentaron la música más angulosa y difícil hasta entonces, llena de ritmos sincopados, piezas imposibles de tocar sin contrar compaces, y siempre apoyando las letras de diferentes maneras. No en vano el 'crítico musical' Alan Niester lo describió en The Rolling Stone Record Guide como "el album más irritante, el menos escuchable de la banda". Visto asi y tomando en cuenta que el tema central del album más que la política viene a ser la hipocrecía como parte de la condición humana, creo que sus idéas no podían expresarse de mejor manera, todo desde su persepectiva de un grupo de músicos veteranos viviendo en su casa de cristal que ahora eran presionados para convertirse en estrellas de rock y vender sus discos en masa.¿Cómo hacer estrellas a un grupo de músicos que no era capáz ni de tirar una foto promocional decente?La historia cuenta la vida de un político cualquiera, puede ser Jose María Aznar, puede ser Hugo Chavez, y su relación de codependencia con la gente. A medida que cambia de hacer promesas de cambio a establecer que "no puede haber cambio", la gente cambia también de vitorearlo a exigirle que se vaya. Así, el disco comienza con el rugido de una multitud (análogo al redoble que comienza en "Three Friends" y al ruido de cristales quebrados en "In a Glass House") tras el cual se abre paso el teclado de "Proclamation" donde el protagonista expresa sus buenas intenciones por medio de frases que se contradicen de un verso al siguiente mientras la multitud grita el motivo principal del disco: Hail to Power and to Glory's Way (en un pasaje abiertamente disonante). La segunda "So Sincere" establece la apreciación ambígua de la gente repitiendo la frase "cada palabra es tan sincera" enmedio de un ritmo verdaderamente obtuso que parece expresar todo lo contrario.
"Aspirations" hace referencia a las dos canciones anteriores (...make your claim realy so sincere), pero en lo musical después de los guitarrazos en 'So Sincere' los toques suaves del piano eléctrico y la voz dulce de Kerry Minnear contrastan llamativamente como si se tratara de personas distintas (el agresivo hombre público con el aspirante altruista) tras la cual el mismo personaje cambia completamente de opinión mostrando su intención de hacer lo que se tenga que hacer en "Playing the Game", que abre con el ritmo marcado por un xilófono y un sintetizador bajo para dar paso a la guitarra y a la melodía principal de la voz con la marca de la casa, el uso del contrapunto.
El lado B del vinilo comienza con "Cogs in Cogs" en la que las frases hacen círculos de diferente medida, como los engranes de una maquinaria. En la parte vocal una frase está en 6/4 y la otra en 15/8 de manera que los versos coinciden cada 60 notas (este dato lo saqué de la página para-oficial de GG, no soy lo bastante friky para ponerme a contar compaces). En la subsiguiente gira utilizaban esta canción para abrir sus conciertos, como por ejemplo el aparecido en el DVD "Giant on the Box".
Tras esto, en la historia la gente da la espalda al político quien tras justificar sus acciones en "No God's a man" (After all things are said no God's a man) convierte el incipiente orgullo de "Playing the Game" en la convicción de ser él y nadie más quien arregle lo que está mal en "The Face" (Time to confess, clean up the mess).
Finalmente "Valedictory" cierra el círculo, repitiendo las mismas notas de "Proclamation" pero de forma más agresiva con la guitarra eléctrica y un mensaje por completo opuesto. El disco termina con el sonido de una cinta que se sale del carrete, a pesar de todos los esfuerzos del personaje la situación está completamente fuera de control.
Aunque los créditos indican que se terminó de grabar en Enero de 1974 se sabe que estuvieron en los estudios en Mayo y Junio. El disco se publicó oficialmente hasta Septiembre, pero unas 20 mil copias ya se habían vendido en UK desde Julio sin permiso del grupo.
El disco se vendió bien aunque solo llegó a un modesto puesto 78 en la lista de Billboard de USA. El grupo entonces se embarcó nuevamente en una gira mundial ('el mundo' en ese entonces para los grupos de rock consistía en Europa Occidental y USA, excepconalmente incluyendo España y Canada), la cual incluyó una corta residencia en el Wiskey-a-Go-Go de Los Angeles en Octubre del '74. La gira abarcó desde principios de Octubre de 1974 hasta Marzo de 1975, siendo interrumpida solo hasta Abril para la grabación de "Free Hand".
Cronopio en Hipersónica comenta el remix de 2014 por SW:
A todo aquel que diga que el Rock Progresivo es un mundo aburrido solo apto para sesudos mesadores de bigotes y portadores de monóculos habría que estamparle en la cara la discografía de Gentle Giant al completo, disco a disco. Puede que el paso del tiempo lleve a considerarlos una especie de rara avis dentro de una escena tan elitista (consideración con la que no estoy de acuerdo), pero reducir su presencia e impacto es un ejercicio de reduccionismo absurdo y zafio que merece un correctivo diario.
El caso es que los propios Gengle Giant son conscientes de todo esto y por ello precisamente han decidido regresar a la actualidad este año, a fin de que su legado no siga cayendo en el olvido y volver a poner de actualidad su Rock Progresivo de tintes jazzeros y con fuerte presencia Funk y bailable. 24 años acaban de cumplirse este año del lanzamiento de Civilian, su último álbum con material inédito hasta la fecha, aunque los de Portsmouth se han reunido en varias ocasiones la década pasada para pasear su infravalorado pero magnífico bagaje.
El 1 de Abril pasado dejaban caer, no se sabe si en broma o en serio, que tienen pensado lanzar un nuevo álbum antes de que acabe este año, pero solo unos días después confirmaban en Facebook que a corto plazo su principal novedad será la reedición remasterizada de un disco imprescindible como The Power & The Glory, reedición de la que se encargará el gurú Steven Wilson, acompañando al CD de un DVD con imágenes y sonido en calidad 96/24 Stereo LPCM y DTS 5.1.
Muchos soñamos aún con que finalmente se confirme que Gentle Giant están trabajando en el duodécimo álbum de su carrera, aunque, he de reconocer, de momento la reedición de The Power & The Glory puede ir calmando el apetito. Seguiremos informando.
Alohacriticón:
“The Power And The Glory” es uno de los discos más conocidos de Gentle Giant pero flaquea en comparación de grandes obras como “Free Hand” o, sobre todo, el magnífico “Octopus”. No obstante este disco conceptual sobre un líder político que sube al poder ante la esperanza del pueblo, pero termina siendo despojado del mismo por su totalitarismo, es un notable Lp de rock progresivo a pesar de que en principio pueda resultar demasiado caótico y autocomplaciente.
Esto no es música pop en su concepto más básico, no se busque su instantaneidad ni fácil accesibilidad. Su posible disfrute necesita de muchas escuchas, además de querencia del melómano por el rock, el jazz, la música clásica y medieval, para apreciar su valía.
A lo largo del recorrido del álbum y reciclando sonidos previos del grupo seguimos la historia del ascenso de un político, cuyas sinceras promesas le han erigido en el nuevo adalid de su pueblo para intentar mejorar la situación presente y sobre todo el futuro del país. La gente tiene confiaza en su nuevo líder, en sus buenas intenciones de gobierno pero finalmente todo acaba en agua de borrajas y el descontento y el desencanto se apoderan de la gente que termina por exigir la marcha de su dirigente.
Resumiendo, diatribas sobre el poder, la corrupción y el liderazgo con una sonoridad compleja, una lúcida sinergia instrumental de sus miembros y un excelente tratamiento en voces, contrapuntos, armonías, polirritmias, disonancias… sea en clave funk, con su clásico lleno de ritmo “Proclamation”, o recreando mágicos ambientes medievales, como la hermosa balada “Aspirations”, canción muy melódica interpretada de manera cuasi etérea por Kerry. De lo mejor del disco.
“Playin the game”, corte con trazos funk-pop, además de resultar más accesible en melodía e instrumentación que otros fragmentos del álbum, incluye la interpretación del shulberry por parte de Derek. El shulberry era un instrumento de tres cuerdas inventado por la propia banda.
La intensa “Cogs in Cogs” es uno de los temas más rockeros del Lp. “No God’s a man” no impresiona demasiado a pesar de su placidez folk y sus malabarismos vocales. “The Face” sobresale por el empleo del violín de Ray Shulman, y el último corte del álbum en su versión original, “Valedictory”, es una revisitación de “Proclamation” pero con un cariz más hard rockero.
Lo menos destacado es “So Sincere”, pieza disonante, polirítmica y experimental, solaz para sus acérrimos seguidores, cuya oferta no va más allá del autodisfrute instrumental y vocal de sus intérpretes.
Dan Barret en la wiki de GG, en respuesta a alguien a quien no le gustó el disco:
I didn't like The Power and the Glory when I first got it either. Even after 3-4 listenings, I still didn't like it. I even returned the album (which I had borrowed on cassette from a friend). A few weeks later, I had a craving to hear it again, and then I was hooked.... Now it's my favorite album in all of rock! (No lie!)
I remember you didn't really like Three Friends at first either... and The Power and the Glory is even more challenging to the ear. Three Friends has some really lush and beautiful sections. The Power and the Glory is a different kind of animal: the beauty is in the intricacy of the counterpoint and the controlled use of dissonance. A tune like So Sincere would have been way out of place on Three Friends. (Or on just about any other album in rock. :-))
You wrote that "The songs often lose their continuity, and I just can't seem to latch on to anything meaningful or moving." Here are a few things I've noticed about the album, in case they'll help:
I think the vocal melody in Aspirations is truly beautiful. In some ways, it is reminiscent of leit motifs in romantic classical music. I love how he sings a glaring tritone between the fifth and sixth notes ("As the dust settles see your dreams") and resolves it so nicely in the next few notes.
So Sincere is in 4/4 time. I'm not making this up. :-) I know that it probably sounds totally wacked out and meterless, but underneath, it is very rhythmic. If you can "feel the beat" for the whole first verse before the drums come in, the experience is quite polyrhythmically cool. (Once you know the second verse well, with the drums, it'll be easier to "feel" the first verse without the drums.) In fact, until you do feel the beat, you may find this one hard to like. It'll come with time....
So Sincere is absolutely one of GG's toughest tunes to understand. Maybe even THE toughest. And it comes early in the album -- they have no mercy on the listener. :-) At least the more accessible Aspirations follows it to soothe your ears. I can think of only 1 other GG tune that rivals So Sincere for difficulty: Design from In'terview. I think Design took me even longer to like.
So Sincere also shows off GG's sense of humor. Listen to the last note in the song. That's got to be the stupidest way to end a song I've ever heard! :-)
The more I hear Playing the Game, the more I love it. At first, I thought it was only average/OK. Now I think it's a great, driving rock song. Lots of polyrhythms going on, like the instrumental section immediately after "...I'll never ever lose," but the whole thing remains accessible. Cool organ solo too.
There is so much going on at once in Cogs in Cogs that it's brain-numbing. :-) In my mind, the intertwined vocal counterpoint conjures up images of gears of many sizes, all interlocked and spinning, especially in the middle section ("The circle turns around, the changing voices calling..."). Which is probably the intent of the song.
Those dissonant vocal harmonies in Proclamation, singing "Hail to power and to glory's way" really present, um, a listening challenge. :-) Now I love them, but they definitely took some getting used to. I especially like how they sing "HaaAAAILLLLL..." and bend the notes upward from one dissonant chord to another. Weird!
The moment in Valedictory, when the chorus sings "...and to glory's way" for the last time, and Derek's voice soars above it and sings, "Must be a REEEEASONNNNNN...!", holding the last syllable... sigh! That's one of the most exquisitely beautiful dissonant moments in progressive rock, in my opinion. I feel like the whole album builds up to that single moment of release.
Give it time. Give it a few months. :-) And most of all, give it full playings from beginning to end. That's the best way to hear it....
Jason Rubin en la wiki de GG:
Perhaps the most successful of Gentle Giant's concept albums - both in terms of musical value and the execution of a cohesive concept across an album's worth of tunes - The Power & the Glory portrays the shaky relationship between a ruler and the people he governs. Ideals are stated, expectations are voiced, but ultimately it all ends in disappointment and disgrace.
I've read that the band tried to get a sense of immediacy and authenticity in the performances by trying to nail all the songs in one or two takes. Perhaps this is why it is somewhat less complex than previous albums, although the repetitive, jigsaw-puzzle approach to instrumental sections - in which each player contributes a short phrase that together comprise a fascinating pastiche of sound - which in retrospect is something of a Giant trademark (not to mention that of minimalist composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich), was in glorious display, especially on the opening track, Proclamation.
So Sincere, so superlatively expanded on Playing the Fool, is notable for John's incredible bass drum triplets, a searing guitar solo by Gary, and Kerry's spidery piano runs. Kerry does a great vocal on this and the next song, Aspirations, which has to stand as one of the most beautiful songs Giant ever recorded. His sensitive electric piano performance lends the perfect atmosphere to this song of hopeful uncertainty. I also dig the sound of John's hi-hat throughout. (Coincidentally, "Aspirations" is also the title of a fabulous instrumental from another 1974 album: Santana's Borboletta.)
Playing the Game is sort of the magnum opus of the record. Featuring the famous Shulberry, the song opens with a jagged collage of instruments and phone rings before heading into the theme, driven strongly by the band's totally in-sync rhythm section, Ray and John. Derek's voice actually sounds a little thin; I wonder why it wasn't processed or treated with some echo or something. The song features a false ending: a fade-out interrupted by two lines sung by Kerry, with bass and electric piano accompaniment. This leads into an instrumental section that starts out gentle with multiple keyboards and then smashes into more of a funk break propelled by Ray's fat bass lines and Kerry's hot organ solo. The song resumes with the final verse and the theme repeated.
Cogs in Cogs, which started Side 2 back in the old days, is a ferocious little rocker with a snaky theme and interweaving vocal break. Again, Derek's voice seems a little off; maybe it's too far out front in the mix on the verses. John's drum beat during the break is actually one he's used on a number of Giant tunes, including The Runaway from In a Glass House.
No God's a Man is a personal favorite of mine. I love the pacing of the intro: it develops gradually and logically, featuring both electric and acoustic guitar, and a synth that sounds somewhat like a harpsichord. The verses are sung by Derek with a complex web of background vocals, making each one an exhilarating listen. Gary delivers a fine multi-tracked solo, and Kerry's organ hits some wonderful swirling high notes.
The Face gives Ray a chance to stretch out a bit on violin, in the tradition of Plain Truth from Acquiring the Taste. He rips out a fairly atonal solo, which gives way to Gary, wailing on guitar. Kerry's organ enters and with Gary, leads to the last verse and chorus.
The album closes with Valedictory, a sequel of sorts to Proclamation. Where the former was somewhat boastful in tone, the latter is belligerent. After a nifty drum intro, the theme enters - familiar, but much raunchier. Derek's voice is suitably processed, and it may be his best vocal on the album. The abrupt ending is a neat little trick, but it leaves the album's closer just over three minutes in length, which is pretty slight, especially for a concept album.
The CD also features the song The Power & the Glory, which, according to the liner notes, wasn't even written by the time the album was completed. Instead, it was penned later and released as a single. It does feel a little out of place here musically (actually feels like it could have been on either Interview or Side 2 of The Missing Piece), but it certainly makes sense to have it here. And it is a good song - not great, but good. For that matter, in the Gentle Giant catalog, The Power & the Glory stands as a great album - not brilliant, but great.
Como aparece vinculada en la wiki, va la infaltable sparkle review del “Cog” Starostin:
Easily the least accessible of all Gentle Giant albums - that is, until the even more complex (and far more wretched) Interview came along. This is, of course, the main reason for which so many GG fans proclaim this one as their favourite... curiously, I've also heard fans call this the most accessible GG album, which only further proves the amazing force with which this band is able to boggle one's mind. Anyway, The Power And The Glory was the band's only attempt at making a serious social statement: it is a concept album dedicated to the problems of power and corruption. (Some even have tried to link the concept to Watergate - not an entirely senseless suggestion, it seems). As far as concept albums go, this one is pretty tight and reasonable, too: we start out from a ruler or would-be ruler enticing the crowd with promises of better life, then, at the end, witness the ruler's downfall as the disappointed mob drags him from his throne. Pretty simple, but believe me, the lyrics are good- the band knows how to avoid triteness and cliches, so the end result doesn't look anything like the Kinks' Preservation.
That said, while the lyrics are good, the music is really hard to thoroughly get into. Two or three melodies can be called 'established'; the rest of the tracks vary from multi-sectioned, multi-part, multi-melodic, never-ending-to-change-melodies-so-as-to-become-utterly-unmemorable monsters to absolutely and completely dissonant monsters. Repeated (and repeated, and repeated) listens manage to bring some of the tracks 'closer' to your heart, but unless you're just the kind of gent who feeds on dissonance and "untrivial" stuff like that, I simply don't see why one should bother. Not to mention that the guys really showed us all their abilities before - in terms of instrumentation, harmonies, arrangements, stylistics, etc., Power And The Glory adds absolutely nothing to the base already established by Octopus and In A Glass House. It's hardly surprising, then, that out of the eight songs on here, at least three do absolutely nothing for me - the three that don't have an established hook. Villain number one is 'So Sincere'; coming right off the heels of the marvelous 'Proclamation' (see below), it's a terrible, anti-climactic celebration of looseness and dissonance. Imagine something like 'Knots', only (a) without the 'conceptual' purpose, i.e. without the idea of the 'musical puzzle' and (b) with an arrangement that doesn't sound tight, as 'Knots', but instead sounds like it's falling apart every second second. It's one of the worst Gentle Giant songs ever. Ever. Equalled only by some more of that anti-musical dissonant garbage on Interview. It costs the album one extra point minus, that's how much I dread it. The weak points on the second side aren't as disgusting, but they're pretty self-indulgent and useless anyway. 'Cogs In Cogs' pretends to be a powerful rocker, but there's just too much happening in that track... and speaking of 'powerful rockers', where the heck is the guitar? Why is it that we only get Mr Minnear throughout, adding slushy keyboard slime instead of a shining healthy guitar riff or solo? Seems like Gary Green was mostly sleeping throughout the sessions. And 'No God's A Man' pretends to be an atmospheric multi-part ballad with elements of folk and jazz (as usual), but I don't care much for songs which never give the listener anything to hold on to, no thank you very much. Gimme a hook. And if you want atmosphere, gimme back the Tony Visconti production. You gotta remember that all Gentle Giant albums are extremely short - this one's no exception, and the fact that three out of eight songs suck so nastily leaves us with roughly twenty-five minutes of music that's somewhat more solid. It really baffles me, for instance, how a record like this can combine ridiculous pseudo-music like 'Cogs In Cogs' and such an excellent tune as the lead-in track, 'Proclamation'. Funky, catchy, even a wee bit danceable at times, based on solid riffs and even featuring a few tasteful crescendos throughout, it is definitely the highlight of the album (and I can even disregard the dissonant middle part, where the band's chants of 'hail to power and to glory's way' nearly ruin my ears). Kerry's solo break is fluent and inflaming, and on the whole, the tune initiates that 'jiggy' style that would be further explored on some of the tracks off Free Hand. Meanwhile, the band hasn't yet forgotten how to write beautiful ballads - Kerry sounds like an angel singing the gorgeous melody of 'Aspirations'; the track almost sounds out of place here, with its trebley organ and echoey medieval vocals magically recreating that inimitable atmosphere of 'Pantagruel's Nativity' for me, even if only on a relative scale. 'Playing The Game' has a strange playful synthesizer riff that holds all the different parts together and provides a solid basis for enjoying the actual tune. 'Face' has some excellent guitar/violin interplay, like in the good old days, and is in general far more restrained than the nightmare of 'Cogs In Cogs' - catchy even, in spots. Finally, 'Valedictory', in which the ex-ruler waves goodbye to us and explains that all of his deeds had actually been done for the benefit of the people, is a somewhat more rocking and energetic reprise of 'Proclamation'. Not all of these tracks are first rate, but they still manage to provide us a certain compensation for the unstandable atrocities of the soulless, atmosphere-less dissonant zombies like 'So Sincere'. Plus, some CD editions, including mine, end on a hilarious note - they add 'The Power And The Glory', the song which actually wasn't included on the original album because it was a single that Gentle Giant wrote for their record company while being under pressure to write something highly commercial. While the song really has no commercial potential whatsoever, the record company still put it out (!) before realizing their mistake. But it's a good song all the same, a driving memorable rocker with nice overdubbed guitars and stuff like that. Better than 'So Sincere' anyway. Nevertheless - my final recommendation is that this one is one of the lastGG albums to buy if you're not a diehard and prefer emotionally resonant substance or real heartfelt atmospherics over awesome musicianship and complexity for complexity's sake. Hey, why not buy Free Hand instead? It has a similar style, but TONS more hooks and tons less unnecessary dissonance.
Mister Wikipedia:
The Power and the Glory is an album by the British progressive rock group Gentle Giant, released in 1974. Contrary to popular belief, the title of the album and its many lyrical themes were not inspired by author Graham Greene's novel of the same name, although Derek Shulman was aware of Greene's novel.[3] Guitarist Gary Green has cited this album as his favourite by the band.[4]
The concept album focused on an individual who means to do good using political power. He finds himself tempted to abuse the power, as have all of those who have come before, and ultimately becomes what he fought against.
The album was originally released in the US and Canada by Capitol Records, as would all Gentle Giant's albums until Civilian.
In a 2010 interview [5] Derek Shulman announced that the band are working at creating an animated film based around the themes, characters and songs of the album. The animations subsequently became available in the album's Blu-ray release, of July 2014, which also features a surround remix (both in stereo and 5.1 surround format) by Steven Wilson. The new edition was released by Alucard, the company that managed Gentle Giant material.[6]
Bruce Eder en Allmusic:
The group's first U.S. release in two years featured ornate playing from Kerry Minnear on keyboards and Gary Green's loudest guitar work up to that time. The Power and the Glory is also a fairly dissonant album, yet it made the charts, albeit pretty low. There seems to be a unifying theme having to do with one's place in the social order, but it's very vague in contrast to Pink Floyd's re-creations of the post-'60s drug experience, Yes' sweeping album-length suites, and ELP's sci-fi epics. "No God's a Man" is an infinitely more challenging piece of music than anything on Jethro Tull's Aqualung, but that wasn't a commercial virtue; nor could the electric violin break on "The Face" or the rippling electric guitar passages throughout cover the effort involved in absorbing these songs. The Power and the Glory vaguely resembled Genesis' early art-rock albums, but without any presence as charismatic as Peter Gabriel. "Playing the Game" and "So Sincere" were the most accessible tracks and ended up as key parts of their concert set.
Pete Pardo en Sea of Tranquility:
Revered by many as one of the strongest of the Gentle Giant releases, 1974's The Power and the Glory has received sparkling remaster treatment from Derek Shulman's DRT Entertainment. With crisp, powerful sound, this new reissue is a must have for the Gentle Giant fan who is looking to replace their old CD version, and for the new fan, to hear this legendary prog rock band the way they should be heard.
While some may argue whether Octopus, In a Glass House, Acquiring the Taste, Three Friends, Free Hand, or this one remains the gem that stands out in the Gentle Giant catalog, there's no doubt that The Power and the Glory has its share of classic songs. "Proclamation" bristles with newfound life here, as the sparkling clarity of Kerry Minnear's keyboards and Gary Green's guitar perfectly meshes with the nimble bass and drums from Ray Shulman and John Weathers. Derek Shulman's crafty vocal interplay with Minnear on the fan favorite "So Sincere" really makes this quirky gem come to life, bolstered by Ray's muscular bass lines and the constantly shifting tempo changes between guitar and keyboards. Green's solo here is raw and bluesy, savage in it's intent and flawless in its execution. The moody and reflective "Aspirations" is accentuated by calming vocals and Minnear's haunting electric piano and Green's emotional acoustic guitar strums. The band bounced back for some bouncy and quirky prog on the song "Playing the Game", again with Green and Minnear carrying the main theme while Weathers and Shulman provide a tight groove. The clever lyrics allow Derek to put in a grand and majestic vocal performance here, as he interjects his unique style between the many musical passages throughout this piece. Listen especially for Minnear's awesome Hammond solo here, proof positive that he was always among the keyboard greats like Emerson, Wakeman, and Banks.
For the ultimate in complex prog rock interplay, go no further than "Cogs in Cogs", a furious workout for the entire band, featuring Green's heavy riffs, Minnear's nimble Moog runs, rock solid rhythms, and Shulman's aggressive vocal performance. The majestic "No God's a Man" combines deft acoustic and ethereal electric elements, along with that famous Gentle Giant multi-layered vocal approach, and is one of the sleepers of the album. The guitar/violin/cello number "The Face" is a real treat, and one of the album's most fun tracks, and I'm sure the band had a blast putting this little rocker together in the studio. Again, Derek's vocal is right on target here, providing the lead in for the rest of the band to project in their complex yet catchy musical lines. Not only is Ray a rock solid bass player, but his scorching violin adds a nice element here, and Gary's wicked guitar lead is a real stunner. The band excels at powerful hard rock on "Valedictory", with Minnear's roving synth lines playing the perfect foil to Green's muscular riffs and Shulman's acrobatic bass grooves.
This remaster also contains the unreleased studio title track, which is more of a straightforward quirky hard rock song, but it still works. In addition, Derek Shulman has included a live version of "Proclamation" from ZDF German TV in 1974. It's not the best quality recording, but it suffices as a decent extra-added bonus. Packaging wise, you get the booklet in its original LP concept, shape, and foldout, plus complete lyrics. Overall, it's a nice presentation of a classic album, and a must have for Gentle Giant fans.
Y las reseñas de Progarchives.