For Whomst'd've The Bell Tolls

This album is one of many I have in my collection that has an ominous-looking stamp in the upper left corner on the back of the outer jacket: "FOR PROMOTION ONLY Ownership Reserved By CBS Sale Is Unlawful" When I first started collecting records, I thought I had stumbled upon something I shouldn't have - something rare and forbidden! How did it wind up in my hands, at a record store in some small town of all places? While some promo stamped records are quite sought after, that's mostly reserved for pressings of super popular collector albums. I'm sure if you had a promo stamped, mint copy of Abbey Road, for example, you could ask pretty much any price you wanted. But, the fact of the matter is that virtually any album back in the day had a huge number of these stamped records produced. You see, back when radio station DJs had to use, you know, actual discs, the record labels gave upcoming albums to radio stations worldwide for free. That way people could hear the hottest singles from an upcoming release, which would increase publicity, and hopefully, sales. When radio stations shifted away from vinyl to the more reliable CD (and later, digital music libraries) they suddenly had a bunch of old records collecting dust. These eventually made their way into the secondhand vinyl ecosystem, where you can occasionally find them in record shops. So, if you encounter one of these in the wild, it's very likely that it doesn't increase the value of the record by any real amount. Kind of like a holo foil Pokemon card that increases the value from 25¢ to 35¢. Ooh! Aah! It can be kind of fun to find one, though.

On to the album! Gentle Giant unfortunately suffered the fate of many of the great progressive rock bands of the 70s. As tastes and attitudes changed, people started to tire of the lengthy, noodly, synth-laden epics of the mid-70s. What was once seen as innovative and virtuosic was now seen as bloated and decadent. Singles were increasingly becoming a product to make your record label (and you) money, and a 20-minute opus that took up half the real estate on your album didn't sell. Bands were faced with a choice: adapt or die. Some bands, like Genesis or Yes, went through a rapid, extreme sonic metamorphosis. Compare Yes's 1980 Drama to 1983's 90125. Night and day. If I didn't know any better, I would say those were different bands.

Other bands, like Gentle Giant, called it quits. Rather than string out a foregone conclusion until tensions tore the band apart, they decided that after Civilian, the Giant would be no more. Maybe they didn't get the renown they were chasing, maybe the creative juices dried up, but listening to this album I'm glad they called it when they did.

Gentle Giant is definitely one of my pet bands, and a group that I often recommend to people who are looking for more proggy goodness a little more off the beaten path. But listening to their earlier entries like Octopus or The Power and the Glory, there's just no comparison. This album doesn't have the trademark Giant sound to me. It just sounds like... any other early 80s rock. Closer to Journey than Genesis, you know?

Which isn't to say it's bad! It's just... not as good as I know they were.

My favorite of the bunch is probably "Underground" because it's got little bits and pieces of why I fell in love with Gentle Giant. Creative chord choices, unexpected syncopations, a little synth solo, things like that. But it's pretty tame compared to their earlier work. Really, this to me just sounds like generic "rock", not progressive rock. Literally any track on Octopus clears this, easily.

So, to sum it up, by 1980 the golden era of prog was officially dead. At the time, people celebrated. But looking back, I wish it could have lasted a little longer.