Gentle Giant - "The Missing Piece" (1977)

Within the progressive genre, Gentle Giant has always been one of my favorite bands. They've had a talent to create complex and interesting pieces, which haven't become too complicated and academic. A delicate balance, which the band has managed well. However, The Missing Piece is none of their better moments.

The punk had arrived, the music scene had changed, and the progressive music was the great villain, according to the new loud bands. Gentle Giant was one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, but had lost some of their fan base. So there was certainly a sense of wanting to find new fans, while also reconnecting with old ones. They also had a desire to bring their live music closer to how the studio music sounded (it could differ a lot due to the complexity of the studio versions), so the songs were created with the thought of being possible to perform live without major changes. So on The Missing Piece, the band takes a lot of new paths, with mixed results, to say the least.

The album opens with Two Weeks In Spain. A fun pop-progressive song, which promises big for what to come. But it's unfortunately the A-side's only interesting song. What follows is the band shocking the listener by playing a cheesy ballad, punk, blues and hard rock. Other bands could do this better, and the the first side gets pretty confused and unfocused. Their attempt at humor with the song (title) Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It, a song where they play straight hard rock, is not very fun. On the side B, however, the band finds its way back to its former sound, with mischievous progressive music. Here, too, the opening song is the best, As Old As You're Young. Then you'll get a longer ballad, which I find a bit bland, with two following songs in classic Gentle Giant style. However, they have done this better on previous albums, and it's only the opening song of each side that really is of higher quality. My recommendation is rather to listen to Gentle Giant's earlier albums, which generally are better.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Two Weeks in Spain 3:07
2. I'm Turning Around 3:59
3. Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It 2:25
4. Who Do You Think You Are? 3:35
5. Mountain Time 3:20

Side B
1. As Old as You're Young 4:21
2. Memories of Old Days 7:18
3. Winning 4:18
4. For Nobody 4:05