Nice remaster for transitional album from the band 3 1/2 sta
Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 02/27/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Drastic measures had to be taken because Gentle Giant had reached a plateau and couldn't move beyond it; the band had a big following in the U.S. but they still hadn't cracked the top 20 in album sales. "The Missing Piece" was the radical surgery the band felt they needed at the time--making a more accessible album that would reach the same audience as Yes.
Gentle Giant felt that they had something to prove (hence "Betcha Think We Couldn't Do It")with "The Missing Piece".
The remaster of "The Missing Piece" doesn't sound quite as "harsh" as the previous CD incarnations and because it's drawn from the original master tapes improves on some earlier reissues of teh album. The bonus live performance of "For Nobody" (which could be from a sound board recording but sounds more like it was pulled from a bootleg) isn't included here. It would be nice to see a live album from this period of the band released and based on some comments from Derek Shulman perhaps it will happen (as an archive type limited release). Keep your fingers crossed because while "The Missing Piece" isn't "In a Glass House", "Free Hand" or "Octopus", it's still a good album worth exploring.
The only way to improve this release would have been to make it a two disc set with a live disc from the same period/some outtakes and/or liner notes on the making of the album. If you have the DRT this reissue is a slight improvement on that that release.
"The Missing Piece" wasn't that album. While it IS a compromise of sorts it also was a bold, new direction whether it was the RIGHT direction is based on how you feel about Gentle Giant. I actually like "The Missing Piece" and if you combine the best tracks from this album with "Giant for a Day" (particularly "Word for the Wise")you'd have a four star album. The change in direction gave guitarist Gary Green more room to solo and, in a sense, moved the Shulman's closer to their original sound (The Howling Wolves, The Road Runners and the early singles of Simon Dupree and the Big Sound) while incorporating elements of Giant's sound.
"The Missing Piece" in retrospect 32 years on is a good album with an exceptional band searching for a new valid direction.
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