The Missing Piece/Giant for a Day!

Artist: Gentle Giant
Label: Bgo - Beat Goes on
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 5017261204318
ASIN: B00000IB9T

Release Date: 2002-02-15

The Missing Piece/Giant for a Day!

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Tracks:

Missing Piece: Two Weeks in Spain
Missing Piece: I'm Turning Around
Missing Piece: Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It
Missing Piece: Who Do You Think You Are?
Missing Piece: Mountain Time
Missing Piece: As Old as You're Young
Missing Piece: Memories of Old Days
Missing Piece: Winning
Missing Piece: For Nobody
Giant for a Day: Words from the Wise
Giant for a Day: Thank You
Giant for a Day: Giant for a Day
Giant for a Day: Spooky Boogie
Giant for a Day: Take Me
Giant for a Day: Little Brown Bag
Giant for a Day: Friends
Giant for a Day: No Stranger
Giant for a Day: It's Only Goodbye
Giant for a Day: Rock Climber

Similar Items:

Playing the Fool: The Official Live/Civilian
Octopus
Free Hand/Interview
The Power and the Glory
Acquiring the Taste

Album Description

Two of the English prog rock group's LPs for Chrysalis together on one CD, 1977's 'The Missing Piece' & 1978's 'Giant For A Day'. A combined total of 19 tracks, including 'Two Weeks In Spain', 'I'm Turning Around' and 'Spooky Boogie'. All tracks are digitally remastered from the original master tapes. Also features the original cover art of each record and additional sleeve notes. 1999 Records.

Customer Reviews:

Just Fine.......2005-06-28

Not their best album but one of their better later albums. The first five songs aren't in the typical gentle giant style; so what? They're great songs. two weeks in spain is an energetic fun opener, i'm tuning around is a good ballad, betcha thought we couldn't do it a funny punk parody, and who do you think you are is a good attempt at funk. and mountain time is a very solid pop rocker.
The second side is just as good, and in spots better, than anything on interview. the band should not be ashamed of this album because some giant fans are too narrow minded to appreciate good quality pop music, which this is in parts. Buy it, think of it with kindness.

Beware - CD-R!!.......2005-04-11

I already have the "Playing The Fool/Civilian", also issued by BGO, and it's fine. I also have "Freehand/Interview", which is also fine, except that it seems to miss the last part of the interview at the end of the last track. But they are both decently made and packaged. I would rather have the originals, but nowadays they are not very easy to find.

Now, I've just got this "The Missing Piece/Giant For A Day", and it's a (bad) surprise. The package is ok, but the CD itself - it's green on the bottom! It's a CD-R, unless some company started making CDs in green aluminum without letting anyone know...

So, 1 star less for that, because I'm not sure about the quality/durability of this disc. Besides, my lame, half-a-star DVD drive on my laptop can't read it very well (it happens with some brands of CD-Rs, so for me this is another evidence that it's a CD-R). I ripped it in another computer to put the music into an mp3 player. You may run into the same trouble if you buy it.

Now, regarding the music, it's cool. Not the coolest giants' stuff, but it's cool. "The Missing Piece" was the missing piece in my collection, and I regret not having bought it before. Some tracks are actually as good as most of the "Interview" tracks. Unfortunately, there's a horrible pop/crack/whatever in the first track, at 2:43, and there are some more (several ones), not so bad, but still annoying, in other tracks. It's hard to believe this is what they could get from the "original master tapes" mentioned in the Editorial Review.

"Giant For A Day" is definitely the weakest of their albums. But it still has its moments, like the title track. It's worth listening.

So, it would be a 3-star for the music, comparing to the rest of their work, but I took one star back because of the quality of media and mastering.

TWO "WRONGS" DON'T MAKE A "RIGHT".......2004-05-31

Although it has some excellent moments, "Missing Piece" marked the beginning of Gentle Giant's decline as they headed in a "pop" direction: 3 stars. "Giant for a Day" is almost unlistenable, as far as I'm concerned, considering what these incredible musician/composers were capable of: 1 star. Putting two of the band's weakest recordings together on one CD makes it easier to avoid both? Brilliant!

A New Direction.......2004-04-07

GG readily admits that this album is a result of the pressure their label was putting on them to go more "commercial". One gets the sense that they resisted this as best they could. But they eventually relented.

Yet, on CIVILIAN they show they didn't abandon their eccentric roots completely. They just polished them up a bit; this is the album you get when the experimental and provocative GG polishes their material to a commercial sheen.

The last 4 songs are particularly excellent (side two of the vinyl!). This is one of my all-time top-ten favorite album sides (right up there with side two of ABBEY ROAD).

It's perfect, and it's on the strength of this four-song set that I give this 5 stars.

Missing piece, good/Giant for a day, so-so.......2004-03-12

Two albums for the price of one. Who could complain? Missing piece is a good album but shows the start of the movement away from their roots. Giant for a day marks the end of the era and the influence of some 80's pop.

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