Free Hand
| Free Hand | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Gentle Giant | ||||||||||
| Released | July 1975 | |||||||||
| Recorded | April 1975, Advision Studios, London | |||||||||
| Genre | Progressive rock, Progressive folk, Jazz rock | |||||||||
| Length | 36:50 | |||||||||
| Label |
Chrysalis (UK) Capitol (U.S.) |
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| Producer | Gentle Giant | |||||||||
| Gentle Giant chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Sea of Tranquility | |
Free Hand is the seventh album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant that was released in 1975. It was also the first album with their new label, Chrysalis Records in the UK. The album is noted for its high production values, and for a less dissonant, more accessible feel than their previous album The Power and the Glory. It was their highest-charting album in the US and the only one to reach the Top 50 on the Billboard Album Chart.
The album was mixed in quadraphonic sound by the band in 1976 but the 4-channel mix was not released until 2012 when it finally appeared on a re-issue of the album in DVD-Audio format. The 1990 CD version, released by the re-issue label One Way mistakenly used an alternate stereo mix version of the album. This version revealed some different musical details. However, this may actually have been a variation or reduction of the 4-channel mix.
Alucard/EMI re-released the CD in 2009, "from the original 1/4-inch tapes through 24bit 96k Hi-Resolution transfer."
The Great Rock Bible described the album:
Duly signing a new deal in Britain with Chrysalis Records, their seventh album Free Hand (1975), again only found a paying audience (and Top 50 status) across the water. However, it did contain impressive vocal gymnastics, much in evidence on jewels in the crown, "Just The Same" and the renaissance/retro, part a cappella/part folk-rocker "On Reflection"; the latter combining four pieces of group scribed fugue. Minnear’s un-medieval meanderings on the ivories for the pure-prog title track was just the ticket for a group still going strong despite others such as ELP and the aforementioned Genesis and King Crimson were collapsing under rock’s evolution. Although at times exquisitely off-kilter, tracks such as "Time To Kill", the beautiful "His Last Voyage", the folkie "Mobile" and Tudor-esque instrumental ditty "Talybont", gave the set an aura of accessibility – a classic!
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Wikipedia