Tones Behind The Tracks

With Gentle Giant's legendary Playing The Fool receiving a remix, the band's Gary Green reminisces about playing during prog's golden age

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To say that Gentle Giant are a cult phenomenon would be an understatement. Despite the band splitting in 1980, the fanbase is still active and ever hungry for recent studio album remixes, courtesy of Steven Wilson. Playing The Fool, the band's 1977 live album, has now received similar treatment in the hands of Dan Bournemark and, for an album that is 48 years old, the result is nothing less than remarkable, with modern technology offering the listener the virtual experience of being present in the audience. Recorded during the band's 1976 European tour, the full setlist has been restored for the first time, too. Guitarist Gary Green joins us for a trip down Giant's memory lane.

What was the idea behind the complete remix of Playing The Fool?

“The idea was to try to give the listener the experience of being at the gig, you know? Run the whole show with all the bits and bobs in between and make it feel like you're sitting in the audience. I think that's been successful to some degree; it feels like you're immersed in it, which is always a great thing to hear on a live album.”

Can you paint a picture of what it was like touring with Gentle Giant in the mid-70s?

“Looking back, we were devoid of great equipment for monitoring purposes and such like. But, of course, back in the day, you thought it was all new technology, so you just got on with it. It was a fantastic time. We always felt we were pretty solid as a live band, and when we made Playing The Fool, it was after Interview [1976], on which, for some odd reasons, I think we felt we hadn't quite nailed it. You know, it seemed like we had done it a bit in a rush, and it wasn't quite up to our own internal standard, if you like. So we were kind of treading water a little bit. We thought, 'Let's do a live album... because it'd be great to capture the band in the mode that we were in, which was a strong live act.”