Civilian by Gentle Giant

Civilian is the eleventh and final studio album by British band Gentle Giant, released in 1980. It was recorded at Sound City Studios in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles with former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. Consisting mostly of short rock songs, it is closer to a hard rock sound than the progressive style for which the band is best known. The album also marked a return to Columbia Records in the U.S. and Canada after an eight-year hiatus; the band's last album released with Columbia had been 1972's Octopus. Soon after the album's release, Gentle Giant played a final tour and then split up. Civilian was a critical and commercial failure, the negative reception being so overwhelming that some record stores reportedly refused to carry it for fears of generating bad publicity. A previously unreleased track, "Heroes No More", has been included on some CD reissues of the album. Another track from the same period, "You Haven't a Chance", appeared on the compilation album Under Construction 17 years later.