Author Topic: Gentle Giant appreciation  (Read 24633 times)

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Offline LieLowTheWantedMan

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #140 on: September 20, 2013, 10:31:30 PM »
Due to overwhelming demand, I am unable to keep up with a survivor of such magnitude. My apologies.

Offline Outcrier

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #141 on: September 20, 2013, 11:26:27 PM »
7 great albums in a 6 years span  :hefdaddy
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Offline Mladen

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #142 on: September 21, 2013, 04:34:23 AM »
I'd love a survivor!

Offline LieLowTheWantedMan

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #143 on: September 21, 2013, 03:00:55 PM »
I'd love a survivor!
Cool. :) Hopefully more would.

Offline krieger

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #144 on: September 22, 2013, 07:10:43 PM »
I really love the sequence Three Friends - Octopus - In a Glass House - The Power and the Glory. Masterpieces, all of them. But I don't like the albums after TPATG. And the first two... I like them, but not that much.
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Offline snapple

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #145 on: September 30, 2013, 01:41:42 PM »
I'd love one as well!

Offline splent

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #146 on: September 30, 2013, 07:29:08 PM »
You know I would... I'll vote whole on here
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Offline Mladen

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #147 on: October 01, 2013, 04:34:16 AM »
Four people so far...  ;D

Offline Outcrier

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #148 on: October 01, 2013, 04:40:24 AM »
Take Five.
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Offline LieLowTheWantedMan

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #149 on: October 01, 2013, 09:11:49 AM »
Cool. :) Maybe I'll start one out soon then!

Offline Sycsa

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #150 on: October 01, 2013, 01:15:21 PM »
Been listening to them for years and I still get the "omg, I can't believe they actually made music like this" feeling when I pop them in. The first 7 albums are incredible, with Three Friends being my favorite.


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Offline snapple

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #151 on: May 04, 2014, 06:03:50 AM »
just a friendly bump and reminder that I love this band.

Offline LudwigVan

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #152 on: May 11, 2014, 12:01:39 AM »
Was watching some video of GG and the visual impact of this band is awesome too. The band members could all be cast members on Big Bang Theory. The drummer wears coke bottle glasses and Oakland A's gear. The keyboardist whales away on this homemade contraption that looks like an old microwave. The lead singer looks like one of the BeeGees in a white jumpsuit. You wouldn't expect the 2 genres to go together but they're the only prog band that makes you wanna get up and dance. Totally funky prog. And then in a split they ditch the electrics for classical instruments and start singing madrigals. So much fun to watch!
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Offline Nel

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #153 on: May 11, 2014, 12:26:52 AM »
I listened to the first album for the first time about a week ago. Thought it was good. I did a binge buy on album duo packs (covering the first four albums) and the Chrysalis Years set that collects the final five studio albums, so all I'm missing is In A Glass House and The Power And The Glory. I... think those are the names, anyway.
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Offline Nihil-Morari

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #154 on: May 11, 2014, 02:02:05 AM »
I bought the first pressing of the Octopus vinyl, great album. I just need to sit down once, and listen to a couple more albums. IMO this is a vinyl band, ie not a band where you put a ton of cd's in the car's stereo, and blast then on the way to work. You need to be focussed to digest the music.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #155 on: May 11, 2014, 07:04:32 AM »
Was watching some video of GG and the visual impact of this band is awesome too. The band members could all be cast members on Big Bang Theory. The drummer wears coke bottle glasses and Oakland A's gear. The keyboardist whales away on this homemade contraption that looks like an old microwave. The lead singer looks like one of the BeeGees in a white jumpsuit. You wouldn't expect the 2 genres to go together but they're the only prog band that makes you wanna get up and dance. Totally funky prog. And then in a split they ditch the electrics for classical instruments and start singing madrigals. So much fun to watch!

I grew up listening to the live album Playing the Fool, and I always imagined what it must have been like to see these guys in concert.  Switching instruments and genres all the time, the heavy, funky side, the acoustic/classical side, everything you mentioned.  Then when I got one of their videos (GG on the Box), it was somehow just what I expected, yet nothing like what I expected.  They're an amazing band.

I listened to the first album for the first time about a week ago. Thought it was good. I did a binge buy on album duo packs (covering the first four albums) and the Chrysalis Years set that collects the final five studio albums, so all I'm missing is In A Glass House and The Power And The Glory. I... think those are the names, anyway.

If you like anything about either the early or later stuff, you need to get those last two middle ones, often regarded as two of their best.  GG started off very raw and adventurous, maybe a little too crazy for my taste, but a lot of people like that.  And the last three albums ditch the strings and winds and stick with basic five-piece rock in 4/4, in a deliberate attempt to sell some albums.  They had a strong cult following, but were never really big, which is a shame, because they were so unique.  But even as they streamlined things, there was still some real intensity to their music, and the final album, Citizen, is great, one of their best.

I bought the first pressing of the Octopus vinyl, great album. I just need to sit down once, and listen to a couple more albums. IMO this is a vinyl band, ie not a band where you put a ton of cd's in the car's stereo, and blast then on the way to work. You need to be focussed to digest the music.

I hear what you're saying, but I spent 20 years listening to these guys on vinyl, and love the fact that I can blast them in the car on the way to work!  I've absorbed and digested them, now I just enjoy them.

Offline snapple

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #156 on: May 14, 2014, 09:02:13 AM »
My wife and I are still trying to figure out the harmonies to Knots and On Reflection. It's hard with two people, but we have a lot of fun doing it!

Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #157 on: May 14, 2014, 09:57:31 AM »
I can't help you with "Knots".  The closest my buds and I could ever come was basically jumping around and attempting to reasonbly cover four parts with three voices.

For "On Reflection" we cheated and just kept the last three lines going.  That is, one of us would start (Derek), one of us would take the next part, then the next, and when the fourth part came in, the first guy would switch to that.  Again, it's about illusion, since you're not going to be able to actually cover all parts.  With only two of you, I'd suggest doing something like that, just keep the last two, or maybe one of you start and follow all the way through with the lead part, and the other come in and jump around as necessary.

When it gets to the "Still you stay, tied in your way" you'll have some choices to make, but oddly enough, "All around, all around" might be okay with just the two parts if you pick the right harmony.

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #158 on: October 06, 2015, 11:07:41 AM »
So I can buy the band's first sic albums for less than $54 USD shipped from a single seller on Amazon....is it worth it? The first four albums are on 2 two-album collections, IAGH is a fairly recent remaster, and TPATG is the new Steven Wilson remix.

I have the money, but I just wanna know if it'll be worth getting these six first to try and get into the band. They're one classic 70's prog band that I never really checked out or got into when I discovered progressive rock ten years ago. I was hooked in the usual suspects: Rush, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, a bit of Jethro Tull, and a couple others. These guys and VdGG were two I always meant to go back to and listen to but as the years went on, I discovered more modern prog bands and never went back to the other major 70's prog bands.

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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #159 on: October 06, 2015, 11:51:56 AM »
Go for it.  To be able to start with the first album and work through the first six is an opportunity you just can't pass up.  Of course, this is coming from someone who's owned their entire discography for many years.  Gentle Giant is a truly unique band.  I mean really, there is no one else like them.

It's pretty much unanimous that the earlier albums are the best.  They finished on a high note, but around 1976 they stripped away most of the prog and tried for some concise prog-pop, and the results were hit-or-miss.  But man, the first six are solid.

I kinda feel like listening through their early albums now.

Offline The Letter M

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #160 on: October 06, 2015, 12:06:43 PM »
Go for it.  To be able to start with the first album and work through the first six is an opportunity you just can't pass up.  Of course, this is coming from someone who's owned their entire discography for many years.  Gentle Giant is a truly unique band.  I mean really, there is no one else like them.

It's pretty much unanimous that the earlier albums are the best.  They finished on a high note, but around 1976 they stripped away most of the prog and tried for some concise prog-pop, and the results were hit-or-miss.  But man, the first six are solid.

I kinda feel like listening through their early albums now.

As someone who fell in love with the Yes and Genesis crowd, would I enjoy their material over-all? I've loved all the Spock's Beard songs that have that GG influence, and the cover of "Just The Same" on Jordan Rudess' solo album The Road Home was pretty sweet. I really want to try and get into this band, even a decade after getting into prog. I spent nearly all of 2005 and 2006 buying all the albums by Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd...all of those guys, but never really got into GG, so I'm hoping I can now, ten years on as a "seasoned progger".

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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #161 on: October 06, 2015, 01:56:29 PM »
Gentle Giant is different.  Some of their stuff is very nice and melodic, and other stuff... deliberately not so.  They embrace the avant-garde to a degree that most of the others you've mentioned did not, or would not.  Only King Crimson, with some of what I call their "artful noise" comes close, but even then, it's not the same.  Gentle Giant pushed the boundaries in ways the others did not.  Remember that before it was called "progressive rock", people called it "art rock" because another term had not yet been invented.  There's no question that some of what GG did was simply because they could.

Jordan's cover of "Just the Same" is from Free Hand, which is easily the most accessible of Gentle Giant's early albums.  By this point, they'd managed to tone down the more outrageous aspects of their music.

The only GG influence I hear in Spock's Beard is the complex a capella bits with counterpoint.  Spock's Beard does that very well, but keep in mind that this is only part of what Gentle Giant was all about, and a rather small part at that, even if it is an important part and instantly recognizable.

I suggest checking out YouTube for some Gentle Giant from the early years.  This will give you a better idea of what they were all about.  I've heard their music described as "what you might think you heard while visiting the Renaissance Faire while on acid".  I don't think it was meant as a compliment, although I find the description oddly accurate, and actually quite complimentary.

Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #162 on: October 06, 2015, 02:23:42 PM »
Just for grins, I checked out what AMG had to say about the first album.

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AllMusic Review by Bruce Eder

Astonishingly daring debut album, not as focused or overpowering as King Crimson's first but still crashing down barriers and steamrolling expectations. The mix of medieval harmonies and electric rock got stronger on subsequent albums, but the music here is still pretty jarring. Kerry Minnear was probably the only prog rock keyboard player of the era who allowed his synthesizers to sound like themselves and not mimic orchestras; Gary Green's guitars are alternately loud and brittle or soft and lyrical, and always surprising; and the presence of saxes and trumpets (courtesy of Phil Shulman) was unusual in any rock band of the era -- all of which explains how Gentle Giant managed to attract a cult following but hadn't a prayer of moving up from that level of recognition. "Funny Ways" was the softest prog rock song this side of Crimson's "I Talk to the Wind," but a lot of the rest is pretty intense in volume and tempo changes. "Nothing at All" by itself is worth the price of purchase.

----------

Other than the fact that Phil Shulman only played sax (Ray Shulman played trumpet), I agree with pretty much all of this.  You may not love this album at first, but parts of it will grab you right away, and as a prog lover, you will come to appreciate it.  At the very least, this is music that everyone should try at least twice.  Not just once; it's too easy to dismiss a band after one listen.

First album on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBN9wZMEb0o

Amazing video from Long Beach concert in 1975:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csA2qxbIfEU

Online Podaar

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #163 on: October 06, 2015, 02:34:38 PM »
Amazing video from Long Beach concert in 1975:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csA2qxbIfEU

I love how the singer is soooo into the instrumentation! Awesome.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #164 on: October 06, 2015, 03:22:14 PM »
Derek Shulman was (and still is) a madman.  To be honest, I find it a little distracting, and eventually annoying, when he feels the need to "direct" the band, or point out to the audience who's playing.  There's only five of them; it's not like we couldn't figure it out.  But he's definitely into it, and that's good.

By the way, you're aware that Derek Shulman, lead singer from Gentle Giant, is the same Derek Shulman who signed Dream Theater and Pantera while he was CEO of Atco, right?  You could say that he's done alright in the music biz.

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #165 on: October 06, 2015, 03:40:14 PM »
Oh that's right. I'd forgotten.

Didn't also have something to do with Roadrunner?
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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #166 on: October 06, 2015, 03:42:31 PM »
Yep, he was president of Roadrunner after he left Atco.  Signed Slipknot and (hey, they're not that bad!) Nickelback.

Offline Sycsa

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #167 on: October 06, 2015, 04:39:41 PM »
the final album, Citizen, is great, one of their best.
Civilian :P


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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #168 on: October 07, 2015, 07:06:46 AM »
Shit.  I don't know why, but I often make that mistake, and it's one of my favorite albums.

Offline Mladen

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #169 on: October 07, 2015, 07:50:48 AM »
Wait a second, let me see if I got this right - Derek Shulman of Gentle Giant signed Dream Theater and Slipknot? He must be a God!  :hefdaddy

M, I'm surprised that such a huge SB fan didn't check out Gentle Giant yet. The influence is apparent in the vocal a capella bits, but some of the musical themes are also very similar. The way The Boys in the band from Octopus starts really sounds like something Spock's Beard would play.

I've been spinning the albums from Interview up to Civilian over the last few weeks, being that I've never gotten into those until now. There are some great tunes in there, although I'm not sure if I would be able to single out an album from that period as being particularly good.

Offline ytserush

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #170 on: December 06, 2015, 11:31:10 AM »
Do some research. There's been a ton of reissues over the last 15 to 20 years and many of them aren't as good as some.


Offline splent

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #171 on: December 06, 2015, 12:04:41 PM »
When Gendes Giant was still a thing (I mean, technically it still is, but we haven't practiced in years), We learned quite a bit from that interview to civilian period... Two weeks in Spain, for nobody, interview, all through the night (we didn't learn anything off giant for a day)...
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Offline Mladen

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #172 on: December 06, 2015, 12:56:13 PM »
Did people know those songs when you performed them?

It's been two months since my last post and I've spun those albums quite a bit. Interview is fine, I didn't really care for Civilian and The Missing piece, but I have to go out on a limb and say Giant for a day is pretty excellent. It sounds like a really focused, to the point album, filled with well-crafted melodies. The music feels like they're all into it, I'm confused that the band disregarded it because the songs sound like all of the guys are on the same page.

Title track, No stranger, Thank you, It's only goodbye and Little brown bag are all great, some of those tunes are pretty rockin'.  :metal

Offline splent

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #173 on: December 06, 2015, 05:32:44 PM »
I remember someone coming up to us and saying thanks for playing some stuff off of missing piece.
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Offline Orbert

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Re: Gentle Giant appreciation
« Reply #174 on: December 06, 2015, 08:33:24 PM »
So I've been collecting prog in 5.1 as the opportunities arise, and I recently added The Power and the Glory to my collection.  It is glorious.  I've also put the Octopus Blu-ray on my Christmas list.

I want Free Hand in 5.1.  It's my favorite.  Hopefully, Steven will get around to it.