Gentle Giant-like band? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

A second on the Et Cetera album - a killer record for sure, one of the great unknowns

Anakdota - "The Girl Next Door" (2013)

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

martinprog77 wrote:

ECHOLYN

Nah, only a bit on as the world but that's about it.

They made several references to them in each of their albums, especially in Mei and Suffocate The Bloom.
In Mei, we can hear : "Out here there could be giants
I want to walk in their shade"

So don’t evade the surgeon’s blade
Cos the answer could be in your mind
Maybe one cut and we’ll find
We’re just a wavelength behind

But we are entwined

And I know what you need

I just listened to two tracks by ET CETERA, band suggested here and I concur. Even the singing sounds GG. It is as if the nostalgic GG Pantagruel decided to return home.

softandwet wrote:

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

martinprog77 wrote:

ECHOLYN

Nah, only a bit on as the world but that's about it.

They made several references to them in each of their albums, especially in Mei and Suffocate The Bloom.
In Mei, we can hear : "Out here there could be giants
I want to walk in their shade"

Maybe but I was referring to musically not lyrically.

I'm by no means an expert on Gentle Giant, but the vocal style on this new song from Nick D'Virgilio reminds me of a Gentle Giant style. Admittedly, it might just be me, but give it a listen and see what you think.

Advent - "In The Tree" (1997)

SAGA has consistently given credit to Gentle Giant as being one of their major influences, although this can only be heard in bits and pieces on their first four albums.

Hi,

My ears must be getting old ... I listened to all the bits posted and the only one that came close to me to "sounding" like GG, is ADVENT ... and in many ways they actually also sounded more like some of the CANTERBURY stuff as well, a nice combination actually.

All in all, I think that what GG did was based on a lot of free form stuff and improvisation, and the manner in which they worked together ... like one brother making fun of a song bit and they end up using it together ... usually fun stuff that is not always seen or thought of.

I think of some of the things that GG does as simply "fun stuff" ... as if it were satirizing a lot of the music around them, specially pop music ... and then they use some Rabelais, who was known to write satires that were considered grotesque and songs that were ... we call them "nasty" nowadays, but they would be "naughty" in English words, and I don't have the French word for it. That suggests that their total attitude towards music, was almost a complete reaction to the teaching they were getting in school about music ... and made fun of it, and guess what ... it stuck! But they knew how and what they did and were able to do it again and again for many albums.

A lot of the things mentioned here, don't quite make it for me ... there is no "drive" like GG had, to be able to put together something different ... most of the stuff listed was based on riffs and material that has been done before ... and a very obvious lack of imagination when all one can do is "copy" or "emulate" someone else ... and not realize that the history of music is almost the opposite ... the war against the school and the teachings ... and the creation of something new!

I didn't see that "revolution", or "revolt" in almost all of the material listed. I will reserve comment on ECHOLYN since I was familiar with it 20 years ago ... and I found it ... a good listen!

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com

I know that the French Canadian band Et Cetera was mentioned in the first response as it is an obvious one to those that know of it, but here is a track:

And if you like that, while I wouldn't say it's like GG, you might like Eskaton. Or maybe it's just me.

By the way, about 15 years ago I purchased an album by Spock's Beard because I'd read that the band was similar to and influenced by Gentle Giant and I was VERY into GG at the time, and boy was I disappointed. The album I bought was Snow.

Miriodor seems to capture much of what I liked so much about GG (rather like Henry Cow meets GG in various music).

Soon after trying Spock's Beard I discovered Miriodor, and it hit that quirky and adventurous spot I liked so much more, and that led me to check out lots of Avant Prog.

Edited by Logan - September 23 2020 at 16:34

Duos for fave acts