GENTLE GIANT

Gentle Giant started strong and aimed at on their debut album. They are certainly among TOP 10 UK progressive bands of the 70's yet underrated by anyone but prog-lovers, probably because the high complexity and lower accessibility. A large line-up from the first album with multi-instrumental capabilities opened wide door to the progressive rock realm. At a relatively young age, the band displays familiarity with hard-rock, classical music, folk music and 60's psychedelia. The first track is absolutely amazing, very complex but perhaps the only catchy one. GG as no fear of going through irregular rhythm, adding exotic instruments, change styles abruptly and create sonically rich portraits (especially when keyboards are involved). "Nothing at all" at its 9 minutes could be mistakenly considered to be a complex opus but it is a rather pleasant psychedelia number that is interrupted by drum soloing and avantgarde dissonant experiments. Astonishingly strong debut!