Gentle Giant

What about the Big 4 ??

^Ah okay, then I get your point now, and of course you're right. In my head I subconsciously made up my own meaning of the Big 6... I guess GG did indeed have little impact when compared to ELP, Yes etc.

Giant For A Day was too 'generic'. A dumbed-down Giant who couldn't cut it with simplicity. Or maybe it was the absolutely stoopid 'cut out the picture and put on your mask and be a giant for a day' cover. And the pointless b&w photos on the back which were senseless. And Kerry must've sold most of his rig and just kept the pianos. That's probably it ; the music became all black and white, instead of the colourful palette offered on previous albums, and regained to an extent, for the following Civilian album, which I like a lot.

Incredible band.  They are probably my 2nd favorite ever after Yes with Crimson #3.  Giant for a Day is the weakest album to me, but even that has a number of songs I like.  I love every other album - even Civilian. 

micky wrote: ^ not in the next 6?  huh.. well they probably are idiots haha....  of course they are in the 2nd division. with only the possible exception of Magma.. they are greatest of the cult bands and the output rivals all but the very top of the big 6.  What keeps them out is not the music or albums..  it is the lack of popular exposure..or success.. which for a popularizing a niche genre is extremely important.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I want to say that progarchives is maybe the only prog site I'm aware of where the members don't put GG right behind the most obvious bands or in the big six. I asked this before and several members on here seem to lump them in with everyone else that isn't the most obvious band. Imo though they are just behind KC in terms of over all popularity among prog fans and importance.

I have had the impression people around here really love Gentle Giant... some others, of course, may not like them so much, just as not everyone love Yes, or Genesis, or King Crimson, or any of the other big ones. In general, I am under the impression that Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Camel are loved just about as much as the rest of the big 6 (I guess they would be prefered over ELP around here nowdays, actually).

^ not in the next 6?  huh.. well they probably are idiots haha....  of course they are in the 2nd division. with only the possible exception of Magma.. they are greatest of the cult bands and the output rivals all but the very top of the big 6.  What keeps them out is not the music or albums..  it is the lack of popular exposure..or success.. which for a popularizing a niche genre is extremely important.

Gentle Giant is one of my all time favorite bands, and perhaps the best prog band as far as I'm concerned. They were one of the few prog bands to have both the complexity and the beauty and melody to mix perfectly. 

I haven't written a review in a long time, but my favorite review I ever wrote here was this one.

Funny how a lot of people don't really like Giant For A Day. They actually played this album on FM radio in my hometown back in the seventies. I remember the title track being played often. I had a friend that liked it so I told him that it gets better and lent him some of my earlier GG albums and he became a GG fanatic to this day. Since I am a fanatic myself anything that I say here will be completely subjective. my first Gentle Giant album was Octopus. I actually bought it for the Roger Dean cover and had to pay import price for it. Back then in Canada you were paying about $15 for imports while new domestic releases ran about $6.50. I remember In A Glass House sold like hotcakes and I had to wait for months to get my paws on a copy that I finally picked up a copy in New York City. The Earth will never see a band that can match their originality. I never even considered them to be a progressive rock band. For me they are THE band.