PA's Battle to Stardom A16: Gentle Giant v. Camel

Wow, here we are at the last match of round 1 already!

I've been looking forward to this one ever since the beginning of the tournament.

In one corner... please give your round of applause for one of the most accomplished and paradigmatic progressive rock bands, master multi-instrumentalists, and some of the most talented musicians in the larger part of the 1970s prog movement, Gentle Giant!

In the other corner... a Symphonic progger's absolute dream, a lesser-known underdog who managed to absolutely awe the audience back in January by consecutively defeating Magma, ELP, and even giving Genesis quite a fight until the end... let me give you, Camel!

Who will win? Give your support to decide!


Please: If you are not familiar with one or both of the band's material, I urge that you use the links provided and at least listen to the samples on their respective pages (or Youtube if the particular band has no online streaming).

Gentle Giant's PA page: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=118
Camel's PA page: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=50

As always, discussions are encouraged.

Recap:
Round 1
A1:  Mahavishnu Orchestra v. Marillion      (24-28)
A2:  Gong v. Area    (18-19)
A3:  Emerson, Lake and Palmer v. The Flower Kings      (22-14)
A4:  The Residents v. Tangerine Dream    (12-15)
A5:  Can v. Dream Theater    (42-37)
A6:  Echolyn v. Opeth    (11-18)
A7:  Van der Graaf Generator v. The Mars Volta    (54-18)
A8:  Samla Mammas Manna v. Radiohead      (27-26)
A9:  Rush v. Tool    (55-21)
A10: Meshuggah v. Kayo Dot     (15-21)
A11: Henry Cow v. Amon Duul II      (17-12)
A12: Soft Machine v. Magma      (23-25)
A13: Ayreon v. Le Orme      (26-29)
A14: Ozric Tentacles v. Hawkwind         (21-27)
A15: Koenjihyakkei v. Univers Zero       (10-17)

A1: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51423&PN=2
A2: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51492&PN=1
A3: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51567&PN=1
A4: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51630&PN=1
A5: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51711&PN=1
A6: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51778
A7: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51855
A8: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51928&PN=1
A9: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52011
A10: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52091
A11: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52158&PN=1
A12: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52246
A13: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52336
A14: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52411&PN=1
A15: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52487&PN=1

By the looks of my "Green vs. Latimer" poll from a while back, Camel should pull this one out easy.  But as of right now, there's three votes for Gentle Giant and none for Camel.  I must confess I am perplexed.

laplace wrote: ha I didn't see the UZ vs. Koenji poll but it came out fine. unless Geck0 voted for UZ in which case it came out wrong ;P clicked on Gentle Giant because Acquiring, Three Friends and Power & Glory are all five billion star albums whereas Camel's music is dull and sedate

you can really put a smile on my face. 

This was hard but I'm going to go with Camel. 

Lovely bands, but i'm going with Camel this time!

I've found both more than a bit interesting, but Camel tends to land in the "just prog" category for me, while Gentle Giant always sounds unique, even when you compare it to most prog. But that's just my opinion.

This is incredibly easy for me; I find Gentle Giant far more interesting.  I was once an uberfan of the band, though my passion rather wore off.  I consider the first eight studio albums excellent and the last three very poor, and Playing the Fool is a terrific live album.  I like Camel considerably, particularly The Snow Goose, in fact, I love that album, and A Live Record, but I don't put Camel in the same league as Gentle Giant (well, I actually think Camel's '77 and up studio output much better than GG's, but then what isn't?  ).

Still I have a desire to play "Nimrodel..." now.  I do like Mirage considerably, as well as Moonmadness.  The debut is quite good, as is Nude.  So it is a band I like, and used to listen to a lot, but didn't have the punch, adventurous attitude, contrasts. and twists of GG.  Camel plays it safer delivering more accessible melodic tunes (when GG tried to turn more accessible/ commercial, it was disastrous.  Camel is better at that). Camel rarely reaches the same heights for me. I joined this site, to a considerable extent, after lurking for ages, because I wished to share my passion for GG.

Incidentally, Camel lost to Magma when I put its most popular live album against Magma's most popular live album (Live/Hhai vs. A Live Record).

Gentle Giant with eight great albums and a live one 70-77, is pretty hard to beat. I like early Camel a whole lot, though.  

I'm really tired of Camel winning all of these little polls and contests, but glad to see the better band winning here!

Camel is nice... I guess... but Gentle Giant is light-years ahead.

well like other have said, i Iike camel its a nice band, but they are not on the same level as GG.