Simon Dupree and the Big Sound

Hello,

I have recently discovered that this group, popular for songs like "Kites",  includes all the three Shulman brothers Phil, Ray and Derek  of Gentle Giant.

No, I don't want them to be included as a Proto Prog band in the Progarchives,  but I believe that somehow they are one of the best Pop groups of those days,  probably because Ray und Phil brought a lot of diversity into the music.  They were one of the first groups to use a Mellotron as well, at first "borrowing" the Beatles' machine when they weren't recording.

Quite funny how Ray plays his guitar on the ground in this video,  and the great Manfred Mann/Mike Hugg cover "Each and Every Day" (Daytime Nighttime) features a cool french horn arrangement.


Elton John was also part of this band as a keyboarder and composed this  piece for the band.


Einsetumadur



Edited by Einsetumadur - July 07 2009 at 08:00

himtroy wrote: That sounds horrifying

What? Why?

"Kites" is a great song.

No.

They were at best a band that emulated r&b tunes of the day.Almost a 'showband'.

They 'lucked-out' by emulating a sound that was the zeitgeist. A Mellotron led song (Kites) that owed a lot to The Beatles,Traffic and Procul Harum. They made one or two singles under the name of The Moles that were far more original.