Gentle Giant
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=110838
Printed Date: March 06 2025 at 16:28
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Gentle Giant
Posted By: petewhit
Subject: Gentle Giant
Date Posted: April 14 2017 at 22:02
|
I Know that I am a newb here but as far as I'm concerned to earn credibility in this group I must fist past the test. This is my favorite Gentle Giant song |
Replies:
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 14 2017 at 22:07
^ well, you fail  Just kidding !! Interview is the last, truly exciting album from GG. |
Posted By: petewhit
Date Posted: April 14 2017 at 22:27
|
Agreed Tom, I'm going for the bizarre as you now. Freehand is actually my fav. Octopus is great. Interview is obscure. Design is a deep cut. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 14 2017 at 22:46
| I obsess over the first 5 GG albums. All 5 star records. The only cop-out they've done was Giant For A Day. Even Civilian was much better than that one. |
Posted By: petewhit
Date Posted: April 14 2017 at 22:54
|
Right on Tom on all accounts. Actually there are some good Civilian moments. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 14 2017 at 23:22
|
^ The song 'Underground' is a ripper !! BTW, welcome here at P.A. 
|
Posted By: Kepler62
Date Posted: April 15 2017 at 04:30
|
There's not a bad Gentle Giant album. I do agree with the Giant For A Day / Civilian comment though. Arguably my favourite band of all time. Beyond categorization. In A Glass House was perhaps their best. What a cool cover concept. I have 4 original copies of that one! Never did understand why it was never released in North America. I mean none of their albums had any freaking commercial potential.None of their songs were ruined by radio. The only album I ever heard on FM radio back in the seventies was Giant For a Day. This is the one band that I wish I had seen live. And even though they haven't been around for almost 3 decades they have one of the best websites of any prog band from the seventies. The book Rocking the Classics by Ed Macan has this to say about Gentle Giant. "Gentle Giant added elements of cool jazz and renaissance music to the symphonic/folk framework, creating a dauntingly complex approach characterized by spasmodic rhythms, dense textures, and an extraordinarily varied instrumentation. Their almost manneristic progressive rock can be heard to best effect on OCTOPUS (1973) and the excellent FREE HAND (1975)." "Suffice it to say that no one is likely to confuse the savage energy of King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator in their mid-1970's incarnations with the disinterested density of Gentle Giant..." "Progressive rock was able to solve yet another challenge posed by the psychedelic jam - how to create a sense of direction - by drawing on 19th-century symphonic music's fondness for building up tension until a shattering climax is reached, upbruptly tapering off, and then starting the whole process anew.... An effective extension of this technique involves marking off a climax by using electronic instruments to give a heavy rock treatment to a theme that had initially been stated quietly in an acoustic setting (notice once again the feminine/masculine dynamic at work again). ELP's "Trilogy," UK's "30 Years," Gentle Giant's "His Last Voyage"..." |
Posted By: grantman
Date Posted: April 15 2017 at 08:04
| listen to the 1st album it took about 12 listens it became the best album as far as im concerned. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 15 2017 at 09:57
|
The first album is very under rated for sure. Not really one of my favorite bands but I do enjoy them from time to time. That being said I nonetheless do think they were more or less on the same level as just about anyone from back in the day. As far as musicianship and musical ability(composition) goes I think maybe only a few bands were as good.
|
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 15 2017 at 18:43
|
Hi, GG, for me, makes more sense when you start at the beginning, and you can see the folk, and other influences at work and play. By the time of "Interview" it was much more of a rock band with a lot of strangeness and weirdness to make it interesting, but I'm not sure it was as nice and crazy and exciting, as all the early material for this band. ------------- 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 |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: April 15 2017 at 20:28
| I only have their first 4 albums, plus the live Playing the Fool, and I have heard The Power and the Glory and Free Hand on Youtube. For what I have heard, it is mostly the albums with Phil the ones I like, after that they became too unmelodic for my taste. And mainly, it is the first 2 albums that I really love, the next two aren't that very great either (perhaps it was that shifting of direction what made Phil leave the band, and once he was gone the shift was completed?). |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 07:22
|
^ yeah.... their sound went off the rails after Phil left the band. Became more prog for prog's sake (look how complex and talented we are... forget about great songs and melodies) which is a cardinal sin of prog rock. The early albums had a sense of atmosphere and air space that the later albums completely forgot.. not to mention missing Phil's unique vocal contributions... adore the first 4... care very little for the rest. |
Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 08:01
| ^ Largely agree, but the one post-Phil album that really nails it for me is TPATG. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 08:53
So you don't like IAGH? Usually that's considered their best or one of their best.
|
micky wrote:Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 09:04
|
I love all Gentle Giant even the oft hated later ones (except Civilian) Gentle Giant were master of melody, complexity and counterpoint Personally i love their so-called complexity-for-complexities sake phase Despite claims that melodies don't exist i would just say there are such things as highly advanced melodies that need indoctrination to sink in. Basically one of the best bands of any genre EVER! -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: timothy leary
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 09:11
|
To acquire the taste I would recommend starting your exploration of GG with a DVD Giant on a Box. Seeing them will help you get it. \
|
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 09:40
I sure wouldn't be batsh*t crazy enough to call it their best... but that is not the same as saying I don't like the album which I've never said I didn't  . It is an decent album..one of about several thousand such albums in our collection.. nothing more .. nothing less. Of their second phase albums I'd put TPatG over IAGH in terms of the songwriting and execution of them. Pure personal preference I suppose... some people get off on emotionless, cold impersonal 'complex for complexities' sake music. I don't |
Posted By: lostrom
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 09:41
|
Acquiring the taste is my favourite album of theirs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquiring_the_Taste ------------- lostrom |
Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 10:16
| I think their best album is Free Hand, and second to that The Missing Piece! Three Friends has always left me cold. Interview is a great record, and I have never heard Civilian. Giant On The Box is my fave prog video. (that is, until the Triumvirat PBS TV Spartacus one turns up) |
Posted By: maryes
Date Posted: April 16 2017 at 16:01
|
Gentle Giant is one of my favorite bands, Acquiring the Taste, In a Glass House and Freehand are my top albums... from other albums I can cite some other great songs: Cogs in Cogs ( Power and the Glory ) Prologue (Three Friends) I'm Turning Around and Memories Of Old Days (Missing Piece) Although I don't consider Interview a "weak" album I can't detach any song ! |
Posted By: BarryGlibb
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 03:31
|
Interesting that you put forward Interview in relation to GG. I have been with them since the mid seventies and when Interview came out I bought it and was very disappointed...only memorable track IMHO is I Lost My Head. Free Hand to me was the pinnacle of their output....Phil's departure was at the time a setback for the band but to me they got even better, releasing In a Glass House, Power and The Glory and Free Hand in succession. What a trilogy! I don't mind The Missing Piece, I hate Giant for a Day but for some reason I love Civilian...I know what they were trying to do on that last album and they did "it" well. Too bad it all stopped there. Keep enjoying their legacy! |
Posted By: Kepler62
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 04:38
| 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. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 05:12
| Octopus was my first GG LP back in the mid-90's. Tracked down all of their LP's thereafter (took me a couple of years). Only GFAD disappointed. I actually bought it on 2 occasions, only to get rid of it both times. Civilian was much better, on par with The Missing Piece. |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 06:03
|
I haven't written a review in a long time, but my favorite review I ever wrote here was this http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=191356" rel="nofollow - one . |
Posted By: DDPascalDD
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 07:53
|
Since the point that I heard anything of them (almost a year ago), it has become and stayed my favourite band. It is also the only band I could get someone else listening to, a good friend really loved quite some pieces of them, and that is for a reason: The thing that most distinguishes prog from rock, is composition; daring, ambitious composition. They're not only the masters of making the most complex and creative compositions. They also are the only band who tried and succeeded in making their songs both complex and romantic. No other artist ever comes close, even if you're looking at classical composers, if you ask me. That makes it not only the best prog band for me, but they also have great meaning in music history in a broad historic point of view. Complexity became indeed a little too dominant after Phil left, but they never went too off the road, Interview is still a masterpiece and has very emotional passages. I'm trying to reach for the same kind of thing in own compositions, but it's so, so difficult, making them both very complex and emotional at the same time. I've never heard counterpoint so intriguing as in Empty City, a true accomplishment. ------------- |
Posted By: Pastmaster
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 12:57
| 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. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 13:05
| 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. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 16:36
|
^ 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. |
Posted By: ClaudeV
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 18:43
| Very good band, but often with the downside of many prog artists which is searching complexity and originality more than the best possible song. Nonetheless I like them. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 20:46
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). |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 22:20
12 listens only! Took me 12 years... ------------- |
Posted By: DDPascalDD
Date Posted: April 17 2017 at 23:59
Hmmm... So if a prog band is not popular and doesn't have great commercial succes, it can't be in the top 6/ a "1st division" band? If that's right, I can't see the purpose of your system. ------------- |
Posted By: ClaudeV
Date Posted: April 18 2017 at 10:52
|
I prefer GG much more than ELP. For me ELP is dead last on the list of british prog bands of that era.
|
Posted By: Rick5A
Date Posted: April 22 2017 at 17:46
|
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. |
Posted By: Kepler62
Date Posted: April 22 2017 at 19:25
|
^ Ah ha ! one of the knowing ones. Anyone who completely understands Gentle Giant will measure the band's music against other GG music. Every true Gentle Giant fan that I have ever met and I've met a few ( in person, not as an electronic entity ) will like every GG album perhaps not equally but I've never heard anyone say anything like " after The Missing Piece or Giant For A Day that was the end". There's a lot of great stuff on the three last albums that still embraced GGs singular approach . I loved Civilian on first listen when it came out in early 1980 and still throw it on the turntable as much as I do say, Fee Hand. They were still playing a combination of old and new material on the 1980 tour to enthusiastic audiences. Just one of the finest bands ever.
|
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 22 2017 at 19:32
| 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. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: April 23 2017 at 06:43
you don't.... quality is subjective... one can easily make a case that any of the big 5 in Italy were better than many of the big 6. What is not subjective is measuring the bands impact and influence on the genre. That is why musically imature bands like Genesis or dead boring groups like Dull are and should be in the so called Big 6. Like them, enjoy them or not.. their impact on the genre is undeniable and yes... part of that measure is success. Few bands were as revolutionary as ..say the VU that probably only sold 300 albums yet could claim that every single buyer then went out and formed a band... if you ain't selling them and getting your music out.. then you are not influencing and impacting. Especially as I noted.. for a niche genre whose appeal could easily be limited to a very limited subset of the overall listening population. |
Posted By: DDPascalDD
Date Posted: April 23 2017 at 09:28
|
^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. ------------- |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: April 23 2017 at 09:48
|
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 23 2017 at 12:31
| What about the Big 4 ?? |
Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: April 23 2017 at 15:52
| I like Giant For A Day. When I am in the mood for something less progressive, it fits the bill quite nicely. |