Gentle Giant

[Guybrush]

Hey guys 🙂

Gentle Giant is one of those bands who have a lot of great songs in a wonderful run of albums in the 70s. Me and @Mrs. Waffles posted a bit about their debut in her listening log, but I thought they might be a fun subject for a thread of their own.

So post and discuss your favorite Gentle Giant related stuff!

A song I really like is Playing the Game from the album The Power and the Glory.

And someone's made an awesome 8-bit cover of it!

[Lexi Darling]

Wonderful band, I first discovered them through @Comus 's thread on MB back in 2009. One of those bands that climbs up my all-time favorites list more and more every year. They really have a way of getting under your skin.

They have a really fascinating way of layering these various interlocking parts and making it make perfect sense. In particular Kerry Minnear's keyboard parts are super unique for a prog band I think, less about noodly solos or epic chords and more about bouncy syncopated two-hand riffs and little twiddly flourishes. Definitely a treat for the keyboard nerd in me.

And yeah, I think their career was super consistent and they put out a large amount of classic material in a comparatively short time. So many great songs across that run. It's hard for me to even pick a favorite song, though I think I might go with "River" the last track on Octopus. That's just a perfect prog song and a great closer.

I would rank their albums as follows.

Self Titled
Octopus
Free Hand
The Power and the Glory
Acquiring the Taste
In a Glass House
Interview
Three Friends
The Missing Piece
Civilian
Giant for a Day

But those change frequently really. And the first two are more or less tied, I like them both for different reasons; the self titled feels like a pure distillation of their basic sound elements done super well, while Octopus is more extravagant and goes farther into more ambitious composition.

[larsvsnapster]

I saw them every year from Free Hand until they broke up.  The Sight And Sound concert is a really good representation what they were like live.  They did a whole lot more radical rearrangments to cover for the loss of Kerry's voice than you might realise. 

[Guybrush]

The last GG song I had a craving for listening to was Prologue. It might be an underrated track in the grand scheme of all things GG? Or maybe not 🙂 great album opener!

And since its release on youtube, I've watched this rendition of School Days a few times by Gary Green's band Three Friends.

They play it well 🙂

[Paul Smeenus]

I posted a catalogue review of every Gentle Giant album, and every GG song, on MB

https://www.musicbanter.com/album-reviews/72986-gentle-giant-catalog-review.html

[Guybrush]

I posted a catalogue review of every Gentle Giant album, and every GG song, on MB

https://www.musicbanter.com/album-reviews/72986-gentle-giant-catalog-review.html

Three Friends might be underrated, but it definitely has its defenders 🙂 For me, it never gets better than the first two tracks (which are both great).

Here's a performance of the brilliant Knots from Octopus!

[Lexi Darling]

Three Friends is a good album, though it doesn't have as many of the standout moments for me as most of their others. Probably due for a relisten, been a while since I listened to the full thing.

One big highlight of that record for me is that rad psychedelic guitar solo on Peel the Paint.

[Guybrush]

Anyone else here like those Kerry Minnear sung ballads? 🙂

Some probably think of them as a bit soppy, but I love a good ballad and a nice male falsetto like on A Reunion or Think of me With Kindness.

Aspirations from The Power and the Glory is probably my favourite.

[Guybrush]

I tend to think of On Reflection from Free Hand as one of the more ultimate GG songs. It features a bit of medievalry, a range of instruments, intricate interweaving vocal parts, a taste of rock.

Here they are performing it 🙂

[robhr]

I dabble in prog rock so you have me interested. Prog can sometimes fall under what I call "The gloss" which most certainly doesn't ruin music for me but I prefer "The edge." Better "The gloss" than "The sheen of unartful mediocrity." You think I'll like?