Gentle Giant grabbed me upon my first listen. That was in 1970. Here I am listening to them daily, still! This is the most incredibly under rated and unappreciated band ever! I am sure you are aware by now that there are live performances of them available here on UA-cam! You can witness their genius. All the elements you described, difficult vocals, wild time signatures, complexity galore, can be seen and heard!
@@deanwolfechannel What is encouraging to me, is that there are many younger fans that are "Acquiring the Taste!". If you look deep you can find video performances by chorale groups, high school bands, who's teachers have brought them this to learn. There is something that is hard to describe, that sets them apart from the other prog type bands. Gentle Giant takes you on a musical journey in a relatively short period of time. Their songs start out a certain way, then suddenly change "directions" in a way that makes you think, musically, and then realize, wow, "that works" as they change time signatures several times, only to bring you back to the beginning in the most imaginative way!
You should check out some live videos. Every member plays multiple instruments extremely well, and they nail the a cappella stuff live. Thanks for the vid!
Exactly. Try watching them perform "Octopus features" (basically a complex medley of songs from this album) live. There are quite a few versions online, and the "official" live version in "Playing the Fool".
Yeah, definitely check out live stuff. A lot of their live recordings sound even better than the studio I think. They get a bit looser with it and they're such good musicians that it just feels great.
Saw them in Concert in the mid 70's....loved them right away with Genesis, K Crimson, Tull, Yes, ELP....and yes they grow on you.....they were incredible musicians who would change their instruments during their Concerts! I never saw that before or since!
I've never heard a band that sounds like Gentle Giant. Truly unique. I haven't heard all of their discography by far, but I'd certainly say - they grow on you.
I loved them straight away, saw them live on their first UK tour and they were support to Ten Years After and The Groundhogs and I don't remember anything about the main acts, but GG blew me away. In the days way before the Internet information on them was scarce and the only time I ever met any other GG fans was at their concerts. Never heard them on the radio apart from one live concert, the music press didn't like them, and I only saw them on TV once. This was niche music, challenging, and often puzzling, they were Frank Zappa's favourite band which says a lot. I don't believe they had much in common with their UK contemporaries. As you mentioned, maybe King crimson, and possibly Jethro Tull have some of the same elements of spirit and uncompromising aspirations for music. They were fronted by three brothers, plus two other members, all multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, the stage was packed with a variety of instruments which they were constantly swapping between and you just didn't know where any song was going to go. It must have clearly been a logistical nightmare for their roadies and sound crew to present their material live, but they did, such accomplished musicians and intricate arrangements. I followed them through the majority of the decade they were together, but their last 3 albums were a let down as they finally attempted to create more accessible music and lost what was totally unique to them, the blend of styles I would christen 'Baroque and Roll'
One of the best drum part I know of. And Kerry Minnear is just astonishing on the piano. And I loved them right away on first listen and they kept on growing on me.
These guys are so wild. All of the vocal interplay and ridiculous instrumentation is just fantastic. And I agree, GG is an 'acquired taste'... that said, their album Acquiring the Taste is delicious.
I had a very warm first impression with their first album and "The Power and the Glory", and as time went on I continued discovering more and more to love!
I accidentally (they were an opening act) saw them live, they were AMAZING. I don't even remember who the headliner was, but it was a show in Philadelphia in 73 or 74. Ended up seeing them again 3 times...these times on purpose, all in fairly small venues and altho I don't generally like really complex music, they hooked me. I knew a musician or two who couldn't handle listening to them ..too much, they said. I myself never played any instrument. I was just an appreciator of great stuff, especially great melodies and harmonies having started loving the Beatles at age 10. Watching Gentle Giant play live always made me smile. Being a hippy in the 60s and 70s, I loved and listened to the Beatles, a variety of British invasion bands (but not the Stones). I also saw and listened to ELP, Yes, King Crimson, too. Too much great music to mention here. I feel absolutely grateful to have witnessed the greatest period in music history. And GG always held, and still holds a special place. I'm thrilled every time I see a new live video uploaded to UA-cam! They were underappreciated at the time and didn't try to be commercially accepted. I get to relive my youth all over again, which is a great thing at 70!!
Gentle Giant fan for almost 50 years! Awesome! Thank you for joining in the journey! I was a vocal major, instrumental minor in College at the time, and was immediately taken by the complexity, vocal harmonies and similarities to classical music.
Its amazing how almost everyone seems to be sharing the same story when getting into GG. I had their song Wreck from Acquiring the Taste in my liked songs playlist on Spotify for like.. more than a year. I had listened to it when i barely started getting into prog rock coming from a long journey of psychedelic rock, and i had the same feelings like everyone else.. “this band is quirky, weird, unique” but i never quite understood their sound. It took me an entire 2 years to first get acquainted with prog, went through bands like Yes, King Crimson and Camel. Then my introduction to the Italian prog band Area really helped sharpen my ears, then as i heard Gentle Giant again, especially On Reflection from Free Hand, i was literally blown away. Its been 6 months now of constant non stop GG music in my ears every single day, they’re so unique, so talented, as close as it can get to perfection in a genre of music that defies this very concept. By far, they have the most creative sound i have ever heard, it just needs some getting used to and especially to be able to handle so many “weird” sounds, it really is an acquired taste, wonder if they wanted to convey that message to everyone as they were naming their second album
I saw them twice in Montreal. Two of the members have reunited to form a band called Three Friends. I saw them in Beloeil. They play Gentle Giant songs. The two ancient menbers are the drummer and the guitarist. Of course they have other musicians with them.
It can take a very long time to fully appreciate Gentle Giant. I think the thing that makes the multi-part vocals so unique (and difficult!) is the way the different parts are intertwined both rhythmically and harmonically. They do the same with multiple instruments, but for some reason that doesn't strike our ears as so unusual
Gentle Giant is easily my favorite band ever, and it took me many tries to even enjoy their music when I first heard them. Almost funny to think about in retrospect. They definitely grew on me, and now I can't imagine not listening to their music.
I'm a huge GG fan. Was attracted to the intricate nature of each track and the interweaving of all the parts, vocal and instrumental. Believe they have backgrounds in both jazz and early music, hence the mix of different styles. Favourite prog band and favourite album.
Gentle Giant was my first ever real rock, let alone prog rock show, back in 1974. And yes, they could pull it ALL off live. One of the best prog bands when it came to live. They would do rounds with the whole band playing recorders, or doing percussion. They stand in the front row of epic prog rock bands, totally unique from all others.
I was intrigued from the very first time hearing them which was when Octapus came out. I was already a prog/Tolkien mideaval nerd.I remember as soon as I got into a musical phrasing in a song, it would jump to something else. I had to be patient at first, but I loved it and still do, they are a treasure.
Back in the dawn of the '70s, I lived in Santa Barbara and had access to the LA market. In Santa Barbara the DJ was the brother of Lee Michaels (keyboardist) So I had access to all kinds of music. I was very much a Zappa/Tull/Flock/Yes/ELP fan. But I didn't hear much GG. I think they were so original they didn't get the radio play. I really think they are getting a rebirth of fame these past few years. When asked even Zappa said, he listens to two bands, Queen and GG. That's how I heard of them. Not from radio play but through a Zappa interview. Panurge is one of the main characters in Gargantua and Pantagruel, novels by François Rabelais. He was crafty, and a patriot.
My dad had a few Gentle Giant albums lying around when I was a kid, and I was hooked on the first listen. Some tracks on Free Hand and The Power and the Glory are worth reacting to as well! I recommend
The first thing I heard from them was that live video of Proclamation and I was immediately hooked. I think a lot of their earlier stuff sounds a bit dry at first and is a bit harder to get into, but The Power And The Glory and In a Glass House immediately sounded great to me.
That actually makes a lot of sense. If you are already jamming to the more timbre-focused 20th-century classical, I can see how Gentle Giant would be immediate. If I was already a huge fan of Bartók and Steve Reich and Xenakis, Gentle Giant would have definitely grown on me quicker
I'm not much of a bass player but a lot of these older songs the bass just punches my ear drums and sticks in my head, thanks for the video, I'll take a video off from my usual requests lol and just say thanks and have a good weekend.
For me it was an instant attraction--Just the Same, from Free Hand. I was a long-haired 17-year-old at the time, listening to the album in my basement without having any idea what I was about to experience. I remember the moment very clearly: May 4, 1976, 10:04 a.m. It had just finished raining outside, and the temperature was 76 degrees.... (Kidding about the time and temperature, lol.)
Discovered Gentle Giant some years ago on a shady forum. It's definitely a grower. In the same period, you have also "Maxophone" you could try ("C'è Un Paese Al Mondo" or "Fase", yes it's italian). Definitely a grower also. All "Circus - Movin on" album also is very nice !
@@Aki-Ho Check Blocco Mentale, I think they only made one record, which it's name is in greek and I can't write it but It would sound like be Poa. And if you like darker stuff, try Ys from Balletto di bronzo
Whether one "gets" Gentle Giant right away depends on which album you listen to first. My first was "In a Glass House", which is more accessible than "Acquiring the Taste" (as you might guess). I only saw them live once and they were amazing. Yes, they do the a-capella stuff and at one point all five of them placed a complex section with five recorders.
I’m discovering them right now and loved them right away, although for sure their songs require repeated listens to fit it all in. These songs are all packed to the gills yet light and imaginative, not heavy.
I became aware of them from Civilian, which didn't cut it. About 4 years later a local guitarist encouraged me to get into them. Then probably around 2012 for reasons unknown, I gave their music a serious try, and I was permanently hooked. I still like KC more, though by so little it's no matter. That level of mastery is beyond competition or comparision. It's pure creativity.
Both: I liked GG right away, and then they grew on me further. “Octopus” is a great album, and their most commercially successful, though there are three or four other GG albums that I think are even better. You have so much to discover. Enjoy!
To answer your question, it was instant love for me, but that's not the same as saying I "got" everything on first listen - in fact I'm STILL noticing little details I'd never heard before after nearly two decades and countless listens of every album. But there was just something about the complexity, melodicism and quirky playfulness that just hooked me from the off.
I'd say I pretty much liked them right away. Octopus was the first album I heard by them, and I loved it. This song was one of those first few GG songs that really got into my stream. I was just getting really interested in prog at the time, and my love of Camel made this super easy for me.
I instantly loved GG when I 1st heard them in 1975, That Octopus was the 1st album I bought and River is still one of my favorite tunes ever. In a Glass House and Freehand along with live albums are recommended but Giants Steps or Pretentious are both great anthology collections.
The first time I heard this album I was high on hallucinogenic drugs, which give you the ability to bond with new experiences instantly and removes the "acquiring the taste" curve. Timothy Leary did a study in the 60s with prison inmates soon to be released on parole, and giving them psilocybin along with exposing them to classical music and art books. By giving them an instant bond with art and culture outside of their own experience, they had the highest rate of not returning to prison compared to averages of paroles. For me, I was already into prog rock so I probably would have enjoyed it sober. But it made perfect sense while tripping.
I started Gentle Giant with their third album Three Friends and was taken instantly. The albums up to Missing Piece were good to great, the first too as well. No other band compares to GG. You should check their live performances to fully appreciate their brilliance.
One really unique band that no one has ever reacted to is The Gourishankar. They come from a distant part of Russia and their album 2nd Hands (2007) is about the best prog album of the 20th century. The opening piece Moon7 would surely interest you. People tend to guess I have something to do with Russia (I live in Helsinki, Finland) when I recommend this band, but no. It's just a great album.
Yeah, Octopus is a grower as you say but it doesn't take long. Power and the Glory was the first one I listened to and it blew me away. You should give it a listen
A friend played it for me and i didnt get it at all at first, i thought "they're just trying to be wierd on purpose". But i fell in love slowly with this band, i think the first song i really repeated was "giant", and it just grew from there
I can usually figure out if a band is going to appeal to me within the first few minutes. This was the first track of theirs that I listened to, and I was hooked as soon as the bass came in on that groove. They pulled it off live too the assholes. Plenty of videos out there iirc.
As for acapella from other bands, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and parent group Idiot Flesh have some acapella songs. Their bassist and lead singer are huge GG fans. Mike Patton did a couple solo vocal albums and has a ton of solos in his work with John Zorn. Bjork did an album in which all the samples were produced vocally. Yes has some acapella sections sprinkled throughout their catalog.
This has long been one of my favourite Gentle Giant songs, from the minute I first heard it in 1973 (the album was released near the end of 1974). But I do prefer the British album cover over the octo-jar. My friend had Gentle Giant albums which pretty much blew me away when he played them for me.
My favorite album is In A Glass House. GG grew on me. I listened to the album on a tape somebody gave me. I did not even knew the name of the band. They sounded weird and I kept listening to it. Eventually I liked it so much. Unfortunately I lost the tape and could not find who it was until many years after that I heard a song on a radio that reminded me of them. That’s when I learned that it was GG.. I listened to the rest of their discography and they became one of my favorite bands..I am sorry that they were so experimental for their time, that they could not reach a commercial success. Very talented musicians.
Loved them from the word go! First heard them on FM radio in Toronto when the album Free Hand was just released , worked backwards to collect everything they had. Really loved Octopus too. It stands out for its superb audio, dynamics plus great music. They definitely sounded like no other band at the time, and still don't. More recent bands have payed homage to GG,, Haken for example.
@@deanwolfechannel Chum Fm certainly, when it was independent and played a lot of progressive rock, often whole sides of records during daytime hours. I was a student from Europe working summers in Ontario. Couldn't believe how great music radio in Canada was at the time. By the end of the 70's Chum had become an AOR channel sadly. I listened to other FM channels too but which ones I don't recall.
GG released a great tome of top class albums (In a Glass House being my favourite) which stopped when they tried to be more mainstream with the release of Missing Piece...a disaster!
For sure they grow on you. First it can feel kind of disjointed, a little unbalanced, but like you expect, when you’ll be more familiar with their music I think you will dig it. And they’re even better live!
I'm a huge Gentle Giant fan...I think they're one of THE essential prog bands. But I have to say, the first time I heard them (I was 15), I hated their music. Too weird, too quirky, too dissonant. But I could tell there was something really amazing going on in the music. With repeated listens, they become extremely satisfying.
If you love the complexity of Gentle Giant, you should give Gryphon a listen. Approximately the same time frame, but the only rock band I've ever heard with a bassoon as a regular instrument. They are a mix of Prog and medieval music. Red Queen To Gryphon Three is my favorite album - all instrumental, but brilliant!
Oh yes, in my case it was right away! Correction: circa 1980 a friend of mine lend me Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother and Gentle Giant's Interview. I was so fascinated with AHM that I barely listened to Interview (not an easy album). Later that year he bought Octupus and In the Court of the Crimson King and I immediately loved both, and still do!
They grow on you. You feel thrown in the deep end at first, especially if you've only heard the major prog bands. They are like Genesis mixed with King Crimson, but turn the complexity up to 11. At first, I was like, "woah, that's really strange", and now my opinion is, "woah, that's really strange, and also they're the best rock band"
GG is a musicians band IMO …their more accessible stuff from earlier albums isn’t really as good but still better than the average 1-4-5 bands of the time. In the 70’s the percussion ensemble at my college would do their stuff along with program jazz like chick corea’s leprechaun.
I happened to like them right away. I had developed a taste for counterpoint and gentle giant was often baroque inspired counterpoint over modern harmony and rhythmic complexity. One of the main composers of the band had degrees in composition and tuned percussion from the Royal Academy of music. And they certainly made use of the full pallet of modern classical composers. Classical people totally get them. But for most modern ears it’s just too strange and complex. Compositionally my favorite band of all time… also, they played all their own instruments.
I am a Gentle Giant fan. First time I heard this song many many years ago I didn't like it. There seemed to be too much going on and going on weirdly. It was the first GG song I ever heard. After three or four hearings I thought it was absolutely brilliant, and the entire album is genius.
From the first song I heard to where I was into the band, it took me 4 albums before I could call myself a fan. It didn't help that my friend started me off with Pantegruel's Nativity, which is one of the most uninviting things from the 70s I've heard to date.
If I can recommend a band that probably nobody else will recommend, I'd love to see you check out "Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards". They're a punk band that mixes in jazz instruments, or they're a jazz band that mixes in rock instruments. Really, they're all over the spectrum in between. "Alright" "Fortified" and "Crush" are some of my favorites although they don't have a song I don't like.
Now, if you want to see (and hear) another brilliant a cappella song by Gentle Giant, their best is On Reflection: ua-cam.com/video/WXhogm1C23Q/v-deo.html
ok👍... watched it. Amazing, loved it. Vocals were all spot on. I saw another live one that the lead singer seemed to be struggling and didn't impress me as much.
@@deanwolfechannel I like the way they elevate their abilities in each song to their maximum. Do you remember which song it was? The problem with the 1978 concert is that Derek Shulman (the lead vocalist) were already sloppy when singing live. From 1977 until 1980 (the end of the band) he didn't put much effort in pitch or vocal dynamics (even the lyrics he seemed to miss a lot).
Personally I don't think you can listen to 1 or 2 songs and really appreciate the uniqueness of GG even in prog rock. They need to be experienced an album at a time preferably from the beginning. I would think most true GG fans would say there isn't a so called bad song just some you like more than others and some that are just awesome. . I would be so excited when they came out with a new album and would spin the turntable put on bose headphones, darken the room, lay back and get ready for a total new experience in sound.
I absolutely hated them at first. What the heck is this? It's just a mess! Tossed the tape in a corner and didn't listen to it again for at least half a year. When I listened to them again, I still hated it. Except for that little bit there, that was very pretty...and then I was hooked. I was lucky to see them live in Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY. Lucky because we don't get a lot of the great bands in Buffalo.
Gentle Giant grabbed me upon my first listen. That was in 1970. Here I am listening to them daily, still! This is the most incredibly under rated and unappreciated band ever! I am sure you are aware by now that there are live performances of them available here on UA-cam! You can witness their genius. All the elements you described, difficult vocals, wild time signatures, complexity galore, can be seen and heard!
Well.after 50 years there is definitely a lot of GG fans around
@@deanwolfechannel What is encouraging to me, is that there are many younger fans that are "Acquiring the Taste!". If you look deep you can find video performances by chorale groups, high school bands, who's teachers have brought them this to learn. There is something that is hard to describe, that sets them apart from the other prog type bands. Gentle Giant takes you on a musical journey in a relatively short period of time. Their songs start out a certain way, then suddenly change "directions" in a way that makes you think, musically, and then realize, wow, "that works" as they change time signatures several times, only to bring you back to the beginning in the most imaginative way!
You should check out some live videos. Every member plays multiple instruments extremely well, and they nail the a cappella stuff live. Thanks for the vid!
Exactly. Try watching them perform "Octopus features" (basically a complex medley of songs from this album) live. There are quite a few versions online, and the "official" live version in "Playing the Fool".
Most recorded in Stockholm. And I where there. A memory for life.
Yeah, definitely check out live stuff. A lot of their live recordings sound even better than the studio I think. They get a bit looser with it and they're such good musicians that it just feels great.
Saw them in Concert in the mid 70's....loved them right away with Genesis, K Crimson, Tull, Yes, ELP....and yes they grow on you.....they were incredible musicians who would change their instruments during their Concerts! I never saw that before or since!
I've never heard a band that sounds like Gentle Giant. Truly unique. I haven't heard all of their discography by far, but I'd certainly say - they grow on you.
I dare to say some things from Haken - specially Cockroach King in the album version - sounds close, but yeah, Gentle is a trully unique band
Check out Et Cetera from Canads, in mid 70s, they have a great influence from Gentle Giant
I loved them straight away, saw them live on their first UK tour and they were support to Ten Years After and The Groundhogs and I don't remember anything about the main acts, but GG blew me away. In the days way before the Internet information on them was scarce and the only time I ever met any other GG fans was at their concerts. Never heard them on the radio apart from one live concert, the music press didn't like them, and I only saw them on TV once. This was niche music, challenging, and often puzzling, they were Frank Zappa's favourite band which says a lot. I don't believe they had much in common with their UK contemporaries. As you mentioned, maybe King crimson, and possibly Jethro Tull have some of the same elements of spirit and uncompromising aspirations for music. They were fronted by three brothers, plus two other members, all multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, the stage was packed with a variety of instruments which they were constantly swapping between and you just didn't know where any song was going to go. It must have clearly been a logistical nightmare for their roadies and sound crew to present their material live, but they did, such accomplished musicians and intricate arrangements. I followed them through the majority of the decade they were together, but their last 3 albums were a let down as they finally attempted to create more accessible music and lost what was totally unique to them, the blend of styles I would christen 'Baroque and Roll'
One of the best drum part I know of. And Kerry Minnear is just astonishing on the piano.
And I loved them right away on first listen and they kept on growing on me.
These guys are so wild. All of the vocal interplay and ridiculous instrumentation is just fantastic. And I agree, GG is an 'acquired taste'... that said, their album Acquiring the Taste is delicious.
Every single Gentle Giant song is a grower, and each one is shocking and abrasive in it's own way at first. Definitely takes some effort.
I had a very warm first impression with their first album and "The Power and the Glory", and as time went on I continued discovering more and more to love!
I accidentally (they were an opening act) saw them live, they were AMAZING. I don't even remember who the headliner was, but it was a show in Philadelphia in 73 or 74. Ended up seeing them again 3 times...these times on purpose, all in fairly small venues and altho I don't generally like really complex music, they hooked me. I knew a musician or two who couldn't handle listening to them ..too much, they said. I myself never played any instrument. I was just an appreciator of great stuff, especially great melodies and harmonies having started loving the Beatles at age 10. Watching Gentle Giant play live always made me smile. Being a hippy in the 60s and 70s, I loved and listened to the Beatles, a variety of British invasion bands (but not the Stones). I also saw and listened to ELP, Yes, King Crimson, too. Too much great music to mention here. I feel absolutely grateful to have witnessed the greatest period in music history. And GG always held, and still holds a special place. I'm thrilled every time I see a new live video uploaded to UA-cam! They were underappreciated at the time and didn't try to be commercially accepted. I get to relive my youth all over again, which is a great thing at 70!!
You did get to experience peak music
If my own experience is any indication, you will never get tired of this song!
Gentle Giant fan for almost 50 years! Awesome! Thank you for joining in the journey!
I was a vocal major, instrumental minor in College at the time, and was immediately taken by the complexity, vocal harmonies and similarities to classical music.
Its amazing how almost everyone seems to be sharing the same story when getting into GG. I had their song Wreck from Acquiring the Taste in my liked songs playlist on Spotify for like.. more than a year. I had listened to it when i barely started getting into prog rock coming from a long journey of psychedelic rock, and i had the same feelings like everyone else.. “this band is quirky, weird, unique” but i never quite understood their sound. It took me an entire 2 years to first get acquainted with prog, went through bands like Yes, King Crimson and Camel. Then my introduction to the Italian prog band Area really helped sharpen my ears, then as i heard Gentle Giant again, especially On Reflection from Free Hand, i was literally blown away. Its been 6 months now of constant non stop GG music in my ears every single day, they’re so unique, so talented, as close as it can get to perfection in a genre of music that defies this very concept. By far, they have the most creative sound i have ever heard, it just needs some getting used to and especially to be able to handle so many “weird” sounds, it really is an acquired taste, wonder if they wanted to convey that message to everyone as they were naming their second album
I saw them twice in Montreal. Two of the members have reunited to form a band called Three Friends. I saw them in Beloeil. They play Gentle Giant songs. The two ancient menbers are the drummer and the guitarist. Of course they have other musicians with them.
It can take a very long time to fully appreciate Gentle Giant.
I think the thing that makes the multi-part vocals so unique (and difficult!) is the way the different parts are intertwined both rhythmically and harmonically. They do the same with multiple instruments, but for some reason that doesn't strike our ears as so unusual
Gentle Giant is easily my favorite band ever, and it took me many tries to even enjoy their music when I first heard them. Almost funny to think about in retrospect. They definitely grew on me, and now I can't imagine not listening to their music.
Loved Gentle Giant the very first time I heard them (first album). Instant fan, and the appreciation only grew over time.
I'm a huge GG fan. Was attracted to the intricate nature of each track and the interweaving of all the parts, vocal and instrumental. Believe they have backgrounds in both jazz and early music, hence the mix of different styles. Favourite prog band and favourite album.
Gentle Giant was my first ever real rock, let alone prog rock show, back in 1974. And yes, they could pull it ALL off live. One of the best prog bands when it came to live. They would do rounds with the whole band playing recorders, or doing percussion. They stand in the front row of epic prog rock bands, totally unique from all others.
Well they are surviving the test of time well
I loved them the first time I heard this song and this was the first song I heard. I loved the technicality, that said it still grew on me.
They still growing after 50 years. .I always liked them from the first time I heard them.
that it's still around is testament to the quality of work
I saw them 5 times in Philly and was never disappointed. They were amazing musicians and very experimental and under rated.
I was intrigued from the very first time hearing them which was when Octapus came out. I was already a prog/Tolkien mideaval nerd.I remember as soon as I got into a musical phrasing in a song, it would jump to something else. I had to be patient at first, but I loved it and still do, they are a treasure.
OCTOPUS was my first listen from GG and I was instantly hooked. Original and interesting.
Back in the dawn of the '70s, I lived in Santa Barbara and had access to the LA market. In Santa Barbara the DJ was the brother of Lee Michaels (keyboardist) So I had access to all kinds of music. I was very much a Zappa/Tull/Flock/Yes/ELP fan. But I didn't hear much GG. I think they were so original they didn't get the radio play. I really think they are getting a rebirth of fame these past few years. When asked even Zappa said, he listens to two bands, Queen and GG. That's how I heard of them. Not from radio play but through a Zappa interview.
Panurge is one of the main characters in Gargantua and Pantagruel, novels by François Rabelais. He was crafty, and a patriot.
My dad had a few Gentle Giant albums lying around when I was a kid, and I was hooked on the first listen. Some tracks on Free Hand and The Power and the Glory are worth reacting to as well! I recommend
The first thing I heard from them was that live video of Proclamation and I was immediately hooked. I think a lot of their earlier stuff sounds a bit dry at first and is a bit harder to get into, but The Power And The Glory and In a Glass House immediately sounded great to me.
I saw LIVE Giant in Buffalo NY in the 70s.....it was a trip to say the least
Yes. For me it Was a grower. But definetely I fallen in love with them.
Coming from the world of classical music Gentle Giant was an instant love affair.
That actually makes a lot of sense. If you are already jamming to the more timbre-focused 20th-century classical, I can see how Gentle Giant would be immediate. If I was already a huge fan of Bartók and Steve Reich and Xenakis, Gentle Giant would have definitely grown on me quicker
I'm not much of a bass player but a lot of these older songs the bass just punches my ear drums and sticks in my head, thanks for the video, I'll take a video off from my usual requests lol and just say thanks and have a good weekend.
haha, you're in my pile of 'to-do' requests though, ok!
For me it was an instant attraction--Just the Same, from Free Hand. I was a long-haired 17-year-old at the time, listening to the album in my basement without having any idea what I was about to experience. I remember the moment very clearly: May 4, 1976, 10:04 a.m. It had just finished raining outside, and the temperature was 76 degrees.... (Kidding about the time and temperature, lol.)
Discovered Gentle Giant some years ago on a shady forum.
It's definitely a grower.
In the same period, you have also "Maxophone" you could try ("C'è Un Paese Al Mondo" or "Fase", yes it's italian). Definitely a grower also.
All "Circus - Movin on" album also is very nice !
Maxophone ! Wonderful !
They have also released an English version.
“Life can be like Music” “Fase “
I prefer the italian version.
@@Aki-Ho That's why I only talked about the Italian version :p
English version is too forced.
@@jeefuji
They released their second album in 2017, but the first album is better.
Circus is good. I also like Locanda delle Fate.
@@Aki-Ho Check Blocco Mentale, I think they only made one record, which it's name is in greek and I can't write it but It would sound like be Poa. And if you like darker stuff, try Ys from Balletto di bronzo
@@Guido102
YS is a very famous masterpiece. I have a CD.
I didn't know Blocco Mentale.
Fantastic ! Thank you.
i discovered GG through their (used) album in the 80's the one with breaking glass as percussion, instant love
"In A Glass House" is the album. Originally only available as an import from the UK.
Whether one "gets" Gentle Giant right away depends on which album you listen to first. My first was "In a Glass House", which is more accessible than "Acquiring the Taste" (as you might guess). I only saw them live once and they were amazing. Yes, they do the a-capella stuff and at one point all five of them placed a complex section with five recorders.
I’m discovering them right now and loved them right away, although for sure their songs require repeated listens to fit it all in. These songs are all packed to the gills yet light and imaginative, not heavy.
Yes have pretty intricate vocal arrangements.
River is the greatest song on the album. Keep on reacting!
Spock's Beard did the acapella thing, they were definitely inspired by Gentle Giant though 🙂
I bought the album Octopus when it originally came out. Definitely grows on a person. Good exersize for the ear holes.
😂
I became aware of them from Civilian, which didn't cut it. About 4 years later a local guitarist encouraged me to get into them. Then probably around 2012 for reasons unknown, I gave their music a serious try, and I was permanently hooked. I still like KC more, though by so little it's no matter. That level of mastery is beyond competition or comparision. It's pure creativity.
I reccomend "In a glass house" from the album "In a glass house". Amazing groove. Thanks for great videos!
Both: I liked GG right away, and then they grew on me further. “Octopus” is a great album, and their most commercially successful, though there are three or four other GG albums that I think are even better. You have so much to discover. Enjoy!
To answer your question, it was instant love for me, but that's not the same as saying I "got" everything on first listen - in fact I'm STILL noticing little details I'd never heard before after nearly two decades and countless listens of every album. But there was just something about the complexity, melodicism and quirky playfulness that just hooked me from the off.
I'd say I pretty much liked them right away. Octopus was the first album I heard by them, and I loved it. This song was one of those first few GG songs that really got into my stream. I was just getting really interested in prog at the time, and my love of Camel made this super easy for me.
what year was this that you first heard GG?
I instantly loved GG when I 1st heard them in 1975, That Octopus was the 1st album I bought and River is still one of my favorite tunes ever. In a Glass House and Freehand along with live albums are recommended but Giants Steps or Pretentious are both great anthology collections.
The first time I heard this album I was high on hallucinogenic drugs, which give you the ability to bond with new experiences instantly and removes the "acquiring the taste" curve. Timothy Leary did a study in the 60s with prison inmates soon to be released on parole, and giving them psilocybin along with exposing them to classical music and art books. By giving them an instant bond with art and culture outside of their own experience, they had the highest rate of not returning to prison compared to averages of paroles. For me, I was already into prog rock so I probably would have enjoyed it sober. But it made perfect sense while tripping.
I started Gentle Giant with their third album Three Friends and was taken instantly. The albums up to Missing Piece were good to great, the first too as well. No other band compares to GG. You should check their live performances to fully appreciate their brilliance.
One really unique band that no one has ever reacted to is The Gourishankar. They come from a distant part of Russia and their album 2nd Hands (2007) is about the best prog album of the 20th century. The opening piece Moon7 would surely interest you. People tend to guess I have something to do with Russia (I live in Helsinki, Finland) when I recommend this band, but no. It's just a great album.
Yeah, Octopus is a grower as you say but it doesn't take long. Power and the Glory was the first one I listened to and it blew me away. You should give it a listen
A friend played it for me and i didnt get it at all at first, i thought "they're just trying to be wierd on purpose".
But i fell in love slowly with this band, i think the first song i really repeated was "giant", and it just grew from there
Now I know why Haken is sometimes called Djentle Giant. The singers voices are similar.
I can usually figure out if a band is going to appeal to me within the first few minutes. This was the first track of theirs that I listened to, and I was hooked as soon as the bass came in on that groove. They pulled it off live too the assholes. Plenty of videos out there iirc.
As for acapella from other bands, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and parent group Idiot Flesh have some acapella songs. Their bassist and lead singer are huge GG fans. Mike Patton did a couple solo vocal albums and has a ton of solos in his work with John Zorn. Bjork did an album in which all the samples were produced vocally. Yes has some acapella sections sprinkled throughout their catalog.
you should listen to this song live, its really one of the best things ive ever seen
on reflection live have one of the best acapellas, u should see it too
I've seen it now on youtube, very good
Check out the OCTOPUS SUITE on LIVE PLAYING THE FOOL for some extraordinary musicianship
This has long been one of my favourite Gentle Giant songs, from the minute I first heard it in 1973 (the album was released near the end of 1974). But I do prefer the British album cover over the octo-jar. My friend had Gentle Giant albums which pretty much blew me away when he played them for me.
My favorite album is In A Glass House. GG grew on me. I listened to the album on a tape somebody gave me. I did not even knew the name of the band. They sounded weird and I kept listening to it. Eventually I liked it so much. Unfortunately I lost the tape and could not find who it was until many years after that I heard a song on a radio that reminded me of them. That’s when I learned that it was GG.. I listened to the rest of their discography and they became one of my favorite bands..I am sorry that they were so experimental for their time, that they could not reach a commercial success. Very talented musicians.
I had a similar experience with a rennaisance song on a mix cassette. Had no idea for decades who it was, and loved it.
The only other acapella prof group that comes to mind is Elull Noomi, who do acapella zeuhl of all things
Definitely took a lot of time to fully appreciate their music, though I loved On Reflection instantly
I actually really didn’t like this one when I first heard it, but I really came to love Octopus and GG as a whole. My favorite album is Three Friends.
Loved them from the word go! First heard them on FM radio in Toronto when the album Free Hand was just released , worked backwards to collect everything they had. Really loved Octopus too. It stands out for its superb audio, dynamics plus great music. They definitely sounded like no other band at the time, and still don't. More recent bands have payed homage to GG,, Haken for example.
Q107, CHUM OR CFNY?
@@deanwolfechannel Chum Fm certainly, when it was independent and played a lot of progressive rock, often whole sides of records during daytime hours. I was a student from Europe working summers in Ontario. Couldn't believe how great music radio in Canada was at the time. By the end of the 70's Chum had become an AOR channel sadly. I listened to other FM channels too but which ones I don't recall.
GG released a great tome of top class albums (In a Glass House being my favourite) which stopped when they tried to be more mainstream with the release of Missing Piece...a disaster!
For sure they grow on you. First it can feel kind of disjointed, a little unbalanced, but like you expect, when you’ll be more familiar with their music I think you will dig it. And they’re even better live!
I'm a huge Gentle Giant fan...I think they're one of THE essential prog bands. But I have to say, the first time I heard them (I was 15), I hated their music. Too weird, too quirky, too dissonant. But I could tell there was something really amazing going on in the music. With repeated listens, they become extremely satisfying.
If you love the complexity of Gentle Giant, you should give Gryphon a listen. Approximately the same time frame, but the only rock band I've ever heard with a bassoon as a regular instrument. They are a mix of Prog and medieval music. Red Queen To Gryphon Three is my favorite album - all instrumental, but brilliant!
Great idea! i don't know them but i have heard of them
Oh yes, in my case it was right away!
Correction: circa 1980 a friend of mine lend me Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother and Gentle Giant's Interview. I was so fascinated with AHM that I barely listened to Interview (not an easy album).
Later that year he bought Octupus and In the Court of the Crimson King and I immediately loved both, and still do!
Todd Rundgrens Utopia in the future dean. Utopias Theme is a great 15 minute prog epic. I took a few times for it to sink in.
The Ikon: 30 minutes of Pure Prog.
Ok
They grow on you. You feel thrown in the deep end at first, especially if you've only heard the major prog bands. They are like Genesis mixed with King Crimson, but turn the complexity up to 11. At first, I was like, "woah, that's really strange", and now my opinion is, "woah, that's really strange, and also they're the best rock band"
GG is a musicians band IMO …their more accessible stuff from earlier albums isn’t really as good but still better than the average 1-4-5 bands of the time. In the 70’s the percussion ensemble at my college would do their stuff along with program jazz like chick corea’s leprechaun.
I happened to like them right away. I had developed a taste for counterpoint and gentle giant was often baroque inspired counterpoint over modern harmony and rhythmic complexity. One of the main composers of the band had degrees in composition and tuned percussion from the Royal Academy of music. And they certainly made use of the full pallet of modern classical composers.
Classical people totally get them. But for most modern ears it’s just too strange and complex. Compositionally my favorite band of all time… also, they played all their own instruments.
Thanks a million for this comment. I am going to have to 'study' this band then. Sounds fascinating...baroque inspired counterpoint....
If you like this, you should check out the first albums of Spock’s Beard.
I am a Gentle Giant fan. First time I heard this song many many years ago I didn't like it. There seemed to be too much going on and going on weirdly. It was the first GG song I ever heard. After three or four hearings I thought it was absolutely brilliant, and the entire album is genius.
It grows up.
If you like GG, you are ready to listen AREA.
From the first song I heard to where I was into the band, it took me 4 albums before I could call myself a fan. It didn't help that my friend started me off with Pantegruel's Nativity, which is one of the most uninviting things from the 70s I've heard to date.
If I can recommend a band that probably nobody else will recommend, I'd love to see you check out "Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards". They're a punk band that mixes in jazz instruments, or they're a jazz band that mixes in rock instruments. Really, they're all over the spectrum in between. "Alright" "Fortified" and "Crush" are some of my favorites although they don't have a song I don't like.
sounds interesting
Try: In A Glass House.
Though, IMO, no GG album is harder to get into than IAGH -- I don't think it is an accident that it was never released in the U.S.
Now, if you want to see (and hear) another brilliant a cappella song by Gentle Giant, their best is On Reflection: ua-cam.com/video/WXhogm1C23Q/v-deo.html
ok👍... watched it. Amazing, loved it. Vocals were all spot on. I saw another live one that the lead singer seemed to be struggling and didn't impress me as much.
@@deanwolfechannel I like the way they elevate their abilities in each song to their maximum. Do you remember which song it was? The problem with the 1978 concert is that Derek Shulman (the lead vocalist) were already sloppy when singing live. From 1977 until 1980 (the end of the band) he didn't put much effort in pitch or vocal dynamics (even the lyrics he seemed to miss a lot).
Personally I don't think you can listen to 1 or 2 songs and really appreciate the uniqueness of GG even in prog rock. They need to be experienced an album at a time preferably from the beginning. I would think most true GG fans would say there isn't a so called bad song just some you like more than others and some that are just awesome. . I would be so excited when they came out with a new album and would spin the turntable put on bose headphones, darken the room, lay back and get ready for a total new experience in sound.
listen to "The Boys in the Band" same album....its insane
I absolutely hated them at first. What the heck is this? It's just a mess! Tossed the tape in a corner and didn't listen to it again for at least half a year. When I listened to them again, I still hated it. Except for that little bit there, that was very pretty...and then I was hooked. I was lucky to see them live in Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY. Lucky because we don't get a lot of the great bands in Buffalo.
those slow, grows on you reactions are the best!
Tori Amos? Come on, dude…..