The tragedy, of definitely the Prog era if not the entire history of Rock, is the lack of recognition of the pure genius of Gentle Giant. The fact alone that Kerry Minnear is ignored in lists of Great Prog keyboardists is remarkable in it's absurdity. The final theme in this piece never fails to bring chills/and or tears. Heavenly Rock. Thank God I got to see them once, and Three Friends twice.
I LOVE Gentle Giant (I’ve been listening since the 70s and have most LPs on vinyl), but that kind of hyperbolic comment just indicates you don’t get out much : )
@@brianfergus839 You know, it just MIGHT BE hyperbole, definitely. But then again, find me 40 seconds of a bassline from ANY song, in ANY genre outside of jazz in the past 40 years that equals Ray Shulman's 40 seconds of bass in the beginning of that song.
@@glennjoshua9950 Ray Shulman was a stupendously good bass player. I’ve lately been studying his lines for Pantagruel’s Nativity. So contrapuntal and musically creative! GG was so amazing it’s certainly tempting to think they were they absolute pinnacle, but I believe there are phenomenal contemporary players out there who also deserve attention.
I was so lucky to have seen Gentle Giant live 5 or 6 times in the mid 1970’s. A few of my high school buddies loved them but most did not get it and thought we were crazy. Ok, call me crazy but this is original, innovative and sumptuous music.
what a fantastic performance and what great sound quality !! thank you so much, it's such a joy to see this done on stage (and how!) ... Malcolm definitely nailed it, but after all it was him in the original recording, right ? .... :)
EMOCIONANTE . For those, like myself, saw some of these guys 40 years ago, seeing them again on stage playing is absolutely wonderful. I only regret that Derek and Ray are not there.
I would hope there’s more than 1% that like this, if not there really is no hope for the human race, it’s done, over, may as well nuke the earth now lol.
This is the official Gentle Giant band of the two thousands. Solid as a rock and to think that Malcolm Mortimore got a second shot at it. His first was when he was eighteen and now look at him. Way to go Malcolm!
Im amazed how you guys succeeded in doing it so well and where you found the song. Great job :D So fun to see others enjoy it as much as I do. And developing it this well in a band.
This sounds so contemporary. Such great music truly deserves to live on in the eleventies. There's drama and humour in the music, which is very hard to do, let along do it so well. I can't wait to see this band.
I remember Gentle Giant playing in the same open air football stadium as Pink Floyd did the same year. Gentle Giant with local band Pollen and Weather Report (w. Pastorius) as opening acts. They knew the crowd wouldn't be as big as Pink Floyd so they set the stage in the middle of the stadium. But still, it showed how popular Gentle Giant was, in Québec. Otherwise GG played yearly a regular forum with about 12 000 people in the audience. That is, starting from "In a Glass House".
QUE MARAVILLA!!!!!!......aunque este solo el guitarrista original de los monumentales GENTLE GIANT, suenan INCREÍBLES!!!!!!!! en CHILE tambien los amamos!!! sonidazo.
I can't understand why they have a strident synth sound at the same time as the vocals. I don't get it. Probably a mixing error but the synth sound itself is quite strident.
Quand j'avais 20 ans, avec mes camarades du rock music Gentle Giant c'était la reférence. Aujourd'hui, 50 ans plus tard ça sonne differement. Je me rends compte d'une formule. On crée une phrase en 3/4, on rajoute en 3/8 et un 3/16 et on reprend le 3/4, et on répète les phrases à volonté. C'était divin dans les années 70, mais 50 ans plus tard refaire me semble dommage, et un peu paresseux.
That opening contrapuntal section is, I swear to gods, one of the most mind-bendingly subtle things in all of rock music. And then to take that theme, bend it a little bit, and use it for the outchorus bass / guitar unison line is pure, Beethoven-grade genius ... I don't think even Gentle Giant approached this again with their later canonic / fugal stuff. The only thing that comes close to this (admittedly in a bit more ham-fisted way; and it's directly influenced by it) is the outchorus to The Everso-Closely Guarded Line by Cardiacs.
Unbelievable to cover your own "greatest song ever"! It was my recollection however, that it took 3 guys (although fantastic in their own right) to fill the shoes of Ray & Derek Shulman. Kerry Minear, although still playing, needed some help to cover his own parts from some 35 years ago, as they became too difficult for him to continue to cover. Yet he still kicks ass.....Wow!
Kerry is doing Ray's overdubbed (on the record) violin part live on the synth, I think their 5-piece on stage sound is just mind blowing, like the originals .... SHEITTTTTT !!!!!!!!
Malcolm Mortimore is on the drum kit and was Gentle Giant's second drummer who played drums on the Three Friends album which was their 3rd album. He was replaced by John Weathers after a motorcycle accident and the band stayed with John on drums for the remainder of their amazing run. If not for Malcolm this performance would not be the same.
Listening t this, the GG music breathes new life. Also very inspiring music to play new tricks on the bass to. It makes me realise that music is a lifetime challenge. Who thought prog cannot swing as hell?
Stunning performance & just look at the fun they're having. My view should count as 5 because I kept dragging it back to 1:30 from 5:50. Thanks for sharing this.
Look around my rooms And see the prizes I have showing Working hard to build my life And plan the way I'm going House and car and pretty wife They've all been won by knowing All been won by knowing All been won by knowing Paperwork, white collared shirts Where would we be without them Man of class and quality I never shout about them Choose my friends for my own ends You can't succeed without them Can't succeed without them Can't succeed without them Middleman sees straight ahead And never crosses borders Never understood the artist Or the lazy workers The world needs steady men like me To give and take the orders Give and take the orders Give and take the orders
4 thumbs down? Ray, Derek, John, and Kerry i guess :-( Mr Class and Quality, one of my fav GG songs and it's really fantastic Three Friends are presenting GG gems like this live for the first time.
Funny how fickle we can be as fans! I always felt Gentle Giant should have been among those musicians (bands) that obtained wealth and overall popularity. Still, I wonder if my feelings about their music would have changed if they had gotten all that and endured onward over many Rolling Stones' lifetimes. Instead, they ended up being this little 'cult' band about which so few of us know (in comparison say to those who know about the sell out Genesis band). GG (TF) are still "our little band".
This blew my socks off as we say in the UK. I have always loved that wonderful, convoluted riff at the end.... it always seemed somehow nautical in flavour. This has inspired me to pick up my guitar and work it out... probably badly!
yeah, that's the word! They can still do this?!! Was amazed by them them when I was young. Now am still trying to get my rock n' roll friends to listen to these guys. Oh well, they'll die with their Beatles and ZZ Top. Me, I plan to go out hearing these guys. Best band I ever heard
They are so greats ! Ils sont extraordinaires, depuis que je les ai découverts en 1974 mes préférés sans jamais me lasser. Thanks a lot. Ce morceau est mythique pour moi, un véritable bijou.
Really enjoying the guitar parts at the last three minutes of the song when it shifts into the smoother Barclay James Harvest style...so excellent...Really need to see these guys live someday soon.
ich sah sie 72 in essen in der grugahalle...sie waren die vorgruppe von jethtro tull...ab da war und bin ich ihr fan...die beste musik, die ich kenne.. du mußt die den song von der lp oder cd reinziehen und dabei einen kopfhörer aufsetzen...es ist unglaublich... wenn ich mal sterbe, möchte ich, daß dieser song in der kapelle gespielt wird. ich würde es dann noch einmal genießen.und lächeln.dazu gehört ebenso "look into the sun" und "reasons for waiting" von jethro tull..ein wundervoller abgang..
So sad but supremely telling, is to know that the industrial definition of "quality" is simply conformance to specifications. IE, garbage in, garbage out - or vice versa - good stuff in, good stuff out. Mister Quality here is simply following conformance to specifications, laid-out by others who are either blatant morons, highly competent innovators, or very clever and deceptive manipulators, your choice. These Three Friends point towards the obvious/oblivious; conformists to whose specifications? "Quality" is therefore so highly subjective, never objective. Love early GG!!!
Not exactly a "cover"....It's the band of GG's former guitarist! So he's playing the music of his own old band with another GG ex-drummer + other guys. Even Kerry Minnear was involved at the beginning. So it's kind of another GG musical re-incarnation.
The tragedy, of definitely the Prog era if not the entire history of Rock, is the lack of recognition of the pure genius of Gentle Giant. The fact alone that Kerry Minnear is ignored in lists of Great Prog keyboardists is remarkable in it's absurdity. The final theme in this piece never fails to bring chills/and or tears. Heavenly Rock. Thank God I got to see them once, and Three Friends twice.
Infact when THREE FRIENDS theme comes, I start to cry until the end of the track...
It’s a wonderful finale!
Yes I hate people using the word, "underrated". It's overused. It should be assigned to GG.
You said it all, its brings me both chills and tears
Kerry is God, visti a Roma sia i GG che i Three Friend, che poi mangiavano vicino a me prima del concerto!
I can hear more innovation in this first 40 seconds of "Mr. Class & Quality" than in the last 40 YEARS of pop music.
absolutely! 👍
@@emilobe No doubt!
I LOVE Gentle Giant (I’ve been listening since the 70s and have most LPs on vinyl), but that kind of hyperbolic comment just indicates you don’t get out much : )
@@brianfergus839 You know, it just MIGHT BE hyperbole, definitely. But then again, find me 40 seconds of a bassline from ANY song, in ANY genre outside of jazz in the past 40 years that equals Ray Shulman's 40 seconds of bass in the beginning of that song.
@@glennjoshua9950 Ray Shulman was a stupendously good bass player. I’ve lately been studying his lines for Pantagruel’s Nativity. So contrapuntal and musically creative!
GG was so amazing it’s certainly tempting to think they were they absolute pinnacle, but I believe there are phenomenal contemporary players out there who also deserve attention.
I was so lucky to have seen Gentle Giant live 5 or 6 times in the mid 1970’s. A few of my high school buddies loved them but most did not get it and thought we were crazy. Ok, call me crazy but this is original, innovative and sumptuous music.
It makes me happy to see and hear that the Gentle Giant lives on.
Fantastic performance. Greetings from Italy (where the Gentle Giant was very appreciated)
I can understand why Garry and Malcolm are still so keen to promote this wonderful music.
One of those pieces of music that you just didn't want to end. Master class and quality is brilliant but Three Friends is just anthemic
what a fantastic performance and what great sound quality !! thank you so much, it's such a joy to see this done on stage (and how!) ... Malcolm definitely nailed it, but after all it was him in the original recording, right ? .... :)
Indeed, well recorded and mixed, and well played by all!
Long live Gentle Giant and Three Friends!
I was in the front line of the audience. One of the best moments in my musical life.
I was at this concert! Really beautiful!
Three Friends the song is a masterpiece, UN CAPOLAVORO!!! Long life Three Friends the group as GG is inside us, their music will remain forever.
EMOCIONANTE . For those, like myself, saw some of these guys 40 years ago, seeing them again on stage playing is absolutely wonderful. I only regret that Derek and Ray are not there.
That performance had me shivering with goosebumps
Love it.
All I need to say.
If 99% of ppl don´t like it then we have about 1% left that I can actually talk too
I like it. amazing music, challenging and different. The more you hear, the more you want to hear.
I would hope there’s more than 1% that like this, if not there really is no hope for the human race, it’s done, over, may as well nuke the earth now lol.
Great cover of one of my all-time favourite prog-rock compositions. Your rhythm really rocks even better than the original studio recording!
Fantástica interpretação, obrigado por existirem, esse gigante é muito gentil
Mr Class & Quality aaaaaaaaaaaaaand Three Friends Finalle ;)
This is the official Gentle Giant band of the two thousands. Solid as a rock and to think that Malcolm Mortimore got a second shot at it. His first was when he was eighteen and now look at him. Way to go Malcolm!
Im amazed how you guys succeeded in doing it so well and where you found the song. Great job :D So fun to see others enjoy it as much as I do. And developing it this well in a band.
Wonderful! Takes me back to 1972, Cobo Hall, Detroit, still gives me chills. Thanks!
What a killer version. These guys have quite a sophisticated tune completely wired...right down to the ever shifting bass lines
One of my all time favorite songs
This sounds so contemporary. Such great music truly deserves to live on in the eleventies. There's drama and humour in the music, which is very hard to do, let along do it so well. I can't wait to see this band.
I love the Mellotron strings and choir mix on Three Friends.
I remember Gentle Giant playing in the same open air football stadium as Pink Floyd did the same year. Gentle Giant with local band Pollen and Weather Report (w. Pastorius) as opening acts. They knew the crowd wouldn't be as big as Pink Floyd so they set the stage in the middle of the stadium. But still, it showed how popular Gentle Giant was, in Québec.
Otherwise GG played yearly a regular forum with about 12 000 people in the audience. That is, starting from "In a Glass House".
QUE MARAVILLA!!!!!!......aunque este solo el guitarrista original de los monumentales GENTLE GIANT, suenan INCREÍBLES!!!!!!!! en CHILE tambien los amamos!!! sonidazo.
Awesome!🙂
I can't understand why they have a strident synth sound at the same time as the vocals. I don't get it. Probably a mixing error but the synth sound itself is quite strident.
Marvellous ! This is great quality...,
Indeed. Now GG would be warning us that all are becoming "Cloud Proles"
Fantastic. Love the Giant!!!!! Thanks three friends.
Quand j'avais 20 ans, avec mes camarades du rock music Gentle Giant c'était la reférence. Aujourd'hui, 50 ans plus tard ça sonne differement. Je me rends compte d'une formule. On crée une phrase en 3/4, on rajoute en 3/8 et un 3/16 et on reprend le 3/4, et on répète les phrases à volonté. C'était divin dans les années 70, mais 50 ans plus tard refaire me semble dommage, et un peu paresseux.
takes a lot of courage to cover a masterpiece like this one, bravo on a job well done
Que grupazo carajo..!
That opening contrapuntal section is, I swear to gods, one of the most mind-bendingly subtle things in all of rock music. And then to take that theme, bend it a little bit, and use it for the outchorus bass / guitar unison line is pure, Beethoven-grade genius ...
I don't think even Gentle Giant approached this again with their later canonic / fugal stuff. The only thing that comes close to this (admittedly in a bit more ham-fisted way; and it's directly influenced by it) is the outchorus to The Everso-Closely Guarded Line by Cardiacs.
Giant is alive!!! What a wonderfull thing!!!
We need a live CD of these guys now!
oooh yes!
Playing in Quebec for a few gigs first week of October, 2012!
Mostruosa
Outro is pure musical nirvana.
..que chingon suenan..Gigantes por siempre !!
Uskomatonta kuinka tarkasti he soittavat ja laulavat.... Kuin studiolevytys. ❤❤❤❤❤
Great performance! But now I appreciate even more the original lineup!
Unbelievable to cover your own "greatest song ever"! It was my recollection however, that it took 3 guys (although fantastic in their own right) to fill the shoes of Ray & Derek Shulman. Kerry Minear, although still playing, needed some help to cover his own parts from some 35 years ago, as they became too difficult for him to continue to cover. Yet he still kicks ass.....Wow!
Kerry is doing Ray's overdubbed (on the record) violin part live on the synth, I think their 5-piece on stage sound is just mind blowing, like the originals .... SHEITTTTTT !!!!!!!!
This is the cover band Three Friends, not the original guys (except Gary Green on guitar).
Malcolm Mortimore is on the drum kit and was Gentle Giant's second drummer who played drums on the Three Friends album which was their 3rd album. He was replaced by John Weathers after a motorcycle accident and the band stayed with John on drums for the remainder of their amazing run. If not for Malcolm this performance would not be the same.
Yeah I realized afterwards.
Listening t this, the GG music breathes new life. Also very inspiring music to play new tricks on the bass to. It makes me realise that music is a lifetime challenge. Who thought prog cannot swing as hell?
Stunning performance & just look at the fun they're having. My view should count as 5 because I kept dragging it back to 1:30 from 5:50. Thanks for sharing this.
Great stuff, wish I was there
I was there! Unforgettable, really.
Look around my rooms
And see the prizes I have showing
Working hard to build my life
And plan the way I'm going
House and car and pretty wife
They've all been won by knowing
All been won by knowing
All been won by knowing
Paperwork, white collared shirts
Where would we be without them
Man of class and quality
I never shout about them
Choose my friends for my own ends
You can't succeed without them
Can't succeed without them
Can't succeed without them
Middleman sees straight ahead
And never crosses borders
Never understood the artist
Or the lazy workers
The world needs steady men like me
To give and take the orders
Give and take the orders
Give and take the orders
c'est trop bien . merci
As good as any thing I've EVER heard !!! Well DONE !!!!!! thats the best !!!!
One of the great gigs I've ever seen in my life... thanks 😊
¡Felicitaciones!, increíble volver a escuchar esta música... mi banda preferida junto a King Crimson.
4 thumbs down? Ray, Derek, John, and Kerry i guess :-(
Mr Class and Quality, one of my fav GG songs and it's really fantastic Three Friends are presenting GG gems like this live for the first time.
omg omg omg, they are coming to Holland next year.
+Co van Oeveren wanneer dan , Co?
2 of 3 april in zoetermeer, de boerderij
Funny how fickle we can be as fans! I always felt Gentle Giant should have been among those musicians (bands) that obtained wealth and overall popularity. Still, I wonder if my feelings about their music would have changed if they had gotten all that and endured onward over many Rolling Stones' lifetimes. Instead, they ended up being this little 'cult' band about which so few of us know (in comparison say to those who know about the sell out Genesis band). GG (TF) are still "our little band".
This is in Goveia, Portugal?
Sim
Gary seems to really have fun here. And he is right : this is rocking…
Excellent! Still got it. Hair standing up on the back of my neck!
These guys are fucking great
3:10 woops :P Great save though
meine musik...
ich sah sie live in germany in essen als vorgruppe von jethro tull..ab da bin ich ihr fan..und das noch heute ;-)
This blew my socks off as we say in the UK. I have always loved that wonderful, convoluted riff at the end.... it always seemed somehow nautical in flavour. This has inspired me to pick up my guitar and work it out... probably badly!
one of the best bands ever hankter777
Class and quality.
Excellent
What a killer job on a great GG song!
Bravissimi
sorry early 70s
#GouveiaArtRock2011
Extraordinary!!!!
Malcolm nailed it.
GG: inarrivabili!!!
👍👍👍
Brillant. Great to see GG's music living on with Three Friends. Fans are still out here!
We still are!
One of my favorite concert experiences was seeing GG open for Tull in Connecticut.
Great song and this is the Best quality version of this song on YT!! Wow, how did I never even hear of Gentle Giant?
incredible
yeah, that's the word! They can still do this?!! Was amazed by them them when I was young. Now am still trying to get my rock n' roll friends to listen to these guys. Oh well, they'll die with their Beatles and ZZ Top. Me, I plan to go out hearing these guys. Best band I ever heard
I guess I missed something along the Way, but I have always been a GG fan, and I have always progressive music, or progressive anything!
Excellent rendition of an amazing song and the outro is very beautiful, it gives me the chills.
Tremendous version of this incredible piece. Bravo boys!
First met these guy in early 80s when first played at Newcastle City Hall
ma non vengono in Italia??????
Its so great to jear this fantastastic track performed live with so high quality :-)
They are so greats ! Ils sont extraordinaires, depuis que je les ai découverts en 1974 mes préférés sans jamais me lasser. Thanks a lot. Ce morceau est mythique pour moi, un véritable bijou.
The "Grateful Dead" of Prog but SO MUCH MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you/have you taught music at Wakefield and/or Barnsley college?
Great comparison. My 2 favorites bands are GG and GD
Really enjoying the guitar parts at the last three minutes of the song when it shifts into the smoother Barclay James Harvest style...so excellent...Really need to see these guys live someday soon.
Wirklich fantastisches Cover einer der absolut besten Gentle Giant Songs überhaupt. Großartig!!!
ich sah sie 72 in essen in der grugahalle...sie waren die vorgruppe von jethtro tull...ab da war und bin ich ihr fan...die beste musik, die ich kenne.. du mußt die den song von der lp oder cd reinziehen und dabei einen kopfhörer aufsetzen...es ist unglaublich... wenn ich mal sterbe, möchte ich, daß dieser song in der kapelle gespielt wird. ich würde es dann noch einmal genießen.und lächeln.dazu gehört ebenso "look into the sun" und "reasons for waiting" von jethro tull..ein wundervoller abgang..
Gigante gentil, gentle Giant maravilhoso, espetacular
great job all around, only minus is the missed best moment of prog at 5.50 imo but hey ;)
What a glorious and magistarial composition.
Superb. Now I'm gonna listen to the album.
Magnificent!! Thank you guys.
Che fortiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!! Stupenda prestazione!!!!
in the title write also THREE FRIENDS (the song)
So sad but supremely telling, is to know that the industrial definition of "quality" is simply conformance to specifications. IE, garbage in, garbage out - or vice versa - good stuff in, good stuff out.
Mister Quality here is simply following conformance to specifications, laid-out by others who are either blatant morons, highly competent innovators, or very clever and deceptive manipulators, your choice.
These Three Friends point towards the obvious/oblivious; conformists to whose specifications? "Quality" is therefore so highly subjective, never objective.
Love early GG!!!
+watcheroftheskies617 So, do you like this or not? Can't tell from your comments.
+farkinelify simply reread final statement, "Love early GG!!!", this 3F is honoring early GG, duh.
Beautifully performed
Great bass playing!
very hard to replicate GG, especially Derek Shulman's flamboyance, and this cover's a bit too polished, GG were anything but!
Not exactly a "cover"....It's the band of GG's former guitarist! So he's playing the music of his own old band with another GG ex-drummer + other guys. Even Kerry Minnear was involved at the beginning. So it's kind of another GG
musical re-incarnation.
@@markusschurr7641 indeed they are three original members and Kerry actually it's pretty awesome