@@Edduno128 AS soon as I saw that commentary of most underrated I said to myself The cardiacs .Hit your comment and u took the words right out of my mouth
Gentle Giant, like much of Prog, was classical influenced, however they took it a step beyond the romantic/classical/baroque eras and was influenced more by renaissance and medieval musics. That’s most evident when they sing the madrigals (the vocal polyphony).
Don’t forget their blues, vintage R&B, country, folk, avant garde, jazz, and even reggae (predating the love affair that punk bands would have with reggae) influences.
I was asked by a fellow school student if I liked this album would I buy it from him. The year was 1977. The group was Gentle Giant. The album Free Hand. I bought everything they did before and since!!! Amazing band!!! 🙂🇦🇺
It's actually a common "phenomenon" for Prog musicians to dislike or avoid this classification. Jon Anderson said every kind of music is "progressive", Genesis members were uncomfortable with the label of "prog kings", so were Pink Floyd...
Good analysis. Good choice to feature clips from Sight & Sound. Anyone wanting to know more about the band, just check out that concert (see "The BBC Sight & Sound concert Golders Green Hippodrome, London, January 5th, 1978" it's on YT). One thing you'll notice is that GG owns the pocket, as distinct from other prog bands that are precise but just don't seem to get that phat safe place in time. Yes the recorders, mallets, baroque all that, but listen for the rocking time, even as it is arranged out in sections; when it hits you it's real. Ray Shulman's got a big brain for music, and his bass concept is excellent. Don't miss it.
Bravo. A very good summery of their music but you have overlooked a couple of aspects of what made Gentle Giant one of the original progressive rock groups and that is how they had progressed from the early 60´s beat era as the Howlin' Wolves and Roadrunners, through the late 60´s pop rock and psychedelic flower power scene as Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, also as (incognito) The Moles. Then there was a kinda chrysalis stage when they moved to a country cottage before emerging as a fully fledged Progressive rock band. Secondly, they were amongst the first to be signed to Philips Records "progressive music" subsidiary label, Vertigo. I have all four of the UK original "Swirl" albums plus 5 of the next 6 studio albums (missing Interview) and got to see them live twice in the early 70´s. Was asked to design and produce the poster for their appearance at the Tech Collage Rag Dance. So as you can tell, Gentle Giant have loomed large in my listening Life :)
The Moles is one of my favorite obscure records. Some even thought The Moles had members of the Beatles (like the later Klaatu) until Syd Barrett told a magazine who the members of the Moles were
An interesting epilogue would be mentioning that Ray Schulman kept his work of producer and AR man after the end of Gentle Giant. He discovered, signed and produced début albums for The Sundays and The Sugarcubes.
The modern band that reminds me of them most is Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. I recommend the song “Donkey headed something of the apocalypse” for similar rhythmic sophistication and hocketing for sure
Even though GG is technically a Prog band, I thoroughly understand why its members were a bit reluctant to accept this classification (as were other Prog musicians in relation to their respective groups). Yes, Genesis, ELP and other Prog masters had several points in common, although they all had a unique style that could not be copied. GG, on the other hand, had very little in common with the examples I mentioned. Their weird blend of Rock, Jazz, Blues, Folk and Classical music was equally disturbing and intriguing. Gentle Giant is like an "outsider" forced to fit into the Prog club.
I think they were only the second band that I shot in concert for my college newspaper in late '72 or early '73 (hazy times, lol). The first was J. Geils. There was a lot of gear on the GG stage and some other photographer knocked over a cello so we all got banned from the wings.
Gentle Giant are one of those bands who "invented", in broader sense, the progressive music, apart of those proto-phenomena that preceeded the 1970 (these were not sufficient to define the genre and then, probably comprising Beatles, King Crimson, Blind Faith, Yes, Jethro Tull etc). Here in Italy, Gentle Giant had found their first chronological "fanbase", earlier than in UK. At the same time, when Phil Shulman decided to leave, GG had accomplished the fourth album release and in the same time, here in Italy we're starting to see the early glances of progressive music intended as "complete reasoned opus in the progressive sense". In other words, at the end of the 1972 the world was starting to drive the progressive music era (with no mention to its label name!) only after GG had yet closed the first halfway point, leading to, and starting to experiment a new scheme without Phil Shulman as leading element in the band.
Italian prog. RPI is such a pretentious term. It's bad enough people still say "krautrock." Plus there's plenty of Italian bands who aren't considered RPI.
I first heard them on John Peel’s radio show in 1970, and have remained a devoted fan ever since. But please also remember that the term “progressive rock” did not exist at the time, it is a retrospective term for the explosion of talent, especially in the UK. The only term used at the time was Pomp Rock, which was used to cover Genesis, Yes and ELP.
"irregardless" isn't a word. The correct word is just "regardless" without the unnecessary "ir-" prefix. The word "regardless" already has a prefix ("re-") and doesn't need another one.
The way many phrase it is rather correct, and the only way it's expressed properly. There were (and are, very lamentably) bands of that era (golden age of) art-rock/ progressive rock, a n d there was Gentle Giant, very much in a league of their own. They were able to keep that uniqueness most likely but not alone by ceasing to be after ten years (having already run out of steam in the later period of their brief stint). [Lament with regard to mostly embarrassing continuations of the likes of Yes and Hackett (re-heating Genesis over and over).]
I will check them out! Thanks for the recommendation, I'm excited to get through the next couple that I have planned, and then I'd love to do more based on recommendations.
Pink Floyd and DT introduce me to prog, now I love Genesis, King Crimson, Tool, ELP and Steven Wilson. I tried to listen to Gentle Giant and it was just meh. I´ll listen to their music again. Any place you recommend to start?
And Zappa did all of this and more, and he did it first. I do like GG. And Zappa did mention GG in an interview about being outside of the box and pushing music to uncharted waters. But you go up to people and ask them to list 5 prog groups and very few ever mention Zappa. The one that started it first. Everything used to define GG works on Zappa too.
La musica dei GENTLE GIANT vi Sembra all' ascolto ordinaria ??? Scontata ??? Troppo orecchiabile ??? Banale ??? La MIA risposta è NO assolutamente !!!! Quindi di conseguenza è fuori dai canoni ordinari del pop e rock e quindi innovativa sperimentale d' AVANGUARDIA e ovviamente progressive rock !!!!!!!
What exactly defines progressive rock anyway or is it just "you know it when you hear it". I think the term "prog rock" didn't even exist when these bands were in their heyday.
You're absolutely right, it isn't GG. Looking at each member, my first guess was Lindisfarne but can't find that pic anywhere in Google Images so maybe that's wrong.
I thing that Yes blew them away. Ironically, I have half of the Gentle Giant albums and only a couple of Yes albums, and both Yes albums were stolen from me. [sigh]
The titles are just a play on the 'is __ prog?" Comments that go around. The channel is mostly just making videos looking into the innovative things that prog bands bring to music.
Ma naturalmente i Gentle Giant sono da considerarsi prog rock !!!!! Già dalla band precedente i Simon Dupree And the big sound si avvertiva la voglia di abbandonare i suoni beat in favore di composizioni più complesse seppur sempre in un contesto psichedelico come Kites Kindness Stained Glass Window e secondo me fino ad arrivare al brano che mostra già la faccia del Gigante Gentile cioè Like The Sun Like The Fire !!!!!!!! Abbandonato alla fine dei 60 il progetto Simon Dupree i fratelli Shulman incontrano il tastierista polistrumentista Kerry Minnear ed il Valente chitarrista ed anche lui polistrumentista Gary Gren oltre al batterista Martin Smith e tutti insieme si avviano verso i percorsi avventurosi del Gigante Gentile con il suo mix di rock hard rock folk jazz classica medievale ed anche con qualcosa di black music oltre a qualcosa di elettronica Con tutto questo bagaglio di sonorità ed esperienze non si possono secondo voi considerarli innovativi di avanguardia e di conseguenza progressive rock ? Secondo me indubbiamente la mia risposta è SI !!!!!!!!
Prog okay, I would go even further and say they were the most progressive for all the reasons you stated. I think Derek felt they were being pigeonholed into to a group of music that in general tended to be long and a bit bombastic. GG for the most part tighter richer compositions that rocked. Most Prog sit back and easer to listen to. where GG demands attention because time changes utter complexity not good back ground in the bar. it's as much progressive Jazz so I think they stand alone as the most progressive rock band ever.
Nice work! For me, superior to, say, ELP, but too weird for American FM. More consistent than Tull. A bit of a falloff after side 2 of Missing Piece, but no outright dud LPs---the same shift-to-mainstream prob Yes and others ran into. Long live the Giant.
you dont know how annoying it is to me. who was there at the start of the psychedelic artistic flowering of the 67-70 era,when the remnants of that era were reduced to a kind of formulaic 2 dimensional spinal tap entity, where dark side of the moon, and elp had replaced the original efforts of the early 'nice', and pink floyd. why not mention jade warrior,who ,despite the 70s,produced a truly mythic sound scape without gimmicks and silly twiddly bits by trying to be clever for its own sake
"The most criminally underrated band in the history of music."
this, and Cardiacs :)
@@Edduno128 AS soon as I saw that commentary of most underrated I said to myself The cardiacs .Hit your comment and u took the words right out of my mouth
@@steventhompson4220 glad to hear it :) early split enz is another great, underrated band
Wobbler or The Watch
The Giant is hands down my favorite band. I am absolutely obsessed with Ray Shulman’s bass playing.
I saw GG open for Jethro Tull at the Baltimore Civic Center!
Mind still blown!
Thank God for such adventurous Music!
I've been a GG fan since the mid 80's, and love all the attention the band's finally getting, including here on YT.
Gentle Giant, like much of Prog, was classical influenced, however they took it a step beyond the romantic/classical/baroque eras and was influenced more by renaissance and medieval musics. That’s most evident when they sing the madrigals (the vocal polyphony).
Don’t forget their blues, vintage R&B, country, folk, avant garde, jazz, and even reggae (predating the love affair that punk bands would have with reggae) influences.
Acquiring the Taste and Octopus, two classic albums with prog at its finest.
And yet, my favourite is Three friends.
Giant is my favorite band since I discover them! 1976!!! On the interview album!!! Yep!!
I was asked by a fellow school student if I liked this album would I buy it from him. The year was 1977. The group was Gentle Giant. The album Free Hand. I bought everything they did before and since!!! Amazing band!!! 🙂🇦🇺
Super! Derek Shulman should watch this because he once said he thought GG wasn't a real prog band.
Most prog bands deny that they are prog
@@alexno.335 Gentle Giant sounds different, the bombast is missing and they have shorter tracks but these aren't the central elements of prog.
@@jakobsprogworld no bombast? Have you seen them live lol
It's actually a common "phenomenon" for Prog musicians to dislike or avoid this classification. Jon Anderson said every kind of music is "progressive", Genesis members were uncomfortable with the label of "prog kings", so were Pink Floyd...
i like ur style of review, could you make more about gentle giant?
That man played the Shulberry like he'd be doing everyone a disservice by not playing the HELL out of it.
Bruce Dickinson approves!
this was a really good video man, i hope you keep uploading, prog is one of my favorite types of music and i'd love to hear more analysis of the genre
Thank you man! I am planning on making more, I just got done with a pretty big move, so I should be getting back to it soon! I appreciate the support.
Good analysis. Good choice to feature clips from Sight & Sound. Anyone wanting to know more about the band, just check out that concert (see "The BBC Sight & Sound concert Golders Green Hippodrome, London, January 5th, 1978" it's on YT). One thing you'll notice is that GG owns the pocket, as distinct from other prog bands that are precise but just don't seem to get that phat safe place in time. Yes the recorders, mallets, baroque all that, but listen for the rocking time, even as it is arranged out in sections; when it hits you it's real. Ray Shulman's got a big brain for music, and his bass concept is excellent. Don't miss it.
They are fantastic! Unforgettable!
Greatest Prog Rock band ever!
Bravo. A very good summery of their music but you have overlooked a couple of aspects of what made Gentle Giant one of the original progressive rock groups and that is how they had progressed from the early 60´s beat era as the Howlin' Wolves and Roadrunners, through the late 60´s pop rock and psychedelic flower power scene as Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, also as (incognito) The Moles. Then there was a kinda chrysalis stage when they moved to a country cottage before emerging as a fully fledged Progressive rock band.
Secondly, they were amongst the first to be signed to Philips Records "progressive music" subsidiary label, Vertigo.
I have all four of the UK original "Swirl" albums plus 5 of the next 6 studio albums (missing Interview) and got to see them live twice in the early 70´s. Was asked to design and produce the poster for their appearance at the Tech Collage Rag Dance. So as you can tell, Gentle Giant have loomed large in my listening Life :)
Thanks for filling in some missing pieces! Always like to learn more, and I really appreciate the comment.
The Moles is one of my favorite obscure records. Some even thought The Moles had members of the Beatles (like the later Klaatu) until Syd Barrett told a magazine who the members of the Moles were
An interesting epilogue would be mentioning that Ray Schulman kept his work of producer and AR man after the end of Gentle Giant. He discovered, signed and produced début albums for The Sundays and The Sugarcubes.
Are you joking? Gentle Giant is the epitome of Prog !!!
Who cares what they are they were amazing in every way.
I can definitely hear their influence in bands like Spocks Beard and Haken.
Cool videos man, thanks for making!
I'm glad you like them! Appreciate you!
They are my all time favorite band!
Saw them live in Montreal 1977, too bad I don't remember much of it!
The best acapella prog band ever, in studio or live perform.
The modern band that reminds me of them most is Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. I recommend the song “Donkey headed something of the apocalypse” for similar rhythmic sophistication and hocketing for sure
The my favourite álbuns are Octopus ,Power and Glory and In a glass house .
Great job, man!
I saw them in San Diego they were playing a song they stopped they all swapped instruments and kept going! Unbelievable!
Great video! Hope to see more of your content.
Everything!
Nice rhetorical question!
This was really cool! Personally, I love Gentle Giant to bits. Could you do one on Gryphon?
Even though GG is technically a Prog band, I thoroughly understand why its members were a bit reluctant to accept this classification (as were other Prog musicians in relation to their respective groups). Yes, Genesis, ELP and other Prog masters had several points in common, although they all had a unique style that could not be copied. GG, on the other hand, had very little in common with the examples I mentioned. Their weird blend of Rock, Jazz, Blues, Folk and Classical music was equally disturbing and intriguing. Gentle Giant is like an "outsider" forced to fit into the Prog club.
I think they were only the second band that I shot in concert for my college newspaper in late '72 or early '73 (hazy times, lol). The first was J. Geils. There was a lot of gear on the GG stage and some other photographer knocked over a cello so we all got banned from the wings.
Gentle Giant are one of those bands who "invented", in broader sense, the progressive music, apart of those proto-phenomena that preceeded the 1970 (these were not sufficient to define the genre and then, probably comprising Beatles, King Crimson, Blind Faith, Yes, Jethro Tull etc).
Here in Italy, Gentle Giant had found their first chronological "fanbase", earlier than in UK. At the same time, when Phil Shulman decided to leave, GG had accomplished the fourth album release and in the same time, here in Italy we're starting to see the early glances of progressive music intended as "complete reasoned opus in the progressive sense".
In other words, at the end of the 1972 the world was starting to drive the progressive music era (with no mention to its label name!) only after GG had yet closed the first halfway point, leading to, and starting to experiment a new scheme without Phil Shulman as leading element in the band.
Would love for you to feature some of the RPI bands such as Banco and PFM .
PFM has been brought up a couple times now, I'll definitely have to check them out.
@@progrock Check out Area and Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso too, Italian Progressive Rock is amazing
Italian prog. RPI is such a pretentious term. It's bad enough people still say "krautrock." Plus there's plenty of Italian bands who aren't considered RPI.
@thejazzweed Wot, no love for Cherry Five/Goblin!?! 😜
Now, THERE is a band that I would love to see @Is it Prog? cover. Also, Triumvirat. 😺
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Gentle Giant
Jethro Tull
Yes
King Crimson
Pink Floyd
Camel
ELP
my favo band BY FAR
I first heard them on John Peel’s radio show in 1970, and have remained a devoted fan ever since. But please also remember that the term “progressive rock” did not exist at the time, it is a retrospective term for the explosion of talent, especially in the UK. The only term used at the time was Pomp Rock, which was used to cover Genesis, Yes and ELP.
Wasn't art rock a term too? Starting from the beatles' latest albums and all those bands that blended jazz, rock and unusual influences.
Just discovered your channel.... Great video! Anyway you could do a video on the most underrated prog band of all-time.... Nektar? Thanks
Oooh, great suggestion! I haven't listened to nearly enough from them, so that would be a good time to get into them. Appreciate it!
There s no better band in the world . A few bands that are just as good.
What’s your favorite GG album?
Good question.....hard to answer. Which day is it? I do like the feelings I get from Three Friends. Tomorrow it will be their debut.
Awesome dude thank you
"irregardless" isn't a word. The correct word is just "regardless" without the unnecessary "ir-" prefix. The word "regardless" already has a prefix ("re-") and doesn't need another one.
This video is bold and based. Just like gentle giant
Where are the Residence ?
They certainly were, and for me their only peers were Crim.
Crim, Floyd, and Zappa. To me were the only musicians that had QUITE that level of genius.
@@greenblackswerl yes.
I would put Magma and Henry Cow up there too
GG, Crim, VdGG, Henry Cow
Can you make a video about Yezda Urfa?
The way many phrase it is rather correct, and the only way it's expressed properly. There were (and are, very lamentably) bands of that era (golden age of) art-rock/ progressive rock, a n d there was Gentle Giant, very much in a league of their own. They were able to keep that uniqueness most likely but not alone by ceasing to be after ten years (having already run out of steam in the later period of their brief stint). [Lament with regard to mostly embarrassing continuations of the likes of Yes and Hackett (re-heating Genesis over and over).]
An absolutely astounding biography of one of the greatest p r o g bands of the planet!
It's an acquired taste 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍❤
Can you do one on the Austrian band Kyrie Eleison, love the videos
I will check them out! Thanks for the recommendation, I'm excited to get through the next couple that I have planned, and then I'd love to do more based on recommendations.
Is it Prog? Thanks man, can’t wait!
Simplesmente espetacular , pra mim um dos melhores grupos de rock P. Que já ouvi, tenho tudo deles , sou inclusive inscrito no canal deles .
Pink Floyd and DT introduce me to prog, now I love Genesis, King Crimson, Tool, ELP and Steven Wilson.
I tried to listen to Gentle Giant and it was just meh. I´ll listen to their music again. Any place you recommend to start?
Three Friends and then Free Hand, The Power and Glory, Octopus and In a glass house are my favorite but a little more hard core GG.
Try the song Nothing At All from their first album
Thanks for all your answers, since this post, I have become a die hard Gentle Giant fan!
And Zappa did all of this and more, and he did it first. I do like GG. And Zappa did mention GG in an interview about being outside of the box and pushing music to uncharted waters. But you go up to people and ask them to list 5 prog groups and very few ever mention Zappa. The one that started it first. Everything used to define GG works on Zappa too.
Agreed. Especially the album uncle meat has a lot in common with the music of gentle giant
@@remonholubek8123 Except Uncle Meat was written 3 years before GG even got together.
La musica dei GENTLE GIANT vi Sembra all' ascolto ordinaria ??? Scontata ??? Troppo orecchiabile ??? Banale ??? La MIA risposta è NO assolutamente !!!! Quindi di conseguenza è fuori dai canoni ordinari del pop e rock e quindi innovativa sperimentale d' AVANGUARDIA e ovviamente progressive rock !!!!!!!
I only have The Power and the Glory, which was okay, but not all that impressive. I guess I should check out their other albums.
Area is the italian gentle giant!
What exactly defines progressive rock anyway or is it just "you know it when you hear it". I think the term "prog rock" didn't even exist when these bands were in their heyday.
more like technical rock 🤘🏻
Not sure who the band at 0:22 is, but it’s definitely not Gentle Giant
You're absolutely right, it isn't GG. Looking at each member, my first guess was Lindisfarne but can't find that pic anywhere in Google Images so maybe that's wrong.
Giant define prog.
I thing that Yes blew them away. Ironically, I have half of the Gentle Giant albums and only a couple of Yes albums, and both Yes albums were stolen from me. [sigh]
KNOTS.
Of course they were prog. Not sure why the question in the title is even there.
Good video overall. But 'irregardless'...
Really? Not a word.
The titles are just a play on the 'is __ prog?" Comments that go around. The channel is mostly just making videos looking into the innovative things that prog bands bring to music.
And thank you for watching! Hope ya enjoyed it.
Ma naturalmente i Gentle Giant sono da considerarsi prog rock !!!!! Già dalla band precedente i Simon Dupree And the big sound si avvertiva la voglia di abbandonare i suoni beat in favore di composizioni più complesse seppur sempre in un contesto psichedelico come Kites Kindness Stained Glass Window e secondo me fino ad arrivare al brano che mostra già la faccia del Gigante Gentile cioè Like The Sun Like The Fire !!!!!!!! Abbandonato alla fine dei 60 il progetto Simon Dupree i fratelli Shulman incontrano il tastierista polistrumentista Kerry Minnear ed il Valente chitarrista ed anche lui polistrumentista Gary Gren oltre al batterista Martin Smith e tutti insieme si avviano verso i percorsi avventurosi del Gigante Gentile con il suo mix di rock hard rock folk jazz classica medievale ed anche con qualcosa di black music oltre a qualcosa di elettronica Con tutto questo bagaglio di sonorità ed esperienze non si possono secondo voi considerarli innovativi di avanguardia e di conseguenza progressive rock ? Secondo me indubbiamente la mia risposta è SI !!!!!!!!
The CREAM were actually the first to use a Viola in Rock, on Wheels of Fire.
Prog okay, I would go even further and say they were the most progressive for all the reasons you stated. I think Derek felt they were being pigeonholed into to a group of music that in general tended to be long and a bit bombastic. GG for the most part tighter richer compositions that rocked. Most Prog sit back and easer to listen to. where GG demands attention because time changes utter complexity not good back ground in the bar. it's as much progressive Jazz so I think they stand alone as the most progressive rock band ever.
Nice work! For me, superior to, say, ELP, but too weird for American FM. More consistent than Tull. A bit of a falloff after side 2 of Missing Piece, but no outright dud LPs---the same shift-to-mainstream prob Yes and others ran into. Long live the Giant.
What makes Gentle Giant prog? What makes the pope Catholic? What makes the bear sh*t in the woods? What makes the blue whale large?
you dont know how annoying it is to me. who was there at the start of the psychedelic artistic flowering of the 67-70 era,when the remnants of that era were reduced to a kind of formulaic 2 dimensional spinal tap entity, where dark side of the moon, and elp had replaced the original efforts of the early 'nice', and pink floyd. why not mention jade warrior,who ,despite the 70s,produced a truly mythic sound scape without gimmicks and silly twiddly bits by trying to be clever for its own sake
You could have saved all of this analysis by asking the question 'How many of the audience are female?'
casual sexism, love it!
@@medjed7422 Can you explain why?
What does that have to do with it?
@@mikereiss4216 Sorry - very poor joke on my behalf
No viola in Gentle Giant.
Not true. Ray played it. Not very often but he did play it on "on reflection" and "black cat."
A better question would be 'What DIDN'T make Gentle Giant prog'? Except for their last three albums....
This video doesn't tell the whole story. Happens every time Frank Zappa is left out of the story.