The best work of Gentle Giant.

[Rick and Roll]

Originally Posted by kaltsu

I totally agree. You haven't included their first album and the weirdest of them all "Interview" on your list. They went a bit commercial after that. Shorter songs and Genesis like production. The magic was gone.

Interview's a great record.

Plenty of magic on Missing Piece though...

[Toccata]

Really Kaltsu!! Interview it's an fantástic GG work , every song it's like another GG work, well done.
The song for example Give it Back, remind me a kind of Prog.Reggae, it's a very authentic and intelligent work with a kind of Reggae rhytm + Variations + Progressive sounds and effects.
But inside the album the songs that I like more are Another Show ,Empty City and I Lost My Head.
All very, very good songs!

[Andyyyy]

Originally Posted by Toccata

Hi Andy!
Nice to corresponding with you , a good musician and a person who many important things are did to the GG's fan world.
I didn't know about the John's health problem, sadly I received the notice ! Let's to pray to the John's health begin to bettering. I hope that soon others giants will begin to participate too of the activities.
Telling about GG.Songs. A song which there are a force very descriptive are in the album Aquiring the taste, is Black Cat. If you begin to listen and close your eyes, easily a Black Cat appears walking with his proper charming and elegancy.....

Thanks Toccata- it's always exciting to find others who feel the same about their music. I love Black Cat! You can find something interesting in just about everything they did!

I don't know about living up to the "good musician", but I'll keep trying. I am but a cog in cogs

Good choice for a nick name. You have obviously been "touched" by good music! Toccata:
Etymology:
Italian, from toccare to touch, from Vulgar Latin — more at touch
Date:
circa 1724

: a musical composition usually for organ or harpsichord in a free style and characterized by full chords, rapid runs, and high harmonies

I actually asked the organist at my wedding to play Toccata and Fugue, but she declined. It's a beautiful piece. But it gets associated with other things...

[Andyyyy]

Originally Posted by Rick and Roll

Interview's a great record.

Plenty of magic on Missing Piece though...

Hey Rick,

Nice to see you say that

I think there is magic on MP, but it is diminished from previous albums. Civilian is good when I'm in a Rock out mood....

BTW, did everyone catch the question on Interview, where they are asked "how would you describe your music?"

[Andyyyy]

OK- this thread MADE me put on a couple GG CDs. First, I spun Civilian. Loved it. Rocked out totally to it. Love the playing, GG snuck in some nice syncopations here and there. But then I played 3 Friends. Compositionally, there is almost no comparison. There is soooo much more magic on 3F than on Civ.

Did you know that at the beginning of Mr Class and Quality, the first 30 seconds of that little jam is actually the same notes (played on the bass) as 3 Friends? Listen to it carefully. It's so cleverly done! And be aware that the track marker for 3 F is off (on the CD) as it actually starts in the middle of Mr Class and Quality. 3 F starts with a different melody. It lasts for only about 2-3 minutes (anyone care to guess how many times that phrase repeats?). No such problem with the vinyl version. There are many other ways in which the compositions on 3F are richer than Civ, but I'll stop here. If you don't think so, try learning the parts (guitar, bass, keys, whatever) to Civ, then try 3F. If you don't play an instrument, focus on one and try humming with that part.

There is another difference, and that is the stylistic difference between John (Pugwash) Weathers' drumming and Malcolm Mortimer's. I love them both, and I think 3 F sounds different in part because of Malc. That guitar-drums jam they did in Peel the Paint was a magic moment. His drum beat to 3 Friends is masterfull. I think Pug's style went well with the rest of their albums- he kept a strong beat while the rest did their very difficult rhythmic variations. John was steady. Malc likes to improvise.

GG tried to feed their families by changing direction. Remember, punk was in, prog was on its way out. It's really too bad that they had to do that to survive financially. And even so, they ended their recording careers by trying to be what their loyal fans perceived to be, someone other than themselves. And the world lost what would have been the next GG albums.

Thanks for making me listen!

[Rick and Roll]

Very good points about three friends......Ray's bass playing is absolutely brilliant. And a great point about the drumming!

I must take issue about the feeding the family line though - Derek, with Simon Dupree (pre-Giant) really wasn't doing Giant-type stuff. And given his vocational pursuits post-Giant, I don't think he was ever comfortable blazing a trail for Prog. Giant was the perfect storm of diverse elements blending to make fantastic records. Gary can rock out (actually he can play anything), Kerry and Ray drove the sound, and Phil had his own way....sometimes it was even basic rock. I mean look at The House The Street The Room....hard rock mixed in with the Kerry pastoral sections. I Lost My Head, they could rock.

My favorite Giant tune is In A Glass House. It's got everything rolled up into one song.

[Andyyyy]

You're so right about Ray- because he doesn't play like a typical bass player, I forget to give him credit. He is as superb musician who happened to play the bass (among other instruments).

I meant to say that they felt (at that time) they needed to become more commercial to survive financially (after the fact it turned out to be the kiss of death). The Simon Dupree thing may have been an attempt at hitting the rock scene, I dunno. But the Shulmans and Kerry have classical training, which is where they got many of their musical ideas. According to the Italian interview on the DVD, they were trying to be "different". And when they did that, they were successful.

[Toccata]

Thanks Andy!! Toccata is an excellent nickname , Bach was the man of the toccatas everythings are wonderfulls, he wrote a lot of pieces. There are one organ's piece which I love too, is Bach's Passacaglia.
Sadly the marriage's organist decline to play, right.
GG was a very creative group, there are here on this thread , I wrote to a Moonie fellow, commenting about Give it Back of the work Interview:
Remind me a kind of ProgReggae : Reggae rhytms + Variation + Prog Music and Prog effeccts.Was a Giants Really!!
Bye.