Gentle Giant - So sincere 

Right: a song beginning so avantgarde-stylish and ending in an incredible drum battle, that's unique until today. BTW: this TV-session went on air in 1974 not in a midnight hour but on a sunday noon, I still can record it, I was 17 years old then. Those were the days!

No they're good but there's a couple that can out do them. Zappa certainly can. However, they still remain my top three favorite groups. Wish they would had lasted longer. Saw them back in 70 or 71.

@@tixximmi1 Zappa although good & certainly talented never made music that sounded as cool as GG. That's my opinion. no hard feelings.

@@Stevesupcom I would put The Adventures of Greggery Peccary up against anything GG ever did. Zappa wrote so much music that whatever the "cool" you like is there somewhere. Zappa's albums are now at 104 with many of them double albums, about a dozen are triple and a few quads too. Oh in Greggery Peccary Zappa even wrote the 3 typewriters in. GG never played the typewriter or the zither. They were good but Zappa is a whole other level. I got to see GG once and Zappa over 20 times.

@@tixximmi1 I will definitely listen to that. I never really got into Zappa. But I'm sure it's great.

@@Stevesupcom Listen to all of the instrumentation and sound effects. When asked, Zappa said one of the best groups out there who went beyond the boundaries was GG. Studio Tan is a great album to dwell on.

Gnome or elf?

@@philweingart9523 Giant! He literally looks like the giant hahaha

he's also one hell of a drummer -- but I know you know that ;}

The Bonham of Prog

You wrote, "Such a shame that the masses want what some corporate executive thinks is great music instead of music that actually is great." Ironically, the vocalist in this band, Derek Shulman, went on to be a major record company executive, first a VP for Polygram and later the CEO of Atco records. He was quite successful there. Apparently he knows both what sells and what works musically, and has no difficulty producing either one. But I think you have to admit that "the masses" can't understand this music, and in fact some of us don't, either. It's a stretch because it's so dissonant. Analysis aside, the human soul craves assonance, and non-analysts will gravitate in that direction.

@@philweingart9523 Yes the constant need for repetition and similar sounding vowels etc in song structures is certainly prevalent but to be honest I think it's more laziness of listening. Good listening can be learned but someone has to have the patience and develop the ability to really hear something properly. With repetitive jingles, it simply takes less brain power and there's not much difficulty of comprehension required. Myself, I label a lot of commercial music after a song Frank Zappa wrote called 'A Little Green Rosetta.'

So glad to see newcomers to this band. I've been listening to them since 81. I was blown away then and still am.

You will travel deeper and deeper into the music of Giant now that you "get it." Welcome my friend! We all went through he same experience with them. That's why Giant fans are the most loyal on the planet, because we all learned to "Acquire The Taste." Once you do, you'll never look back. Giant forever!

Should have seen Zappa. He's the GG of the GG's. There is an interview when asked the question, which groups impressed you, Frank said GG. That stamped it for me!

I need the violin, the thing with strings. No, that's a guitar, it's made of wood. Nope, that's an acoustic guitar, you bow it. No, no, no, that's the cello, it's a little smaller. Damnit, that's the Shulberry, forget it!

I can verify that. The night I decided to become a pro musician was the night I saw GG at the Riviera Theatre (Chi), 1975 or 76. Even though I am a keyboard player and Minnear is my hero, I actually decided on my life's path during the dual acoustic guitar duet with Ray and Gary.

Absoutely agree with you a gazillion percent-they are/were the greatest most legendary genius criminally underated band ever

So funny hahahah good one

And Ray always has that little cat-that-ate-the-canary smile.

Congrats for discovering the greatest most epic legendary genius band ever

Yeah, I've known about their music for more than forty years and have a copy pf their amazing live album from the 1976 European tour, Playing the Fool. Just wish I had been a couple of years older and had gotten to see them playing live, they actually gigged in my hometown on that tour and people who went to see them at that show were predictably in awe. A stellar band that didn't get one-tenth of the recognition or sales they would have deserved. 😸

Absolutely without a doubt the greatest most criminally underated band ever

I saw them in Chicago in 1976, and decided, on that very night, to become a professional musician. And I did, and I still am 45 years later, and I've had an incredible life -- and it all started because my friend Sven took me to see Gentle Giant one summer night, all those years ago. That was the greatest night of my life. Kerry Minnear and Ray Shulman are my heroes to this day.

Truly jaw-dropping! Especially layered over a pure funk-groove!

Hands down seems appropriate only for group choices though, not individual?

same here! Three of us (three friends, as it were...), all seated in that section off stage left, so we were behind Kerry Minnear (to the delight of my keyboardist friend/musical partner). Among the most striking things about them was how much fun they were having, all while playing this very complicated material. Trivia detail: guitarist Gary Green met his wife Judy at Ebbets Field (she worked there, I think as a waitress). Not sure whether it was the 1974 appearance or an earlier one.

some of the best bass lines ever written

God of the 4-Strings: Bass & Violin

+Justin B i only consider something "band" if all members are musicians.

So . . . no drummers?

@@lo0ksik well there's the entity of the collective effort of the musicians, then the merits of the individual musicians outside that context

Maybe? No without a doubt the greatest ever-not even close-they stand alone on mount everest

They are/were the greatest most epic legendary unique genius band ever

72Z15SS - I don't remember the venues that I saw GG at in Phila (I'm from NJ) but I saw them several times and they were AMAZING! The venues were smaller places and we were always close enough to catch the hysterical, at times, faces that particularly Ray and Weathers made. Lol. I Loved being there for their incredible performance of this song and recently realized that the violin solo I have been looking for on video was from the song Timing. How freaked out were we when his violin started 'echoing' from behind and beside us in the audience. It was surreal and SO exhilarating. There can't have been any band (and I've seen Alot of them!) that tops these guys for sheer genius onstage. Their music was like fireworks going off in your brain. Wish I could see an audience experience Timing like they got to see this onstage transformation. Most underrated band... And they planned it that way..... Well, as far as commercialization goes.

thanks for pointing that out. I didn't even pick up on it.

I'm not getting it

+Paul Baker Jealous!!!! =)

you should go see Three Friends a knock off Band of the Giant with Garry Green playing in it.

Jeremy Ewing - yeah, I loved watching his and Rays expressions. Saw them several times- I'm so fortunate!

Yes, the live versions are different and rock much harder. That was one of the highlights of seeing Giant in the day (before the live album came out), it was so exciting to hear how they rearranged and rewrote their music for live performance. I can't think of another band that did that so extensively

Listen to their live album, Playing The Fool. Minnear takes that part on clavinet and proceeds to play a different rhythmic permutation of it, one after another, never the same, while Green takes his solo. It's some of the greatest keyboard playing I've ever heard, and it goes on for like 3 minutes. He was a genius, but especially with rhythm

​@@jamiepastman5594 Yes I've heard it, the man is a genius for sure.

The clavinet stuff is so cool. Makes one wonder why more prog. keyboardists haven't used that very much.

Meanest clav on the planet.

@@jamiepastman5594 Yes, the variations are mind blowing!

good ears, you're exactly right!

I can't hear it

Maybe that clinched the deal when he auditioned.

That's why they picked him to be their drummer.

which one lol

@@redlinenantlersstudio6076 the debut

KidFlersh but they used the same gentle giant for three friends in America and probably elsewhere. That’s why I asked I know the debut has the giant.

Kerry and Ray, two complete geniuses in 1 band, that's how. So brilliant, I agree 1000 percent

I think you could be right- really to find a comparable vibe it has to be the early 70's Herbie Hancock Mwandishi band- and nowadays people like Jacob Collier?

Wouldn't that be a strange irony? I'm reminded of American composer, Charles Ives who was either ignored or reviled during his lifetime, only to be finally understood and appreciated decades after his death.

well THE CRIM is packing them in all over the world, so I'm not so sure these guys are the 'GREATEST " but i still love them

Well, in Chicago at least, they could fill the Riviera Theater (greatest concert of my life), around 2500 people I think. Can you imagine that happening now? The 70's were a glorious time for great music and concerts, I saw them 3 times...

thaT WAS UNFORGETTABLE, the whole audience gasped when those fairy lights came on, I remember it well

I saw them open for Renaissance.

The story goes that Tull didn't want to go on after them, they were getting their asses kicked every night by the great Giant. Back in the day, all the prog bands knew Giant were the scariest and most brilliant band of them all, and hated to have to go on after them.

Me toó.