There has never been a band like Gentle Giant before or since. The ultimate eclectic band, they drew on everything from early music, medieval, folk, jazz and outright rock. Capable of changing instruments from song to song with ease, you never knew what to expect next. Yet despite this, they never had a charting album in the UK
Maybe they were just too hard for some to listen to. Too unconventional but that’s exactly why I loved them and I was heads down no nonsense boogie as you like. Octopus is my favourite prog album of the 70s. Listen to the Advent Of Panurge track. It’s astonishing but still melodic and remarkably holds a great melody. I don’t really have the words to describe the musical journey it takes you on, it’s so meandering and extraordinary.
I love it when the drums kick in and it all goes frankly totally mad. And complex as it is, they could play it live as the version on the live Playing The Fool proves. Short folky, jazz passages intersperse with hard rock beats in a way no one else did. And we keep returning to a central theme. In the live version there’s a whole section with 3 of them playing recorders!
It’s like a slim volume of difficult but rewarding poetry. At times unsettling, at other times explosively joyous.
On Funny Ways, from their debut, a beautiful melody is picked out on violin by the bass player, there’s a glockenspiel solo and a massive fat bass underpinning it all. Then there’s nothing at all but acoustic guitar and a delicately sung song.
On other tracks the sing unaccompanied 3-part harmonies in a madrigal-style. Of course.
I could go on. For an overview, the live album is a perfect sampler of their phenomenal talent. They have 11 albums to enjoy. This is progressive rock at its finest. Never been equalled by anyone. Unsuccessful in terms of sales but an unrivalled peak of creativity.
