daveDerek
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2006
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Quote:
several years back there was supposed to an audiophile quality 180gm vinyl reissue of in a glass house, but the project never quite made it to fruition unfortunately. the original vinyl on wwa is a good recording.
hi guys. i joined head-fi a few weeks back but this is my first foray into the music forums. i was so busy checking out the headphone stuff that i never bothered to poke around in here until tonight. appropriately i started by searching for gentle giant. these guys completely changed my musical life, and i'm forever indebted to them for their timeless contributions. i first heard them 12/31/74 while helping a friend set up for a new years eve party. we played this wierd disc that his cousin had lent him - in a glass house. it just kicked my head wide open! these guys are incredibly talented musicians that did stuff that no other prog band ever did. i'm fortunate to have seen them live ~10 times from 1975-1980, and to have gotten the chance to become well acquainted with most of them personally.
for those who've not heard them but are curious i'd make a few suggestions. first of all be patient. it is challenging music that can take multiple listenings to 'get'. many people find it noisy and discordant. for some it will never click. but like many things in life, the more effort you put into it, the more you can get out of it. for starters i'd recommend free hand or perhaps octopus. as previously mentioned in a glass house was the first album i heard and it's always been my favorite. it's one of the great prog albums, up there with close to the edge, or the crimso trilogy (sort of like one 3 lp set released over a couple of yrs) of larks tongue in aspic, starless and bible black, and red. poke around on the official website (run by a fan, not the band). universally giant for a day is considered their worst album. yes, it's poppy, and it's still a good album, but it's unlike their other stuff. the first 3 albums (gentle giant, acquiring the taste, 3 friends) were exploratory and all different from each other. with the release of their fourth album octopus (the first with drummer john weathers - a key to their unique sound) they found the classic gentle giant style and this continued thru interview. these are all wonderful albums. (octopus, in a glass house, the power and the glory, freehand, interview, playing the fool). the missing piece contains a terser version of their style with some popular music elements thrown in but does have a couple of very fine tunes including the haunting 'memories of old days'. gfad was an effort to stay alive by making a more commercial album (some of this shows that they could rock, as if some of the blistering guitar work on earlier efforts left any doubt (check out gary green's solo on 3 friends 'peel the paint') but it is clearly their weakest effort. (JimmyD got it right in post #34 of this thread). by the time civilian came out in 1980 they were on the verge of disbanding, despite the clear improvement over gfad (as scott steele on the GG mailing list 'on reflection' is fond of saying, civilian kicks ass!), which is exactly what happened on June 16, 1980 after their show at the roxy in LA, documented on the last steps album. 'twas a sad day indeed. (perhaps presaged by don mclean in american pie.... ;-^ )
have fun exploring the discs and do check out the two dvds too. they were an incredible live act! no other band i've ever seen (and i've seen quite a few) were that tight.
for a small taste of that live experience you can check out a tribute band called gende's giant. not only do they perform giant but they do some other challenging material like mahavishnu orchestra, iirc. they rarely perform but you will have a chance to see them in rochester in october at the prog in the park festival. for more info about the festival see: http://www.prog90.com/
acts performing there include STEVE HOWE - TUNNELS - THE FLOWER KINGS - GENDE'S GIANT - HELMET OF GNATS - KARCIUS - VONFRICKLE - MIGHT COULD
happy listening!
| Originally Posted by s m @ Have there been any vinyl GG reissues?? Just curious, thinking of trying them out. If available, I'd just grab an LP, but if not it seems one of the (presumably) CD comps people seem to think highly of would do. |
several years back there was supposed to an audiophile quality 180gm vinyl reissue of in a glass house, but the project never quite made it to fruition unfortunately. the original vinyl on wwa is a good recording.
hi guys. i joined head-fi a few weeks back but this is my first foray into the music forums. i was so busy checking out the headphone stuff that i never bothered to poke around in here until tonight. appropriately i started by searching for gentle giant. these guys completely changed my musical life, and i'm forever indebted to them for their timeless contributions. i first heard them 12/31/74 while helping a friend set up for a new years eve party. we played this wierd disc that his cousin had lent him - in a glass house. it just kicked my head wide open! these guys are incredibly talented musicians that did stuff that no other prog band ever did. i'm fortunate to have seen them live ~10 times from 1975-1980, and to have gotten the chance to become well acquainted with most of them personally.
for those who've not heard them but are curious i'd make a few suggestions. first of all be patient. it is challenging music that can take multiple listenings to 'get'. many people find it noisy and discordant. for some it will never click. but like many things in life, the more effort you put into it, the more you can get out of it. for starters i'd recommend free hand or perhaps octopus. as previously mentioned in a glass house was the first album i heard and it's always been my favorite. it's one of the great prog albums, up there with close to the edge, or the crimso trilogy (sort of like one 3 lp set released over a couple of yrs) of larks tongue in aspic, starless and bible black, and red. poke around on the official website (run by a fan, not the band). universally giant for a day is considered their worst album. yes, it's poppy, and it's still a good album, but it's unlike their other stuff. the first 3 albums (gentle giant, acquiring the taste, 3 friends) were exploratory and all different from each other. with the release of their fourth album octopus (the first with drummer john weathers - a key to their unique sound) they found the classic gentle giant style and this continued thru interview. these are all wonderful albums. (octopus, in a glass house, the power and the glory, freehand, interview, playing the fool). the missing piece contains a terser version of their style with some popular music elements thrown in but does have a couple of very fine tunes including the haunting 'memories of old days'. gfad was an effort to stay alive by making a more commercial album (some of this shows that they could rock, as if some of the blistering guitar work on earlier efforts left any doubt (check out gary green's solo on 3 friends 'peel the paint') but it is clearly their weakest effort. (JimmyD got it right in post #34 of this thread). by the time civilian came out in 1980 they were on the verge of disbanding, despite the clear improvement over gfad (as scott steele on the GG mailing list 'on reflection' is fond of saying, civilian kicks ass!), which is exactly what happened on June 16, 1980 after their show at the roxy in LA, documented on the last steps album. 'twas a sad day indeed. (perhaps presaged by don mclean in american pie.... ;-^ )
have fun exploring the discs and do check out the two dvds too. they were an incredible live act! no other band i've ever seen (and i've seen quite a few) were that tight.
for a small taste of that live experience you can check out a tribute band called gende's giant. not only do they perform giant but they do some other challenging material like mahavishnu orchestra, iirc. they rarely perform but you will have a chance to see them in rochester in october at the prog in the park festival. for more info about the festival see: http://www.prog90.com/
acts performing there include STEVE HOWE - TUNNELS - THE FLOWER KINGS - GENDE'S GIANT - HELMET OF GNATS - KARCIUS - VONFRICKLE - MIGHT COULD
happy listening!
