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Gentle Giant (1970, 37.05) ****/T½GiantFunny Ways Alucard Isn't it Quiet and Cold? Nothing at All Why Not? The Queen |
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Acquiring the Taste (1971, 39.32) ****½/TT½Pantagruel's NativityEdge of Twilight The House, the Street, the Room Acquiring the Taste Wreck The Moon is Down Black Cat Plain Truth |
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Three Friends (1972) *****/TT½PrologueSchooldays Working All Day Peel the Paint Mister Class and Quality? Three Friends |
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Octopus (1972, 34.18) *****/TTThe Advent of PanurgeRaconteur, Troubadour A Cry for Everyone Knots The Boys in the Band Dog's Life Think of Me With Kindness River |
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Out of the Woods/Totally Out of the Woods: the BBC Sessions (1996/2000, recorded 1970-75, 65.13/84.06) ****/T |
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| City Hermit Isn't it Quiet and Cold? [DJ's Presentation] The Advent of Panurge Way of Life The Runaway Excerpts From Octopus Knots The Boys in the Band Organ Bridge The Advent of Panurge |
Way of Life Proclamation Experience Aspirations Cogs in Cogs Free Hand (live arrangement demo) Just the Same Free Hand On Reflection |
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Under Construction (1998, recorded 1969-80, 146.44) ****/T½ |
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| Radio Bit Freedom's Child Hometown Special Weekend Cowboy Bringing Me Down Nothing at All Rondo - Playing the Game DVS Guitars Robin Hood Interview Whispers Interview - Live |
Timing - Live Unreleased Civilian Track You Haven't a Chance Sample Archive The House the Street the Room Prologue Schooldays Peel the Paint demo Peel the Paint studio Mr Class & Quality Advent of Panurge |
'SHH' An Inmates Lullaby Way of Life Experience So Sincere - demo So Sincere - studio Intro 74 Cogs in Cogs Intro 76 Just the Same Free Hand |
Time to Kill Interview Demo Give it Back Design Another Show Empty City I Lost My Head - demo I Lost My Head - studio Convenience Freedoms Child - demo Kerry |
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Out of the Fire: the BBC Concerts (1998, recorded 1973/78, 94.13) ****/½ |
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| Introduction Way of Life Funny Ways Nothing at All Excerpts From Octopus Introduction Two Weeks in Spain Free Hand On Reflection |
I'm Turning Around Just the Same Playing the Game Memories of Old Days Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do it (Special Presentation by John P. Weathers) Funny Ways For Nobody Mountain Time |
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In a Palesport House (2001, recorded 1973-74, 69.00) ***½/TThe RunawayWay of Life Funny Ways Knots The Advent of Panurge Nothing at All Plain Truth Knots The Advent of Panurge |
Current availability:
Mellotrons used:
Gentle Giant, a band who almost single-handedly define the term 'progressive', grew out of the ashes of Portsmouth-based soul-turned-psych outfit Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. The heart of Simon Dupree (Dupree, incidentally, never existed) were the Shulman brothers, Derek, Ray and Phil, who recruited guitarist Gary Green and wunderkind keyboard player Kerry Minnear, along with original drummer, the (sadly now deceased) Martin Smith. Their 'mission statement', as stated boldly in the sleevenotes to their second album, Acquiring the Taste, was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of being very unpopular". So who the hell would have the balls to say that now? Never mind do it... Amazingly, Giant were, for a while, very popular, particularly in the States, although they eventually succumbed to the shift in musical taste toward the end of the seventies, finally throwing in the towel in 1980.
Gentle Giant must've been something of a leap into the unknown for the young band, mixing influences like they were going out of fashion. The multi-instrumental lineup gives the album an ever broader feel than it would've got from the eclectic songwriting alone, with bassist Ray Shulman's violin duelling with Kerry's Mellotron on Giant, and the in-house string and brass sections on Funny Ways. In fact, I believe the six members played a good twelve totally different instruments between them, and reproduced the feat on stage! Their stupendous vocal arrangements only added to the effect of a band who knew exactly what they were doing; they wouldn't get past the record company's front door today. There may also be a touch of 'Tron strings (a Mark II at this stage, I believe) on Why Not?, but I wouldn't swear to it.
Acquiring the Taste was the only Giant album to give individual, track-by-track credits, from which we find out that Kerry used his 'Tron (probably by now an M300) on three tracks: Pantagruel's Nativity, a superb piece, has a string pad under much of the song, but nothing that really leaps out at you. There's none on one of the album's high points, The House, The Street, The Room, with its tricky unison riff, but both Wreck, with its sea-shanty feel and The Moon Is Down feature those strings again. Not essential 'Tron use, to be honest, but nice to hear all the same.
By LP number three, the concept piece Three Friends, Giant had really found their feet, and produced an absolute monster of a record, from its opening syncopated bass/piano rush to the extended Mellotron strings coda. The 'concept' is the story of three friends at school who, upon leaving, pursue wildly different ways of life; it's superb beginning to end, particularly Working All Day and Peel The Paint. Now, I can't remember who right now, but someone's just ripped this idea off wholesale, thirty years later, proving that there's nothing new under the sun etc.etc. I believe the Mellotron used was still the M300, giving the strings an unusual edginess. Schooldays is extremely good, but the previously-mentioned ending to the album is brilliant, with the strings riding roughshod over the rest of the arrangement. Definitely Giant's Mellotron high point, I feel.
Octopus was another absolute classic, with Knots being a live favourite right to the end of their career. It goes without saying that this album is completely essential for anyone who considers themselves a progressive fan at all, so I'll concentrate on its Mellotronness. Which isn't all that much, to be honest; it's all a bit buried in the mix, and all I can hear is a little flute and strings on the excellent Raconteur, Troubadour, even less flute on Think Of Me With Kindness and a few seconds of strings on closer River. Stunning album, but no 'Tron classic.
Although Kerry's M400 is pictured quite clearly on the back of In a Glass House (****½), it's nowhere to be heard on the record, or any subsequent Giant studio album, unless you believe the rumour that says the breaking glass at the beginning of the album is 'Tron sound FX... They carried on using it live for a year or two, though you won't hear it on the double-live LP they released in their 'lifetime', Playing the Fool (****½), their last really good album, to be honest. They tried to 'normalise' their sound towards the end of the decade, but didn't really get it right until their swansong, Civilian (****), which shows the (really rather good) direction they could have gone in if they hadn't decided to pack it in.
During the '80s, nobody gave a toss about Gentle Giant, which is pretty typical for that benighted decade; however, by the early '90s interest began to grow again, and the fledgling Internet helped by bringing fans together from around the world. Various archive releases began to appear on CD, including a couple of sets gathering together studio and live sessions for the BBC. 1996's Out of the Woods, reissued a mere four years later as the double-disc Totally Out of the Woods, with all of four extra tracks, collects the studio stuff, including a rather excellent little number from a 1970 session that never made it to their first album, City Hermit. This has an extremely brief Mellotron brass part, while The Knots section of Excerpts From Octopus, from '73 has a little 'Tron vibes. While none of the expanded edition's extra tracks feature any 'Tron, they're italicised above, so owners of the original set can see what they're missing.
A couple of years later, an intriguing little two-CD box crept out, entitled Under Construction. Basically, it's over two hours of demos, experiments, and bits'n'pieces of all sorts including live intro tapes and even a 'Sample Archive' of, er, exactly that! There's not an awful lot of Mellotron present, but three of the first five tracks (all recorded early 1970) have some strings: Freedom's Child, Weekend Cowboy and Bringing Me Down. Nothing too special, but at that point it seemed to be a little more integral to the band's sound than even by later the same year. The set is the perfect present for 'the Gentle Giant fan who has to have it all'; all the obscurities you could wish for and then some.
Out of the Fire is a greatly expanded version of the BBC In Concert disc of a couple of years earlier (funny how both their BBC sets couldn't be released 'in full' originally...), with not only the original's '78 set (their last UK gig), but an extra 35 minutes from '73 (shame about the tinny sound, though). Anyway, once again, the only obvious 'Tron (and it's not that obvious) is the vibes on Excerpts From Octopus; so that'll be Knots again... I believe Kerry's stage Mellotron was an M400 with strings/flutes/vibes tapes, meaning they didn't have to haul a vibraphone around with them, and although the tapes sound pretty close, you can tell they're not real. In this, they join quite a few bands (New Zealand's Split Enz spring to mind) who used a Mellotron chiefly to reproduce studio effects live, as much as for its innate sound. Anyway, a good set, but not for the 'Tron fan who can't handle this wonderful band's complexity and originality.
In 2001, In a Palesport House appeared, and was quite clearly an official release of a bootleg, with all the inherent problems of the genre, i.e. it's as rough as a camel's arsehole. The Runaway cuts in part of the way through, there are numerous dropouts throughout the album, the sound is fairly poor mixing-desk quality etc.etc. For all that, it's a great performance, or rather, two great performances, 'cos although the bulk of the disc is from an Italian gig in January '73, the last two tracks are from the States late the following year. It sounds like 'Tron flutes on The Runaway to me, though I'm willing to be proved wrong, and I can't hear the usual vibes on Knots, but then, Giant were rarely the most obvious of Mellotron users. Anyway, let the buyer beware here, but the actual performance is worth the effort.
So; for the music, buy all Giant albums up to Playing the Fool, especially The Power and the Glory (*****) and Free Hand (*****), then pick and choose with all the archive stuff. Various live recordings, some of rather dubious quality, seem to be crawling out of the woodwork, and there may be some 'Tron on the earlier ones; I'll report back when (if) I get the full set. I've heard Giant described as 'derivative' or 'Yes-like', but I really think you've got to be completely tone/stone deaf not to realise how original this band really were; you may not get it on first listen (I know I didn't), but patience reaps rewards. For the Mellotron, probably only Acquiring the Taste and Three Friends are worth it, and they're not exactly in the Genesis or Crimson league. What the fuck. Buy 'em anyway. Yes, NOW!
