GENTLE GIANT

'Gentle Giant' were a British progressive rock band, one of the most experimental of the 1970s. Textually inspired by philosophy, personal events and the works of François Rabelais, the group's compositional purpose was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of becoming very unpopular."^[1]

Contents

History

Composing

Style

Renaissance

Musical attributes

Personnel

Other members

Discography

Albums

Other releases

Box Sets

Video

Trivia

References

External links

History

Gentle Giant was formed by Derek, Ray and Phil Shulman in 1970 after they dissolved their soul/pop band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound in 1969 . The brothers joined with Gary Green, Kerry Minnear, and a succession of drummers to produce a series of twelve albums throughout the 1970s, finally dissolving quietly in 1980.
Their earlier albums were more eclectic and experimental than the later ones. By 1974, as they started to gather an American following, they simplified their songs (which, compared to other rock artists at the time, were still very complex) to gain a wider audience. ''Free Hand'' reached the Top 50 in the U.S.
By 1977, as cultural trends in the music shifted toward punk and New Wave, the band shifted toward a more commercial sound. In 1979, Gentle Giant relocated to America to record their twelfth and most mainstream album, ''Civilian'', after which the group disbanded.

Composing

The music was mostly composed by Kerry Minnear, who had a degree in composition, and Ray Shulman, who emulated Minnears technique to such a degree that it is hard to say who of them wrote what. In addition, Derek Shulman contributed various musical ideas, even whole songs. Phil Shulman wrote the lyrics for the first four albums, after that Derek Shulman took over the lyrics. John Weathers and Gary Green contributed a few pieces on the last few albums.

Style

Gentle Giant, in considering musical theory, is a living example of using counterpoint as a stylistic device in (progressive) rock music. Furthermore, polyphony, polymetrics, hocketing, and the technique of using patterns is widely common in the ensemble´s tunes. Hocketing is a technique to make a musical phrase sound more interesting. One divides the phrase into small parts of one, two or three notes, and each part is then played by different instruments. This can be heard when the instruments come in after the first vocals in ''Knots''. Another example is the long build up in ''Proclamation'' after the instrumental mid-section, where the one-bar phrase is not only hocketed, but also spread out in sixteen repetitions where one of the small parts is added with nearly each repetition.^[2]
'Weird Chords and Melodies'
However weird the music of Gentle Giant has been considered, a closer look reveals relatively few weird or intricate chords in themselves, compared with contemporary classical music. Harmonically, the pieces are often traditinal or at least more like the neoclassicism of the first half of the 20th century. Pieces like ''Proclamation'' and ''So Sincere'' stand out with regards to modern and more complicated harmonics, but mostly the weirdness lies more in sudden and unexpected turns and twists, like with simple chords broken up in patterns where some of the tones are varied from repetition to repetition. Another trick is unusual successions of more usual chords.
The fact of going from one key to another can be looked upon as a reason why the melodies might be perceived as quite uncommon but again adds to the uniqueness of melodies within a song, sometimes being changed quickly within the same bar between a major and minor third, like in ''Isnt it quiet and cold?'' . Moreover, these thirds are superimposed in ''Schooldays''.

'Changing Key'
Melodies and instruments, as in the case of Gentle Giant, do have a compositional meaning while nearly in every piece from the start they are put contrapunctally against other lines and melodies. This development is continually accompanied by slight adjustments such as changing from minor to major key as well as fastening or slowering themes in their duration.
The opening vocal line of ''Pantagruel`s nativity'' is repeated in another rhythm in the saxes as they play background in the songs improvisational section, for example. Another changing method in Gentle Giants pieces is the clever handling of transitions between sections: in just a few bars, a hard rock guitar riff moves for a medieval choral in ''Why not?''.

'Stating Themes'
Gentle Giant consciously used the classical composition theme of stating themes. For example, one theme was used on one instrument in the beginning for later to reuse it simultaneously or in counterpoint on another instrument, or against other chords or instruments than in the tunes beginning.
Furthermore, often an opening theme is later sung in a choir, even in a development of the original theme in elaborating through using bits and pieces of it.
'Complexity'
Now and then song lines could stay in the wrong place for shorter or longer times, the most obvious example being ''Prologue'' , where the line itself is simple, but an eighth note behind the down beat and thus going between the bass 4th notes continually. In ''Schooldays'' , phrases with three syllables are divided so that one person sings the first two syllables, and the other sings the second and third syllable, but the second syllable which they both sing is not on the same beat.

Renaissance

There has been renewed interest in Gentle Giant since 1990 , with new fan clubs, new releases of live concerts and previously unreleased material, several tribute albums and a failed 1997 attempt by fans to convince the members to perform a reunion concert. Several recent progressive rock bands claim to have greatly been influenced by the music of Gentle Giant, including Spock's Beard and Echolyn.

The band during the late 1970s

In 2005, to celebrate the band's 35th anniversary, a series of digitally remastered and specially packaged CDs of their later albums were released, also featuring unreleased live tracks (of varying quality) as bonuses. Many of these albums (most notably, ''In a Glass House'') were previously difficult to purchase in North America without resorting to imports. The re-released albums are: ''In a Glass House'', ''The Power and the Glory'', ''Free Hand'', ''Interview'', ''The Missing Piece'', ''Playing the Fool'' (live) and ''Giant for a Day''.
Sadly for fans, the rights of the band's catalogue are scattered among many companies, not all of which are keen on re-releasing the albums properly. In particular, the first four albums have yet to receive definitive CD releases. For example, the title track on ''Acquiring the Taste'' begins with an obvious defect, possibly due to a damaged master tape, on all current CD and vinyl releases. The 1996 compilation ''Edge of Twilight'' includes a corrected version of the song.
Conflicting evidence sometimes reports that this defect exists on the original 1971 vinyl release of the album, with the opening note bending up as the tape comes up to speed - probably an engineering error.

Musical attributes

Though Gentle Giant's music has a unique sound it also has many aspects in common with other progressive rock bands:

★ Frequent changes in tempo

★ Frequent use of syncopation

★ Non-standard time signatures, including polymeters (2 or more time signatures played simultaneously)

★ Complex melodies, frequently contrasting harmonies with dissonance

★ Unconventional use of numerous classical and medieval instruments

★ Musical structures typically associated with classical music, like the madrigal "Knots" and the fugal exposition in "On Reflection"

★ Multi-part vocal harmonies

★ Extensive use of instrumental and vocal counterpoint

★ Complex lyrics

★ Concept albums (on the occasion)
One Gentle Giant album listed a total of 46 instruments in the musician credits.

Personnel

★ Derek Shulman - born Derek Victor Shulman, on 11 February 1947 in Glasgow, Scotland.

★ Kerry Minnear (keyboards)

★ Ray Shulman - born Raymond Shulman, on 8 December 1949 in Portsmouth, England.

★ Gary Green (guitars)

★ John Weathers (drums 1972 – 1980)

Other members

★ Phil Shulman (1970-1972) - born Philip Arthur Shulman, on 27 August 1937 in Glasgow Scotland.

★ Martin Smith (drums 1970 – 1971)

★ Malcolm Mortimore (drums 1971 – 1972)

Discography

Albums

★ ''Gentle Giant'', 1970

★ ''Acquiring the Taste'', 1971

★ ''Three Friends'', 1972 (#197 US)

★ ''Octopus'', 1972 (#170 US)

★ ''In a Glass House'', 1973

★ ''The Power and the Glory'', 1974 (#78 US)

★ ''Free Hand'', 1975 (#48 US)

★ ''Interview'', 1976 (#137 US)

★ ''Playing the Fool'', 1977 (#89 US)

★ ''The Missing Piece'', 1977 (#81 US)

★ ''Giant for a Day'', 1978

★ ''Civilian'', 1980

Other releases

Box Sets

★ ''Under Construction'', 1997

★ ''Scraping the Barrel'', 2004

Video

★ ''Giant on the Box'', (DVD) 2005

★ ''GG at the GG'', (DVD) 2006

Trivia

Gentle Giant members created the shulberry, a stringed instrument named after the Shulman brothers.


Most of GG's music was published under Alucard Music. (which is Dracula spelled backwards)

References

1. From the sleeve notes of the album "Acquiring the taste"
2. Geir Hasnes - the music of Gentle Giant

External links

★ Official web site

★ Semi Official Giant Tour history