Gentle Giant vs Frank Zappa

In the what I consider sad department, this poll just shows how folks don't look at Frank Zappa as a composer, and then think that Gentle Giant has the best songs. 

It's an unfair, and sad, comparison, but I imagine that we have to look at the history and how they will stand up. Gentle Giant was outstanding, and even showed it in concert, but Frank Zappa, stood out when he also did a lot of classical material and showed some of his own material in a format that would be considered "classical", which sometimes is the reason why some folks don't like it ... or worse, Frank putting his guitar down and taking on the baton ... because a fan in the front row wanted another solo. 

Even though, any of us could easily state that Frank would be one of the best soloists ever (a lot of that material is still not released, and some of it was the preshow stuff before a concert with the band warming up, and Frank just being over it all ... which might have helped him define and create new stuff.

Gentle Giant, in many ways, was, at the time, the ultimate college/university band, putting together everything they ever learned and knew ... in a very uncompromising way ... that was perfect for the rock music crowd. And their musicianship was special as many of them swapped parts many times in concert. And played a lot of different instruments, which added something else. 

Both of them were phenomenal in concert ... and that is probably the best way to compare them ... both had enough difficult material that they could easily fall apart at any moment, but never did!