Gentle Giant gets ripped apart

Hilarity does not ensue.

I gave my friend who introduced me to TFK, PoS, and SB the cd of Playing the Fool. 

The man is a musical genius who is possibly the smartest and most skilled musician I've ever met.

So... How did you like it?

Him: Oh god..the vocal fugue and counterpoint was disappointing. They were complex for complexities sake.  They sh*t all over what Bach did for counterpoint.  Just shabby songwriting if you ask me.

Well, sorry you didn't like it.  However I saw his point.  Compared to the subtle complexity of Bach's fugue and counterpoint pieces, Gentle Giant is child's play. 

 

I still love them though.

Ah. I don't like your friend's opinion.

Don't let Trouserpress see this thread!

I understand what he meant though

I don't hold it against him. Their song structure is not in acccordance with fugue patterns in the traditional sense.  The progression of a fugue is supposed to be three voices the first in the root note.  The second voice enters on the 3rd 5th or 6th of the note, as well as the third voice. 

Gentle Giant did this wrong, unfortunately.  My friend has mild OCD

Tiresias wrote: I understand what he meant though I don't hold it against him. Their song structure is not in acccordance with fugue patterns in the traditional sense.  The progression of a fugue is supposed to be three voices the first in the root note.  The second voice enters on the 3rd 5th or 6th of the note, as well as the third voice.  Gentle Giant did this wrong, unfortunately.  My friend has mild OCD

But if everyone followed traditional patterns and didn't try doing their own thing, music would become unbearably stagnant and boring. We wouldn't have prog at all if nobody ever "broke the rules," so to speak, we'd just be listening to the same rehashed textbook musical ideas over and over again.


Edited by Ty1020

let's be honest: when it comes to counterpoint no-one beats Johann Sebastian. but is it fair to compare Gentle Giant to him? I think not; Gentle Giant are a rock band, after all

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Neo-Prog to Symphonic Prog

Maybe I'm wrong but I guess J.S. Bach still is the greatest composer who ever lived. Many composers/musicians who ever analysed his stuff and others would agree with me. I think GG themselves also would agree to that. So what else is new?

On the other hand. Had Johann Sebastian been born around 1950 he probably would have founded Gentle Giant 

Every composer after Bach was influenced by him (at least those who knew him; in the late 18th / early 19th century he was almost forgotten; Mendelsohn and Schumann rediscovered him; both Mozart and Beethoven knew Bach though and admired him. Beethoven said about Bach: "He should not be named 'Bach' (German for brook), he should be named 'Meer' (German for ocean)".

MikeEnRegalia wrote: goose wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: Neo-Prog to Symphonic Prog I don't know that that's all that ridiculous, neo prog is after all influenced by '70s symph more than it is anything else (it's just not as good ) Read the definition on the website, it explains the difference pretty well. It's also my opinion that as a genre it's not as good as 70s Symph Prog, but there are some damn good Neo Prog bands.