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Guldbamsen View Drop Down
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Points: 23098 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2018 at 04:43
With the recent GG threads I thought I'd spin a few of their albums last night. I ended up picking AtT and TP&tG. The former blew my socks off and the latter bored me to tears. Go figure.
I love the first couple of albums but very seldomnly spin anything after Octopus. Last night I remembered why.

The House, The Street, The Room is still my alltime fave GG tune. Damn that thing rocks!
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

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Points: 9233 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2018 at 04:54
AtT is incredibly awesome. It gets better with time. TP&tG vacillates as a personal top GG record, although In a Glass House is my personal favorite. It always hits the right buttons for me.

Edited by Frenetic Zetetic - January 30 2018 at 04:55

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2018 at 05:02
Man, it’s really tough to pick an outright favourite from these guys ; one day it’s Three Friends, the next it’s the debut.........I do tend to spin the Phil Shulman albums more but I have plenty of time for most of their albums.
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Points: 9233 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2018 at 05:25
I agree, it's very hard - they're all amazing!

Apparently, according to the official GG site (BlazeMonger), the Interview era was extremely stressful in terms of putting together those tons on a scheduled timeline. I guess Kerry was quite literally writing and arranging parts on guitar in the basement of the studio while the boys laid down the pre-production roughs upstairs. Kerry also stated he feels this pressure produced some amazing results; I agree!

Quote Now, faced with the prospect of maintaining the buzz generated by Free Hand, Giant had booked the customary three weeks studio time to fashion a new winner. Having had just a month's break from touring in which to write and rehearse, the band entered the studio less well-prepared than they might have liked. The sessions for Interview would, in fact, stretch to four weeks, with the group having to grab studio time wherever they could to complete the album. It was, predictably, a very intense period, but keyboardist Kerry Minnear doesn't consider that was a drawback: "We needed the pressure to write - I think it's quite significant that nobody's recorded anything since the band split up, because there's not been that pressure to write, but the pressure was there on Interview and it produced results."

It also produced a situation in which Kerry was stuck in a basement playback room at Advision, with only a guitar and a tape recorder for company, busily writing new material for the album, while the rest of the band pressed on with recording upstairs. Exceptionally, all the parts for one piece, Design, were written out on manuscript, taken up and distributed to the other members of the band, and the number recorded without anyone but Kerry knowing how it would all fit together. He was far from comfortable with it: "we didn't like working that way, we were a band, we worked together as a band, and this was a band album."



Edited by Frenetic Zetetic - January 30 2018 at 05:27

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021
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Points: 23098 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2018 at 05:48
Heh I just remembered a little trip to the forest a couple of years ago together with my mates. We were fixing to go out on the town and decided to take a stroll through the woods with a dog, couple of brewskis and some reefer. An old friend joined in as we were about to take off - a guy who was into vanilla metal and Queen and hated just about everything with a tad of experimenting involved. In the car the driver pops on Octopus and I immediately think to myself 'uh oh now you've done it'. Half a song in I see this supposed metal and Queen fan bobbing back n forth in his seat 'yeah baby this is my kind of music!'
Since then he's completely fallen for Octopus and spin it on a regular basis. He still hates just about every other prog album you care to throw at him
Best part of the trip? The traffic jam we spent a good 15 minutes in where I decided to roll the windows down. Hah! Ordinary people look so dumbfounded when faced with music they don't understand. Kinda like the look a cat sports when it sees you in scuba diving gear.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

- Douglas Adams
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Points: 7946 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 02 2018 at 12:50
Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

Interview is still a great album for me, too. There isn’t a duff track to be found, though it is the ‘weaker’ 4 star record.
I don’t mind The missing Piece, I can’t stand Giant For A Day (a major blunder, if you care to ask) and Civilian showed hope they may have been a top-notch, artsy New-Wave Rock band.
I've always threatened to cut the giant mask out and wear it on Halloween.
A curse upon the heads of those who seek their fortunes in a lie. The truth is always waiting when there's nothing left to try. - Colin Henson, Jade Warrior (Now)
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The.Crimson.King View Drop Down
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Points: 4591 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 02 2018 at 13:37
I'd have to say after all these years that Acquiring the Taste is the one I spin and enjoy the most.  So as not to derail this thread I've started a "rank your top GG studio albums" thread over on the Top 10's and Lists forum Wink

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=112821



Edited by The.Crimson.King - February 02 2018 at 13:38
Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987
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Points: 20477 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 02 2018 at 14:24
I still like the first two the best....then Octopus, Free Hand, Glass House, Power, 3 Friends, etc...
it has always been a process of work for me over the years to warm up to their quirky stuff. I recall the early ones while at college and they always eluded me and it took some time to warm up to them.
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Points: 10052 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 02 2018 at 14:58
I think of Interview as GG's comeback-album. The adventurous fun of their early days is almost back. Yeah its awesome - my fifth favorite of theirs 
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