Rank Your Favorite Gentle Giant Studio Albums - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Upbeat Tango Monday View Drop Down

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Posted: February 04 2018 at 06:50

1-Free Hand
2-The Power and The Glory
3-Octopus
4-Acquiring The Taste
5-In a Glass House
6-Gentle Giant
7-Three Friends
8-Interview
9-The Missing Piece
10-Giant For a Day
11-Civilian

Two random guys agreed to shake hands. Just Because. They felt like it, you know. It was an agreement of sorts...a random agreement.

Kingsnake

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Posted: February 04 2018 at 07:20

1) Free Hand
2) In a Glass House
3) Gentle Giant
4) Interview
5) Octopus
6) Three Friends
7) Acquiring the Taste
8) Civilian
9) The Power and the Glory
10) The Missing Piece
11) Giant for a Day

I Think this will be accurate. I have a soft spot for Civilian. Shadows on the Street are among the best songs ever made ever by any band.

BarryGlibb View Drop Down

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Posted: February 06 2018 at 02:47

Kingsnake wrote:

1) Free Hand
2) In a Glass House
3) Gentle Giant
4) Interview
5) Octopus
6) Three Friends
7) Acquiring the Taste
8) Civilian
9) The Power and the Glory
10) The Missing Piece
11) Giant for a Day

I Think this will be accurate. I have a soft spot for Civilian. Shadows on the Street are among the best songs ever made ever by any band.

Your my type of guy! ....Assuming you are a guy!

someone_else View Drop Down

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Posted: February 06 2018 at 03:22

1. Free Hand

2. In a Glass House

3. Three Friends

4. Octopus

5. The Power and the Glory

6. Acquiring the Taste

7. Gentle Giant

8. Interview

9. The Missing Piece

X. Civilian

Z. Giant for a Day

Kingsnake

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Posted: February 06 2018 at 04:53

BarryGlibb wrote:

I Think this will be accurate. I have a soft spot for Civilian. Shadows on the Street are among the best songs ever made ever by any band.

Your my type of guy! ....Assuming you are a guy!

Yes sir, i'm a sir Smile

BrufordFreak View Drop Down

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Posted: February 06 2018 at 09:03

micky wrote:

Squonk19 wrote:

1) Acquiring the Taste
2) Three Friends
3) Octopus
4) Free Hand
5) Gentle Giant
6) The Power and the Glory
7) Interview
8) In a Glass House
9) The Missing Piece
10) Giant for a Day
11) Civilian

Still very much getting to know Gentle Giant after years of neglect, but at the moment this is the order I'd put them - will probably change over the next few months of listening.

not a bad list.. you have the near of it.. the first 4 are far and away the best things they did.. for me.. huge drop after Phil left the band... he took something with it.. it wasn't the same band.. and it wasn't as good as it had been

1) Acquiring the Taste

2) Three Friends (having their single best song on this with bumps it over 3 and 4)

3) s/t

4) Octopus

....

........

5) The Power and the Glory
6) In a Glass House
7) Freehand
8) The Missing Piece

9) Interview
10) Giant for a Day
11) Civilian

After my recent review of the GG catalogue, I came away with the (new) observation that the music the band did first ("with Phil") was more blues and rock oriented, had a much smoother and mellower sound to it. The music post-Octopus has many more angular, jagged edges to it--which, for reasons I find difficult to explain, I LOVE. I like the part of this band's discography that sets it far apart from the rest of the "run-of-the-mill" blues rockers (Hendrix, The Doors, LZep/JBeck, PHarum/Trower, JTull, early S-tramp, etc.). NOBODY made music like The Power and The Glory, In a Glass House, and Freehand.

Drew Fisher
https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/

BrufordFreak View Drop Down

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Posted: February 06 2018 at 09:06

BrufordFreak wrote:

My list came as a surprise to me as I had always assumed that I liked the three albums post-Phil best:

1. Free Hand

2. Octopus

3. Acquiring the Taste

4. In a Glass House

5. The Power and The Glory

6. Three Friends

7. Interview

P.S. I excluded the other albums from GG's discography because A) they are not among my "Favorite Gentle Giant Studio Albums" (as the OP requested we rank) and B) they are not, IMHO, worthy to be mentioned in the same category with the above seven.

Edited by BrufordFreak - February 06 2018 at 09:07

Drew Fisher
https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/

Frenetic Zetetic View Drop Down

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Posted: February 06 2018 at 09:46

BrufordFreak wrote:

micky wrote:

1) Acquiring the Taste

2) Three Friends (having their single best song on this with bumps it over 3 and 4)

3) s/t

4) Octopus

....

........

5) The Power and the Glory
6) In a Glass House
7) Freehand
8) The Missing Piece

9) Interview
10) Giant for a Day
11) Civilian

Awesome analysis, and I agree. GG were the jazz rock kings IMHO; they blended the styles seamlessly and was always exactly what I wished more bands were doing. Octopus was their peak with Phil in the band, obviously. His presence is clearly there; Ray and Kerry always wrote the bulk of the skeleton for each song then "bolted" them together in rehearsals with the band - but Phil's lyrics, mood, and aesthetic are all over those first four albums.

As they say in Interview "After the fourth one, realization...". Couldn't be more true!

The more I listen to the debut album, the more it's taking the lead over AtT for me.

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021

Mista-Gordie View Drop Down

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Posted: February 07 2018 at 10:34

1-In a glass house
2-Octopus
3-Acquiring the taste
4-The Power and the glory
5-Three friends
6-Free Hand
7-Gentle Giant
8-In'terview
9-The Missing piece
10-Giant for a day
11-Civilian

In a glass house is to me the peak of the band's creativity and musicianship and Octopus is their best from their early era (with Phil Shulman). I do realize they are consecutive albums, not separated by so much time but stylistically Phil's departure had such a deep impact on the band that it's almost hard to believe. Also, "Experience", "In a glass house" and "The Advent of Panurge" are my three favorite GG songs.

Frenetic Zetetic View Drop Down

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Posted: February 07 2018 at 12:40

Mista-Gordie wrote:

1-In a glass house
In a glass house is to me the peak of the band's creativity and musicianship and Octopus is their best from their early era (with Phil Shulman). I do realize they are consecutive albums, not separated by so much time but stylistically Phil's departure had such a deep impact on the band that it's almost hard to believe. Also, "Experience", "In a glass house" and "The Advent of Panurge" are my three favorite GG songs.

Well said!

"I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021

Crimsonsnowdog View Drop Down

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