| Author |
 Topic Search  Topic Options
|
Tom Ozric 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15916
|
 Posted: August 28 2014 at 00:23 |
|
^ I love Octopus. It was my first taste of GG during the mid-90's. The three albums before ended up being a touch more 'in tune' with me. Most tracks (if not all) were credited to the 3 Shulman's & Minnear. What came afterwards was sensational never-the-less, but they did 'weaken' during the Interview album. I can't stand Giant For A Day, and Civilian was quite acceptable for 1980.
|
 |
Saperlipopette!
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 20 2010
Location: Tomorrowland
Status: Offline
Points: 10034
|
Posted: August 28 2014 at 03:21 |
 Mellotron Storm wrote:
Guldbamsen wrote:
I could never get into Power and the Glory either. I've tried countless of times, mostly because I have a lot of friends who swear by it, yet it continues to leave me untouched. |
Funny but for me it's Octupus that just hasn't clicked with me, despite that I went with option 1 because of the debut, Acquiring The Taste and Three Friends. Not into Interview either but in both options there's three amazing albums so it wasn't necessarily an easy choice. |
I've had my Power and the Glory LP for over a decade and only really liked Proclamation, Cogs in Cog & Aspirations but a month ago or so I actually enjoyed listening to the full album for the first time (admittedly when I tried again a couple of days ago I got impatient and turned it off in the middle of No God's A Man). Something that has never happened with Free Hand.
Octopus might be my least favorite among their first four but its still my fourth favorite. Loved it at first listen. Raconteur Troubadour and A Dog's Life must be the two last easygoing, fun songs they've recorded (until the they turned silly on the Missing Piece).
29-28. Its funny how both periods seem to have the exact same amount of fans.
|
|
|
|
Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15916
|
Posted: August 28 2014 at 04:08 |
|
.....even The Missing Piece has its moments........Giant For A Day did not (please fetch me a LITTLE BROWN BAG, so I tell my FRIENDS about the SPOOKY BOOGIE that made me not be a GIANT FOR A DAY, after all, IT'S ONLY GOODBYE.................I didn't say it wasn't a catchy album, and I've not heard it for about 15 years !!........)
|
|
PrognosticMind
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 02 2014
Location: New Hampshire
Status: Offline
Points: 1195
|
Posted: August 28 2014 at 05:49 |
Dellinger wrote:
Tom Ozric wrote:
^ Must be Phil Shulman's prescence ??? I don't know....... Just those first 4 albums have a lot of 'magic' in them, something that's missing afterwards. Perhaps they were more 'show-offy' (or smarty-pants) with their later confidence and chops, but that first phase......  |
Indeed, there must be something from Phil that is missing in their later music. I guess I should just check the writing credits to get an idea of how important was his presence. Perhaps they did were more "show-offy" on their secon phase, but for what I've heard, they were just more annoying. Actually, on the later albums still with Phil, they started to move into that sound... perhaps that's why he left? Perhaps he didn't like the direction the band was taking? |
It's funny, because as great as Phil was in the band...I felt like the cohesion, intensity, and overall tightness of GG became more apparent on In A Glass House. I think they moved away from the folky aspects a bit upon his departure. Both "generations" were stellar, I just have a personal bias for everything they've done '73-'76.
|
|
"A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?"
|
|
octopus-4
Special Collaborator
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
Joined: October 31 2006
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 13358
|
Posted: August 28 2014 at 08:22 |
|
I prefer the first period
|
|
Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
My poor home recorded stuff at https://yellingxoanon.bandcamp.com
|
|
Dellinger
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 12608
|
Posted: August 28 2014 at 22:11 |
PrognosticMind wrote:
Dellinger wrote:
Tom Ozric wrote:
^ Must be Phil Shulman's prescence ??? I don't know....... Just those first 4 albums have a lot of 'magic' in them, something that's missing afterwards. Perhaps they were more 'show-offy' (or smarty-pants) with their later confidence and chops, but that first phase...... |
Indeed, there must be something from Phil that is missing in their later music. I guess I should just check the writing credits to get an idea of how important was his presence. Perhaps they did were more "show-offy" on their secon phase, but for what I've heard, they were just more annoying. Actually, on the later albums still with Phil, they started to move into that sound... perhaps that's why he left? Perhaps he didn't like the direction the band was taking? |
It's funny, because as great as Phil was in the band...I felt like the cohesion, intensity, and overall tightness of GG became more apparent on In A Glass House. I think they moved away from the folky aspects a bit upon his departure. Both "generations" were stellar, I just have a personal bias for everything they've done '73-'76. |
Well, I guess it's those folky aspects which I'm missing on what I've heard from the songs after he left. Plus, that tightness just doesn't seem to click with me... specially without the folky element, it just ended up sounding annoying to me.
|
|
The Bearded Bard
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: January 24 2012
Location: Behind the Sun
Status: Offline
Points: 12859
|
Posted: August 29 2014 at 17:38 |
|
'70-'72
|
|
|
|
Slartibartfast
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
Joined: April 29 2006
Location: Atlantais
Status: Offline
Points: 29625
|
Posted: August 30 2014 at 07:36 |
I can tell this one will probably stay neck and neck. 
|
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
|
|
irrelevant
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 07 2010
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 13382
|
Posted: August 30 2014 at 10:16 |
someone_else wrote:
73-76 by a margin. Free Hand and In a Glass House are my favourite GG albums. |
this
|
|
|
|
The Dark Elf
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline
Points: 12688
|
Posted: August 30 2014 at 14:28 |
|
I choose the Octopus, In a Glass House and Power and the Glory middle years selection. So I guess no vote.
Edited by The Dark Elf - August 30 2014 at 14:29
|
|
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
|
|
DBJetsman
Forum Newbie
Joined: August 30 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 22
|
Posted: August 30 2014 at 19:21 |
|
I feel like the later period was way more organized than the early years. In a Glass House, The Power and the Glory, and Freehand are so genius...
|
|
"...we hope to give you something far more substantial and fulfilling. All you need to do is sit back, and acquire the taste."
- Gentle Giant
|
|
BarryGlibb
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 28 2010
Location: Melbourne, Oz
Status: Offline
Points: 1781
|
Posted: August 30 2014 at 19:26 |
DBJetsman wrote:
I feel like the later period was way more organized than the early years. In a Glass House, The Power and the Glory, and Freehand are so genius... |
Well said. From 73-76 they just improved on their 70-72 output IMHO.
|
|
proggman
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 14 2013
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 1458
|
Posted: September 02 2014 at 18:31 |
|
|
|
When he rides, my fears subside.
For darkness turns once more to light.
Through the skies, his white horse flies.
To find a land beyond the night.
|
|
Rednight
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 18 2014
Location: Mar Vista, CA
Status: Offline
Points: 4807
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 02:34 |
|
The bottom line, classically speaking, is that the first period was better. It's just that the second period had catchier tunes (not reflected though in the seminal suck-fest The Power and the Glory).
|
|
Saperlipopette!
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 20 2010
Location: Tomorrowland
Status: Offline
Points: 10034
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 03:10 |
Rednight wrote:
The bottom line, classically speaking, is that the first period was better. It's just that the second period had catchier tunes (not reflected though in the seminal suck-fest The Power and the Glory). |
Although most of us enjoy both, these two periods of Gentle Giant are so polarising its getting really interesting. I'm beginning to think this might actually explain something about our other listening preferences as well.
- I simply cannot understand how its even possible to claim that the second period had catchier tunes. You and I must hear very different things? To my ears the first period is simply packed with catchyness and memorable melodies/tunes but I can't think of more than a handful from the second ...and a couple of the from The Power and the Glory. (but I still like it because there's obviously other ways for music to be great than being catchy).
|
|
|
|
Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15916
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 05:17 |
|
If ANYBODY votes Giant For A Day as the BEST GG album, please disintegrate now before I flex my supersonic, psychic abilities to eradicate you foolish people ..................
|
|
PrognosticMind
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 02 2014
Location: New Hampshire
Status: Offline
Points: 1195
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 05:31 |
Saperlipopette! wrote:
Rednight wrote:
The bottom line, classically speaking, is that the first period was better. It's just that the second period had catchier tunes (not reflected though in the seminal suck-fest The Power and the Glory). |
Although most of us enjoy both, these two periods of Gentle Giant are so polarising its getting really interesting. I'm beginning to think this might actually explain something about our other listening preferences as well.
- I simply cannot understand how its even possible to claim that the second period had catchier tunes. You and I must hear very different things? To my ears the first period is simply packed with catchyness and memorable melodies/tunes but I can't think of more than a handful from the second ...and a couple of the from The Power and the Glory. (but I still like it because there's obviously other ways for music to be great than being catchy).
|
This thread is really interesting. What a contrast between opinions; I can't follow the logic that the later period was catchier at all. It amazes me that people find TPATG to be a lousy record, too. To each his/her own!
|
|
"A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?"
|
|
Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15916
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 05:52 |
|
The Power And The Glory is AMAZING !!!
What came before is not necessary 'better', but for my taste, I prefer that period a whole lot more....
|
|
Rednight
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 18 2014
Location: Mar Vista, CA
Status: Offline
Points: 4807
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 09:45 |
PrognosticMind wrote:
Saperlipopette! wrote:
Rednight wrote:
The bottom line, classically speaking, is that the first period was better. It's just that the second period had catchier tunes (not reflected though in the seminal suck-fest The Power and the Glory). |
Although most of us enjoy both, these two periods of Gentle Giant are so polarising its getting really interesting. I'm beginning to think this might actually explain something about our other listening preferences as well. - I simply cannot understand how its even possible to claim that the second period had catchier tunes. You and I must hear very different things? To my ears the first period is simply packed with catchyness and memorable melodies/tunes but I can't think of more than a handful from the second ...and a couple of the from The Power and the Glory. (but I still like it because there's obviously other ways for music to be great than being catchy). |
This thread is really interesting. What a contrast between opinions; I can't follow the logic that the later period was catchier at all. It amazes me that people find TPATG to be a lousy record, too. To each his/her own! |
There was just this dark side to the first period... . Your objection though is both eloquent and persuasive and has been duly noted.
|
|
PrognosticMind
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 02 2014
Location: New Hampshire
Status: Offline
Points: 1195
|
Posted: September 03 2014 at 09:50 |
Tom Ozric wrote:
The Power And The Glory is AMAZING !!!
What came before is not necessary 'better', but for my taste, I prefer that period a whole lot more.... |
I find myself bouncing around the GG discography more often than not. Yes, I have my personal favorites. That doesn't diminish my appreciation for the rest of the records, though.
|
|
"A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?"
|
|
Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Gentle Giant; 70-72 vs 73-76
