Favorite Gentle Giant record? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

I like Free Hand best, but everyone is different.

In a Glass House followed by Octopus. However; there are songs I like from every Giant album including Giant For A Day, Missing Piece and Civilian, which many vote as their weakest.

Deafmoon

Walkscore wrote:

I like Free Hand best, but everyone is different.

+ 1

Squonk19 wrote:

'Acquiring the Taste' is probably my favourite at present, but all the earlier ones have their charm.

It always been my favorite with the rest of their four first just behind. Don't understand those who love their two first but not Three Friends though. It shares everything that's so wonderful about its predecessors imo. I personally include Octopus as well, but I can hear how its a transitional album and points towards their later approach. I think all of their first eight albums are worth having though.

Mascodagama wrote:

Saperlipopette! wrote:

Squonk19 wrote:

'Acquiring the Taste' is probably my favourite at present, but all the earlier ones have their charm.

It always been my favorite with the rest of their four first just behind. Don't understand those who love their two first but not Three Friends though. It shares everything that's so wonderful about its predecessors imo. I personally include Octopus as well, but I can hear how its a transitional album and points towards their later approach. I think all of their first eight albums are worth having though.

Speaking as one of those who doesn't esteem Three Friends, I can give my reasons. It's always seemed to me that on 3F they made a deliberate effort to tone down the radical musical eclecticism that characterises their other early works in favour of a smoother surface and songs that are more lyric-driven character vignettes. Put another way, it seems like it was their attempt to write a Kinks album. This really wasn't their forte, IMO.

Do I disagree? Of course I disagree! Three Friends and Octopus were both brilliant albums.

“Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music.” - Sergei Rachmaninov

I remember the other thread, do not think I replied to it.

Two Gentle Giant albums that stand out and grab me are Free Hand and In A Glass House.

At the moment, definitely Octopus. It feels more cohesive and colourful than the rest, and it doesn't fall into the "repeat a little groove a few times, then go into the next one that has little to do with the previous"-trap like parts of the other albums. However, I feel like I haven't fully gotten into In A Glass House yet; that might catch up with Octopus or even surpass it when it finally clicks.

(The first two albums are the sound of a band in search for their sound, although AtT is far more mature than GG. TF is just a little bit too simple and rocky to be rewarding over the entire runtime. TPatG feels not connected enough for a concept album, although all tracks are very good. FH and Interview are good, but I feel that the band concept had become a bit run-of-the-mill for them: There's nothing new, and what is done is done masterfully, but without the briskness of before. I guess I don't have to say anything about the last three albums.)

My preferences shift with the seasons, but IAGH is still my staple.

This time of year I find myself listening to the earlier records (GG, ATT, TF) more.

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