Gentle Giant vs Van der Graaf Generator
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Polls
Forum Description: Create polls on topics related to progressive music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=114477
Printed Date: August 15 2025 at 19:29
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Topic: Gentle Giant vs Van der Graaf Generator
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Subject: Gentle Giant vs Van der Graaf Generator
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 13:41
| Ok, so which band do you prefer? |
Replies:
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 14:16
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My username, avatar, and signature all say that I vote for Van der Graaf Generator. ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 15:43
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I used to dislike both intensely. Then GG just clicked. Now, they are one of my favourite bands. VDGG haven't and now I know they never will. The keyboards are excellent, but Hamill's voice ruins them for me, and I don't really like a lot of their music. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 16:23
This. ------------- ...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... |
Hercules wrote:Posted By: questionsneverknown
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 16:26
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Went for 'Both'. Almost selected VdGG, but I really do like both at about the same level of intensity. Very different from each other, but both are certainly in the strongly acquired taste category. ------------- The damage that we do is just so powerfully strong we call it love The damage that we do just goes on and on and on but not long enough. --Robyn Hitchcock |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 16:36
| Gentle Giant |
Posted By: maryes
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 17:47
| Gentle Giant by far ! |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 18:25
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Gentle Giant. ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: tboyd1802
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 18:38
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VdGG ------------- He neither drank, smoked, nor rode a bicycle. Living frugally, saving his money, he died early, surrounded by greedy relatives. It was a great lesson to me -- John Barrymore |
Posted By: For Nobody's Bush
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 18:50
| Gentle Giant is really easy to love for me, VDGG is a little more work, but it also is very rewarding stuff. |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 19:35
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VdGG. I don’t like Gentle Giant. There are things I don’t like about both, but VdGG is way better. I can’t stand GG’s vocals, their skimpy song length, the pace of notes and lack of sustain on notes and so on. ------------- 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) |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 20:18
| VdGG for me. Even though I like the frist 2 GG albums better than any album of VdGG, but in general VdGG has songs I love much more than any GG one. |
Posted By: Larkstongue41
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 20:25
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Gentle Giant > Aerosol Grey Machine Acquiring the Taste < The Least We Can Do... Three Friends < H to He... Octopus < Pawn Hearts In a Glass House < Godbluff The Power and the Glory < Still Life Free Hand > World Record ------------- "Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar." |
Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: April 20 2018 at 21:28
This---love the vocals in GG---beautiful voices on those guys---hate the vocals of VDGG---plus GG guys are brilliant musicians and trained at that----
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Posted By: ALotOfBottle
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 01:40
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VDGG for me. I like Gentle Giant, but there was always something off in their music for me. It might very well be exactly what HackettFan pointed out - lack of sustain, pace of notes, and skimpy song lengths - that I'm not fond of. VDGG, on the other hand, is very dreamy and abstract, which I like a lot. ------------- Categories strain, crack and sometimes break, under their burden - step out of the space provided. |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 01:49
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Two fantastic bands, but GG will always edge out VDGG for me. I can't get enough of both, honestly. ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Squonk19
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 02:36
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Two bands who didn't click with me until this last year or so. I prefer Gentle Giant by far, but VdGG are growing on me too with certain tracks. ------------- “Living in their pools, they soon forget about the sea.” |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 03:54
| VDGG all the way. |
Posted By: Wanorak
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 09:55
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VDGG. ------------- A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!! |
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 11:31
Many people say that Gentle Giant music is complex. But in spite of the intricacy in their music, I think their music sounds rather small. By contrast, even when a Van der Graaf Generator soundscape is sparse, it is quite portentous. And then there are the passages where the music spins out of control and they cram a huge number of notes in a short amount of time. ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Posted By: Olape
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 12:48
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Love both but Gentle Giant is one of my three favorite bands ever. ------------- 
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Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 14:55
Love both but the fact that Gary Green is in Giant swings my vote to Giant. Hey, I love the guitar  ------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 17:16
| Gentle Giant, by a small margin, but without a doubt. |
Posted By: questionsneverknown
Date Posted: April 21 2018 at 17:18
Ooh, I really like this--compare them album-by-album chronologically. It definitely makes the comparisons more challenging, especially once you enter that block in the middle--Octopus/Pawn Hearts; Glass House/Godbluff; Power & Glory/Still Life. In a Glass House and The Power and the Glory are, to my ears, GG's best albums, and Godbluff and Still Life are probably my fave of VdGG's. That's tough! Would depend on the day--or even the hour--you ask me. (H to He would win over Three Friends every time, though!) ------------- The damage that we do is just so powerfully strong we call it love The damage that we do just goes on and on and on but not long enough. --Robyn Hitchcock |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: April 22 2018 at 02:24
I dig this too, and never thought about doing my own until now! Gentle Giant > Aerosol Grey Machine Acquiring the Taste < The Least We Can Do... Three Friends < H to He... Octopus < Pawn Hearts In a Glass House > Godbluff The Power and the Glory > Still Life Free Hand > World Record ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 22 2018 at 07:43
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Hi, I'm abstaining rather than incriminating myself as a neo-progressive listener ... that is ... one who says he/she likes "progressive" then says one band is less than the other, or not as good! I RESIGN! (Spike Milligan!) ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: April 23 2018 at 14:20
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VDGG ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: April 23 2018 at 14:39
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Poor VDGG just can't win one of these!!! |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: April 23 2018 at 15:04
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^ LOL........they are indeed having a bad week. To be honest both bands are an 'acquired taste'. I like the longer atmospheric instrumental work by VDGG but I have never cared for Hammill's overly dramatic and exaggerated vocals. So it ends up being GG in that if I had to listen for any length of time I might be less likely to have a nervous breakdown with GG. ;) ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: April 23 2018 at 16:12
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^^^ What's funny though? ------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: April 23 2018 at 17:15
o.k, let's do this: Gentle Giant > Aerosol Grey Machine Acquiring the Taste > The Least We Can Do... ("Acquiring..." is my 2nd favorite GG album) Three Friends < H to He... Octopus < Pawn Hearts ("Octopus" is my favorite GG album, but "Pawn Hearts" is unbeatable) In a Glass House < Godbluff The Power and the Glory < Still Life Free Hand < World Record ("World Record" is in my opinion much underrated; it is on par with "Godbluff" and "Still Life") so it is 5-2 for VdGG -------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: April 23 2018 at 20:28
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And here again a false comparison is being made....GG has 6 albums over 4 stars in their catalog while VDGG only has 5. It is incorrect to only look at albums in a specific order in any bands catalog and once again is cherry picking to make the other band look better. One needs to consider all albums in a bands catalog and not only ones in order from a certain period.
------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: April 26 2018 at 02:17
VDGG have been surviving one hell of a week on the PA polls  .------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: April 26 2018 at 02:24
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Posted By: Junges
Date Posted: April 26 2018 at 02:28
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Both equally. The two are my favorite bands from classic prog. ------------- 
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: April 26 2018 at 03:16
| I enjoy both, so I chose the third option. It's an easy poll when there's a "both" option. Without it, I wouldn't be able to pick. (LOL) |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: April 26 2018 at 09:10
Well, complex music doesn't 'sound' anything in particular. Music gets described as complex because of the presence of unusual or difficult harmonic/melodic/rhythmic elements.
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: April 26 2018 at 09:22
No one , so lets stop having these silly polls then......Ok? ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: April 27 2018 at 02:16
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Posted By: Larkstongue41
Date Posted: April 27 2018 at 08:09
Hey go ahead and try to make a scientifically reliable comparison if you want; I just wanted to make my answer more interesting than the typical 'insert name of band or album here' answer to PA polls.
------------- "Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar." |
Posted By: Dopeydoc
Date Posted: April 28 2018 at 15:49
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Gentle Giant. So great master pieces. I dont go for VdGG |