GENTLY DOES IT

Gentle Giant are the missing piece in the Great British prog jigsaw puzzle, one of the few classic bands who sidestepped a reunion. Tim Jones lifts the lid on their new Chrysalis box

GENTLY DOES IT

Gentle Giant were never as commercially successful as British prog giants such as Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, ELP, Yes or King Crimson, but during the 70s, they were revered by fans and peers alike as an outfit that always pushed the envelope, crafting distinctively complex aural tapestries that were a melodic counterpoint to the discordant likes of Van Der Graaf Generator. Gentle Giant fused folk, jazz, blues, rock and classical with medieval, baroque and Renaissance chamber musics, laying out sonic smorgasbords with dozens of instruments. Conceived in 1970 by the Shulman brothers and cohorts, Gentle Giant transmogrified the remnants of Simon Dupree & The Big Sound and, from 1972 to 1979, issued a series of albums, many of which captured their adventurous progressive outlook, 1972’s debut, Octopus, being followed by In A Glass House (1973), The Power And The Glory (1974) and, after signing to Chrysalis, a US Top 50 outing in 1975, Free Hand, which proved to be their commercial apogee. From 1976, they issued an album a year in the form of Interview and the increasingly chart-oriented The Missing Piece, Giant For A Day and Civilian, before calling it a day in 1980. The Giant’s drummer for most of that time was John ‘Pugwash’ Weathers, who played with the likes of The Grease Band, Wild Turkey, Graham Bond and, after Gentle …

by Tim Jones
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