Gentle Giant
Karmic chameleons that they were, the Shulman brothers of Portsmouth, Phil, Derek and Ray, performed in a variety of styles and identities in the sixties, latterly as Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, scoring a hit with Kites, which they hated. What’s a bunch of talented musicians to do but leave the pop band and start their own with some very talented friends, giving full rein to their talent and ambition, embracing progressive pop and experimentation.
Step forward Gentle Giant.
I said to Andy Long, who has been mentioned here before, that I often find it harder to write about records I like than those I don’t. This album, with the rest of Gentle Giant’s output, falls firmly into the category of records I like.
Like the best of the albums I’ve enjoyed this year, this doesn’t really sound like anyone else. In parts you can hear the same angularity that King Crimson grew to embrace; sometimes there’s a pop sensibility that bubbles up to the surface before subsiding. I think it reasonable to assume they’d heard Zappa, and Derek Shulman’s vocals put me in mind of Roger Chapman sometimes. The keyboards sometimes reminded me of Hugh Banton of van der Graaf Generator. But all of these are just indicators of the pool they’re swimming in. They are their own band, gifted with musical intelligence and the confidence to switch between string arrangements and heavy rock without it sound like an affectation or a gimmick.
It’s fair to say that I’m more likely to play their later albums, but that’s not in any way to diminish their debut.
I listened to the CD, but it’s on Spotify and elsewhere.
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