Pantagruel's Nativity

[PeterG]

I guess you were listening to the Gentle Giant Super Stars Album eh?

Correct. And seeing as you asked here is the tracklisting for that Italian SuperStar - Armando Curcio Editore compilation, which by the way is a deluxe edition with an album sized, 12 page full colour booklet, full of early colour photos and loads of text.

Lato A
Funny Ways
Alcard (yes they missed out the U)
Giant
Pantagruel's Nativity

Lato B
The Advent of Panurge
Knots
Peel the Paint
Three Friends

[PeterG]

I remember back in '70 thinking...wow! that sounds like something Cardiacs might do in the future.

And back then, I remember thinking, "I hope a band on the 80s combines spacey soundtrack music with new wave"

[PeterG]

That’s Kerry Minnear playing Martin Rushent’s modular Moog. The title track is just him multi-tracking the Moog.

Wow, thanks for that. Because I love that sound so much I've often wondered what it was. I asked on a forum (maybe here) once before and got no response.
And knowing that it was MR's explains a lot for me as I've always loved The Stranglers, Human League, Buzzcocks etc. all of whom he produced at some point in their careers.

[at least 100 dead]

I am in agreement with all who vastly prefer this to the rest of the GG catalog. Still my favorite, along with Octo-opus, and it all has to do with that classic, moody Tony Visconti production.

Agreed! Acquiring the Taste has a wonderful, crepuscular atmosphere that you won’t find on any other GG album (although “Isn’t It Quiet & Cold?” hints at the same dusky vibe). I used to consider “Plain Truth” to be at loggerheads with the rest of the album, but of late I’ve come to appreciate how it closes AtT on an unfussy note.

[PeterG]

Acquiring the Taste has a wonderful, crepuscular atmosphere that you won’t find on any other GG album

Exactly! And I would even add: evocative and ethereal.

[at least 100 dead]

Exactly! And I would even add: evocative and ethereal.

Yes oh yes! Just listen to the ghostly "On the Edge of Twilight".

[PeterG]

Also, how about those huge organ chords towards the end of Three Friends, you can certainly hear where the boys in that horrible little band of herberts from Surrey got the idea from.

Listen from about 3.40 for Cardiacs inspiration

[adap2it]

Correct. And seeing as you asked here is the tracklisting for that Italian SuperStar - Armando Curcio Editore compilation, which by the way is a deluxe edition with an album sized, 12 page full colour booklet, full of early colour photos and loads of text.

Lato A
Funny Ways
Alcard (yes they missed out the U)
Giant
Pantagruel's Nativity

Lato B
The Advent of Panurge
Knots
Peel the Paint
Three Friends

I know that they misspelled Alucard, perhaps Dracula in Italian is Dracla!

[adap2it]

Also, how about those huge organ chords towards the end of Three Friends, you can certainly hear where the boys in that horrible little band of herberts from Surrey got the idea from.

Listen from about 3.40 for Cardiacs inspiration

Band of herberts...I haven't heard that term since I left the UK. And I know that those herberts did listen to Gentle Giant. That is how I discovered Cardiacs.

[Vic2012]

NP: Raconteur Troubadour.

[PeterG]

Alucard Lived backwards is Devil Dracula! ......wooohhoooooo........

OR if GG played it live at a gig, and the reviewer wrote "GG played Alucard live to an adoring public" Then it's Evil Dracula! .....woooooohhooooo...

[Digital_Man]

One of my favorite GG tunes and imo one of their best in general.

[jkelman]

Also, how about those huge organ chords towards the end of Three Friends, you can certainly hear where the boys in that horrible little band of herberts from Surrey got the idea from.

Listen from about 3.40 for Cardiacs inspiration

How about, pardon me, WTF are we doing supporting a site saying "Download This Full Album for Free"? We know this shit happens, sure, but should PE really blatantly support a site like this by using it to post samples. It's real advertising to "steal this record.".....

Sorry, I really don't mean to deraill the thread, but I wonder how Alucard (the company GG has for its reissue program) would feel about this?

[Vic2012]

Somone has been playing Blackstar by Bowie on the jukebox. The sax gives it a VDGG vibe.

[Buddhabreath]

One of many many great GG tracks indeed. As a teenager I opened up the gatefold and read "It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of being very unpopular..."

That was it for me - I had just seen them open for Jethro Tull and within days Jethro Tull became my second favorite band. As somebody already mentioned they were fantastic live and IMO none of the available video quite captures that magic - you did have to be there.

[Scrotum Scissor]

One of the ultimate GG tracks in that it basically presents all assets of their total expression, even that oddbally hard-rock antic. It somehow succeeds at exposing their penchant for combining highly disparate moods (light to sombre, gentle to aggressive) and their extremely cunning way of rendering pure dissonance an appearance of elementary function (as in the bridge part between the verse and the mid-section). Thus it is also one of my fave opening tracks from any record.