Absolutely not. But they're still one of my very fave "prog" groups.Originally Posted by Genital Giant
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
great photo, legends and fans..http://www.progressiveears.org/forum...4&d=1441766493
Last edited by gpeccary; 09-09-2015 at 10:14 AM.
So, whats the BIG announcement???
I agree with Genital Giant, absolutely!
Dave Sr.
I prefer Nature to Human Nature
Levels of formal musical intricacy are not prone to questions of subjective evaluation, so what's there to "agree" on?
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
took you 4 hours to come up with this response?
Dave Sr.
I prefer Nature to Human Nature
Yes, but now it only took me fifteen minutes to point out the three and a half hours it took YOU to end up giving no response whatsoever but a silly question.
Gentle Giant are a wonderful band, but no - they're not the "most complicated in Prog as a genre". And a VW beetle doesn't weigh more than a double decker London bus just because you for some inexplainable reason see that as mandatory in order to feel cool while driving around in the former. What is this? Realtime lifesupporting escapism from the depths of Ibsenic logic?
Last edited by Scrotum Scissor; 09-10-2015 at 03:06 AM.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Well it's Wednesday night which means our regular listening session is about to begin...I can't think of a better reason to escape your drivel
Dave Sr.
I prefer Nature to Human Nature
Big Gentle Giant fan. I even like the last three albums, especially Civilian.
Free Hand will always be my favorite by them but all eleven LP's are cool.
The Prog Corner
Great to see you discuss in the discussion forum, then. Never address any points, never propose an argument or an actual casus judgement, never pose a significant question. Just insist on how it "is".
Who the most virtuoso "is", because if he's not the MOST virtuoso, then it's not as big a personal reward to appreciate him (as confirmed right here and now it's certainly not sufficient to express one's admiration). Who the objectively best "is", who the most complicated in all of Prog "is", who the coolest "is".
Discussion forum. Talk about fucking drivel.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Hot DAMN! I'm off to the saloon. Sam's bartending!
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Love Gentle Giant---such an original band---like 70's Yes and Genesis---they created new music---they deserve an award
GG is one of my favorite bands, and they were pretty near the top of the complexity scale for a fairly mainstream band but they certainly weren't the most complex. I imagine Magma could give them a run for their money and then you get into the avant stuff... like it or not the complexity of most of that composition is off the charts. Although had Kerry Minnear the interest or motivation to go further out there I imagine he had the compositional chops.
But really, whatevs
Which is precisely why I love GG and listen to them far more frequently than I do those other "symph" rock bands I started out with on first getting into the 'P' thing; they were essentially always songsmiths - twisted and eccentric vision of arrangements and the articulation of melody, certainly, but at all times to the core element of communication. The keysplayer in my 90s band was a conservatory trained pianist and composer but additionally (and unfortunately) a self-obsessed 'new musics' hipster who constantly kept nagging about how "undaring" GG were, as opposed to many other acts we were into at the time. I tried pointing at the sheer originality of the band's approach, but all he could hear from his strictly theoretical standpoint was apparently some "fake intricacy". To deem something less worthy due to its alleged LACK of "optimal complexity" seems as ludicrous to me as the necessity to have something objectively confirmed as the "MOST complicated blah-blah".
I definitely get more mileage from GG than I do from several of those ultra-formalist bands that are operating in certain quarters today, whether they're "avant" (a denomination which sometimes seems to rest almost solely on which side of the "GG-complexity"-fence they are situated) or not.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Gentle Giant may be many things, but it's hard to imagine a more "daring" band! And they did that shit live to boot! One of the greatest concerts I ever saw was the missing piece tour. Astounding. Never saw anything like it. Not sure I have since, except for maybe Jagga Jazzist.
^
Man, you SHOULD have seen the Panzerpappa and Dead Dino Storage guys performing their GG-tribute back in 2007 at Amatøren here in Oslo; it's simply one of those legendary happenings in Norwegian 'contemporock' this past decade. It was a one-off event (after three months of intense rehearsals) and went down like a storm with the 60-or-so folks who were there to witness it; the band didn't only perform outtakes from the most challenging parts of GG's own live renditions of arrangements - they basically reimagined those modes of arrangement into something even more adventurous and incredible (guitar duets, vocal gymnastics and so on). The editor of the mag I was writing for back then was a bonafide GG fanatic - and was still completely staggered by the whole ordeal
Of course, those dudes play covers on material by Zappa, Zamla, Univers Zero, Hatfield & Health, Henry Cow, Happy the Man etc. as well. And it's ALWAYS great!
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I dont suppose anyone recorded this ridiculously awesome event? I can dream.
But are they Prog Gods?
I guess they'll just have to wait for divine proclamation. Maybe next year they will be Gods and Tony Banks will get the lifetime achievement award.
It can change, it can stay the same...
^
Oh, just like this very thread has given a more than adequate example for, things will most definitely stay the same - because by Gawd it must! It must!
I mean, there are still individual members from those 10-15 bands who all must be rewarded for their immaculate inputs to the prawg canon.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
You can dance if you wanna.
If you don't nobody will....
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