FEATURED ALBUM: Gentle Giant - S/T

[Digital_Man]

I never understood the lukewarm response this album seems to get even from hardcore GG fans. Sure, it might not be as good as some of the ones that followed but imo it's certainly better than anything after Free Hand. A very, very under rated album.

[PROGMONSTER]

Pretty good debut but I think bringing me down and maybe home town special are better than Why not

[JKL2000]

I dig prog rock (obviously) but GG's debut has the feel of a band that made the decision up front that they're going to play progressive rock and then tries to slot everything else in after.

Maybe to some extent that is what makes them so great?

[Trane]

I totaly agree with you. To me the first GG and Octopus are really good. The others are so so...

I didn't say that either ... my fave is Glass House.... and Interview is in my top 5 as well

[Fatoldbloke]

I am a big fan of the debut Gentle Giant album. One of my favourites

[strawberrybrick]

What I like about this album- and a lot of these early "prog" albums - is that the final recipe hasn't been decided. There's an unfinished, uncertain, admittedly in retrospect quality to the music that's just so unique and interesting.

[JAMOOL]

Maybe to some extent that is what makes them so great?

I certainly think it worked a lot better on ATT than it did their debut. I guess my main problem with it is that it doesn't rock hard enough. "Giant" and "Alucard" feel like they should be stormers but don't really pack a huge punch. I suppose GG as a whole is kinda that way but it seems to hurt their debut more than anything.

[Scrotum Scissor]

What I like about this album- and a lot of these early "prog" albums - is that the final recipe hasn't been decided. There's an unfinished, uncertain, admittedly in retrospect quality to the music that's just so unique and interesting.

This is very well put indeed, and something which could be addressed at dozens of so-called "proto-prog" bands who did not necessarily fit the "symph" configuration. Major acts who somehow managed to stick to an "unfinished recipe" and - perhaps ironically - develop it further into their own idiosyncracy, were Curved Air (Monkman-period), Traffic and Family.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

4 good tunes (the most quoted in this thread) but very English. So much so, it's almost Canterburyesque... yet it's not. I much prefer the Italians when it comes to Symph, but since GG is not *just* Symph they keep my attention (unlike Yes and Genesis)

Pretty darn good for 1970 though

[Forester1]

Great album - certainly prefer it to "Power & Glory" and "Interview". But how many GG fans investigate the pre-1970 output of the Shulmans, ie "Simon Dupree" ? Having recently heard "Kites" and "Bell Tolls", I found them to be delightful psychedlic-pop. Are any other Dupree tracks this good ? - is it worth investing in an SD compilation ?

[Proghound]

What I like about this album- and a lot of these early "prog" albums - is that the final recipe hasn't been decided. There's an unfinished, uncertain, admittedly in retrospect quality to the music that's just so unique and interesting.

Ditto!!!! It's an amazing record and quite adventuresses for 1970. my all time favorite band....obviously. I enjoy/ed virtually everything they did. For me, the essense of progressive music...yes they got better with time, but look at any early album from any of the big prog names of that era, and I think Giant opened with a very nice offering. Saw them many times and it was magical...always. To this day one of the most talented bands I've ever seen.

[soundsweird]

I revisited this album after reading the comments; I really like "Funny Ways" & "Isn't It Quiet and Cold", and after hearing "Giant" again, I'll upgrade it to "good", especially the middle section. I also like "Nothing at All" EXCEPT for the ruinous drum solo. Still, I'd rate every album until "Missing Piece" higher. As far as the other tracks on the album, the melodies and rock arrangements sound too ordinary to my ears, though admittedly, many of their later albums had a song or two with the same shortcomings.

[JIF]

Inspired by this thread, I decided to pull out this album; I have the Repertoire reissue on CD. I can't believe that people are saying that this doesn't rock hard. Did someone even call it pussy rock? I think it makes up in power what it lacks in complexity, and it's still very complex(although GG would get more complex as the years progressed). The drum solo in Nothing At All is not boring. Surely, there are others that are more boring. I love the middle section of Why Not("why not climb a hill with someone that hates you. why not hate someone that climbs a hill with you). Why didn't Kerry get more lead vocal spots on this album? His voices makes a wonderful contrast with Derek's(with Phil as the middle man). I can find nothing wrong with this album. I have the GG CDs from the first one to Free Hand. Actually, I did sell the Repertoire reissues of TF and Octopus, but sold those to get the recent Alucard reissues.

[Progbear]

I would have liked this album a lot more had it been the first album of their I heard. Unfortunately, it was quite hard to come by until the CD era in the States, making it one of their last albums I heard. By that point, what would have come across as revolutionary just seemed a bit old hat compared to their later work. It definitely has its moments, though. “Alucard“ proves that they already had a harmonic language well beyond many of their contemporaries.

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MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"You can take the war out of the soldier, but you can't raise that soldier from the dead."
--Shona Laing

N.P.:“The Mournful Howl of Dawn”-My Brother the Wind/Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet