With all this talk about prog and epics maybe it's time there was a GENTLE GIANT ALBUMS POLL

I was a toddler when these guys stopped playing, but I would have loved to see Gentle Giant live. All of their records are hit and miss for me, but every live clip I've ever seen has been extraordinary.

The musicianship! The multi-instrumentation! The silly faces! Crazy good live band. Tbh I think I'd rather see Gary Green's "Three Friends" band than the current touring incarnations of Yes or King Crimson

ok I finally caved and bought The Missing Piece. it's kinda funny the way this album is structured, the first side is them rather boldly proclaiming a new style, while the second is "we sure miss the way we used to be". I'm enjoying it more than I figured I would - "2 Weeks in Spain" is very catchy and "Memories of Old Days" is really heartwrenching. They even turn into classic GG for the last two songs. Cool beans

it's their duke but without a "turn it on again"

i hate "the missing piece". side b (which was written and toured first) is a half-assed imitation of their prog style, with none of the stuff that made their earlier records "interesting". and their stabs at aor are just awful. "betcha thought we couldn't do it"? dudes you _did_ a reggae number on your previous record and it's twenty times better than that shit.

you hate. that's great

counterbalance: _civilian_ really is a fantastic aor record, and one i would posit as "their duke" (like _duke_ it's a dark, dark record).

'77 is when prog started to panic, loads of strange albums came out around that time

prog panicked earlier. '77 is when the cheapskate record company executives rolled out the new product

EMI!

yeah true

78 was the year of Love Beach and Tormato. At least in 77 you had Going for the One.

television's "marquee moon" and the cars' "all mixed up" are wannabe YES and QUEEN epics

my name is panurge and i have come from hell

xp the changes started to become obvious in '77 (at least in retrospect), as per going for the one, also and then there were three

it's totally bizarre how prog seemed to fall apart across the board all at once (except crimson, which kept its head down and re-emerged with something that worked)

i don't think 78 was all THAT bad for prog. Then again, I've always preferred tormato to going for the one, so what do i know? even camel's breathless is full of beautiful stuff. You also had the first National Health album, which is a legit masterpiece.

i think "across the board" collapses are more common than we think they are. nobody talks about the collapse of white american rock music in '70-'71, but it happened. since when people talk about "prog" they're really talking about british prog, we're really talking about a national scene collapse, probably not coincidentally concurrent with the rise of a new (superficially "opposed") national scene...

as to prog in '78, most of the action was going on in the andalusian folk-prog area.

drama, 90125, and justice for all, presto, ritual de lo habitual, pony express record, millions now living will never die, OK computer, and other awesome albums held serve just fine

i don't think 78 was all THAT bad for prog.

i agree, but looking back it's fascinating to watch it splinter in all directions (in response to punk iirc).

also you are otm about tormato. far better than its reputation indicates. being slightly mad helps it along imo.

THINKING PLAGUE and USAISAMONSTER follow in the killer tradition of the SHULMANS along with shitloads of other unsung american prog rock bands ignored because of how cool punk rock is

also you are otm about tormato. far better than its reputation indicates. being slightly mad helps it along imo.

ha, you're the first person who has ever agreed with me about tormato! to me it sounds like they're actually having fun on that record, unlike going for the one, which is a bit self-serious. plus "onward" is maybe their most beautiful song. or maybe that's "and you and i" idk. but "onward" is great.

it's just so mad. half the record doesn't make a lot of sense but they commit to whatever the hell they're doing. that's why it works for me. release release gets overlooked but clean blows your head off.

I dont mean to imply that Tormato was bad (hell, I'll even stan for Love Beach a little), but rather that it kinda marked the point where another Relayer was definitely off the table. Tormato really is a lot of fun - I know "Arriving UFO" takes a lot of flack but it's so bonkers I can't help but love it.

as old as you're young feels like it came from the same discussions, in a way

I like Tormato more overall than Going For The One but the latter has "Awaken", so it's more of an essential based on that alone.

There are a bunch of prog bands that lost the thread '75-'77: Procol's Ninth, Strawbs' Deadlines, Nektar's Magic is A Child, Amon Duul II's Only Human, Curved Air's Airborne... all suffered from attempts to write shorter, poppier songs and I sold all these records back years ago.

but these are all bands who arguably lost the thread well before then. not only that there were a couple bands who actually rallied and had some improved records in that era... jethro tull benefited majorly from going folk (songs from the wood is the only tull record i actually _like_) and uh damn i've forgotten the other one i was going to name already but there was at least one other. i'd argue that '75 and '76 were mostly times of stagnation for the big groups. oh, genesis! genesis weathered losing peter gabriel better than one might think from listening to "we can't dance".

Renaissance regretted trying to move with the times, I think Gentle Giant guys said that too.

Been thinking back to times when it seemed like there was so much more pressure for the new album of a big band to be the best thing ever. More pressure to reinvent themselves. Seems like it stopped around mid-00s but maybe it didn't.

I always hated guys who wanted the bands to keep doing the same thing, but I've started to think that there's probably a lot of bands who should have milked a certain sound for way longer and ended up squandering a lot of their juice on trying to stay relevant and innovative. Maybe screwing themselves up because they didn't progress naturally.

well they regret it because it didn't work! I mean Gentle Giant wasn't going to have a hit no matter what they did, but Renaissance's inability to stay relevant was a bit surprising - they seemed like exactly the sort of band that could've transitioned to New Wave.

Really? Their strengths were in the folky and orchestra stuff.

"Northern Lights" by Renaissance is a really pretty pop song. The Camera Camera album, their ostensible new wave attempt, is dire.

I mean - they had great vocals, great sense of melody, and they've always been very keyboard-based. you'd they would've been able to cobble together a halfway decent New Wave album. and yeah I realize it doesn't always work that way.

I actually agree with all of that! in 1981 I was so into new wave, and I *wanted* Renaissance to make a modern sounding, Eurythmics-style record - I could even hear it in my head. But it wasn't to be.

There are a bunch of prog bands that lost the thread '75-'77

The irony is that this is when Rush was at its prog apex.

Acquiring The Taste... the front cover art looks like someone's ass is going to be licked until you unfold it, was this intentional?

Good album but I don't know where I'd rank it. I think "Black Cat would have been better as an instrumental because all the non-singing parts are fantastic.

Did Tony Visconti produce any other prog bands?

he worked on "shine on brightly" - assisted denny cordell, though, didn't take the lead on that

he produced bowie's the man who sold the world, an album prog as there is

I say the choirboy member is a great singer.

Here's a track I made about 10 years ago based off of samples from Advent of Panurge

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dqj9sl59shuhf4x/Pan%20Urge.m4a?dl=0

Kerry Minnear...the coolest uncoolest MF ever...there was a video circulating a few years ago of him singing a song he’d written for his church...it was the sweetest thing...

I didn't know he was an actual church singer.

I don’t think he is...might be a warden or something

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GjCuVGcnTQ

"I remember the good things, how can you forget?"

Free Hand is really good, fun bunch of songs. The Peel session of "On Reflection" is well worth hearing because it was substantially rewritten.

Despite some great songs on The Power And The Glory and an enjoyable overall construction, there's something a bit underwhelming about it for me.

would really love if there was an entire album full of music like the instrumental section of "Edge of Twilight"

Acquiring the Taste is the MOST Gentle Giant album. I would have voted for Free Hand.

the live acapella section they do on "Free Hand" (the song) is probably the single greatest moment in their catalogue

I would have voted for In A Glass House, which I think is their best record, though I can't call it "definitive" because it lacks an acapella showcase like that one you mentioned or "Knots" or "Design"

Any of the 1971-1975 records is a defensible choice, maybe Interview as well.