|
Unsung Forum » Gentle Giant |
Log In to post a reply
|
|
|
|
| Topic View: Flat | Threaded | |
The Sea Cat 3608 posts |
Dec 10, 2009, 19:50
|
||
|
Dog 3000 wrote: If you're into the "Canterbury sound" at all, the Italian group Picchio Dal Pozzo's self-titled LP (1976) is a real gem. (Like halfway between Canterbury and the "romantic" Italian prog sound.) (Lots of great "Canterbury" bands to explore!!! That and kraut are where the real prog action was.) That might be very hard to find, but I'll try, as I'm a confirmed all things Canterbury Sound head. Thanks man.
|
|||
rojo 433 posts |
Dec 10, 2009, 23:17
|
||
I second that Picchio Dal Pozzo record very cool.
|
|||
Fitter Stoke 2614 posts |
Edited Dec 11, 2009, 22:09
Dec 11, 2009, 22:09
|
||
|
'Playing The Fool' is a fine double live album featuring superior versions of Gentle Giant's best studio efforts. I love it Perennially uncool they may be, but I've always tarred Supertramp with the same brush as Gentle Giant: the same electric piano emphasis, but with catchier tunes less reliant on over-the-top time signatures. The first two albums 'Supertramp' and 'Indelibly Stamped' are unsung prog gems and don't let the commercial success of 'Crime Of The Century', 'Crisis? What Crisis?' and 'Even In The Quietest Moments' put you off what remain three fabulous albums. I also really dig Barclay James Harvest. Their second LP 'Once Again' is the obvious classic (and deservedly so - it's wonderful), but later albums like 'Everyone Is Everybody Else', 'Octoberon' and 'Gone To Earth' deserve your attention, as does the superb double 'Live' album from 1974, newly remastered on Esoteric Records.
|
|||
redfish365 710 posts |
Dec 11, 2009, 23:44
|
||
|
The early Spock's Beard albums have their Gentle Giant-like moments and at times Gnidrolog sort of do too. At the end of the day though GG are pretty damned unique. For Gryphon I love Red Queen, Raindance and Treason but the first two - which I paid too much for as Jap mini-sleeves - are hard to take in a Amazing Blondel kinda way. To me it just isn't rock.
|
|||
IanB 6761 posts |
Edited Dec 12, 2009, 11:29
Dec 12, 2009, 10:22
|
||
|
You are right about these Supertramp albums though. Anyone who likes a bit of Prog on the one hand and Ramases or 10cc on the other would enjoy them. Even in the early/mid 70s Supertramp were never really considered cool were they? They had no mystique to see them through the punk wars and they were in absentia in the crucial period, mainly touring the US in that period IIRC. And they made a point of slagging punk off at every turn. Genesis and Yes toured the UK a lot in 76-78 and didn't just play arenas so they kept a strong connection with their audience which sustained them into the 80s. Supertramp made it easy to hate them. Supertramp were more like Queen in that respect, the bands that could do no right with hipsters while being destined to be the bands most loved by the uncool kids (along with ELO and Jeff Wayne) - which after all is most people. Yes might get away with doing one night at Wembley Arena these days if they are lucky but "War of the Worlds" is doing multiple nights at the O2. I would think a reformed Supertramp would be good for two nights themselves. I guess it was the uncool kids who did their homework on time and so 30 years on have all the disposable income today ;-)
|
|||
|
machineryelf 3681 posts |
Dec 12, 2009, 10:40
|
||
|
Fitter Stoke wrote: The first two albums 'Supertramp' and 'Indelibly Stamped' are unsung prog gems and don't let the commercial success of 'Crime Of The Century', 'Crisis? What Crisis?' and 'Even In The Quietest Moments' put you off what remain three fabulous albums. are the first 2 worth checking out, I love COTC,CWC & EITQM , went seriously downhill after that, the Live In Paris is so wet & spineless it is difficult to believe thay are playing the same tunes, and it all goes overly twee & overly commercial for my taste after that, Breakfast In America is especially annoying But I would second your claim that these three are fabulous, especially Crime Of The Century
|
|||
Stevo 6664 posts |
Dec 12, 2009, 12:21
|
||
|
not sure if Simon Dupree & the Big Sound foreshadowed any later developments. Kites is pretty sublime though. Think they were pretty much the same band several years earlier though, definitely had core members in. think some of the Canterbury material definitely has the same melodic playfulness. there are a couple of decent Uk prog bands worth checking out too. Heard Gnidrilog? Both lps are currently available on a BGO 2fer. I like Indian summer & Ton ton Macoute too as well as Raw material's Time Is. I'm sure I'll think of others later too. While thinking Gentle Giant, reading Rabelais can be fun. they seemed to have a bit of a fixation on him. Bawdy 16th century french writer with scatological fixations, pretty funny if you can read material that old. Giant on The Box, the dvd has some interesting material on. The first gig on the video is from a Brussels film studio in 1974. I think the drumming is getting a bit busy, which is one thing I really don't like about the later material. & Phil Shulman left around this point which might be more of an axis point in the change in the sound. Not sure what it is exactly but I do prefer the early material to about 72 or 73 to the later stuff. Could just be that the first available video is after this and I'd otherwise be more dismissive of it. The live material I've got of the earlier stuff has been pretty cool too. Stevo Np Sun Ra '78 Happy Medium Next stop earth
|
|||
|
keith a 9574 posts |
Dec 12, 2009, 12:25
|
||
|
IanB wrote: Even in the early/mid 70s Supertramp were never really considered cool were they? Well I seem to remember COTC getting rave reviews. And the NME, the 'coolest' of the lot, certainly liked it. Fred Dellar review below. (On a personal note, I've got more of a soft spot for them than I have for Yes or Genesis, but then I thought COTC was closer to 10cc's Sheet Music (or The Beatles even) than some proggy wankfest! Supertramp: Crime Of The Century (A&M) Fred Dellar, NME, 26 October 1974 Own up – you’d written Supertramp off, hadn’t you? To tell the truth, so had I. Their first album, which appeared in 1970, was a good enough effort though I doubt if, saleswise, it did enough to keep Herb Alpert in bedsocks for a week. And the band’s drummer had a breakdown about that time – which really didn’t help much. Between then and now there’s been just one album and a few changes in personnel. And that, my friends, is the history of Supertramp. Not impressive huh? But now they’ve come up with Crime Of The Century which, whisper it not, has the makings of a monster. I suppose a lot of the credit for the band’s apparent transformation must go to producer Ken Scott who (Bowie fans please note) has surpassed himself on this occasion and shaped an album that grips you right from the first eerie sound of Richard Davies’ mouth-harp. But the more I play Crime – and that’s pretty often – the more I appreciate the strength of Supertramp’s writing and playing abilities. The band – Davies (keyboards, vocals), Roger Hodgson (guitars, keyboards, vocals), John Helliwell (reeds and vocals), Dougie Thomson (bass), Bob Bemberg (drums) have at last come up with something they can justifiably call Supertramp music – seventies rock that stems from many sources but funnels down to an almost orchestral sound that’s impressive, though not pretentious. Among the high-grade tracks are ‘Bloody Well Right’, which moves from a meditative piano lead-in, punctuated by ‘heavy’ blasts, into a solid little bouncer, basically simple but schemed in diverting manner; ‘Rudy’ a song about a guy who’s on a figurative train to nowhere, which comes replete with some Paddington sounds that would have pleased Izzy Brunei mightily; and ‘If Everyone Was Listening’, a pretty ballad and Beatle-ish in so far as Helliwell’s clarinet gives it that kind of aura. Right then – fair dues to all those involved in Crime Of The Century – to Ken Scott a mention in the New Year’s Honours List, to Richard Davies a gold-plated Steinway…and a fair share of the spoils to A & M, who have for so long placed confidence in the band. © Fred Dellar, 1974
|
|||
|
machineryelf 3681 posts |
Dec 12, 2009, 12:45
|
||
|
One good review hardly makes cool does it, as far I can remember Supertramp never had that mysterious/syd angle that Floyd had, the 20min Genesis borefest tunes , or the Oh were so clever 10cc angle They were also [or seemed to be] frightfully middleclass which was a big problem post 76 Having had also had a hit they couldn't even go the Camel,BJH obscure root, IIRC Even In The Quietest Moments had some fairly good writeups at the time but generally I would say that if you were going to rate bands on their coolness at the time of release Supertramp would probably note rate much above 2. Were they also not initially started by some consortium wanting a pet rock band or such like, there was some sort of whiff of scandal or at least mild skullduggery, probably the most controversial thing that ever happened to them
|
|||
|
The Sea Cat 3608 posts |
Dec 12, 2009, 13:44
|
||
|
Stevo wrote: there are a couple of decent Uk prog bands worth checking out too. Heard Gnidrilog? Both lps are currently available on a BGO 2fer. I like Indian summer & Ton ton Macoute too as well as Raw material's Time Is. I'm sure I'll think of others later too. While thinking Gentle Giant, reading Rabelais can be fun. they seemed to have a bit of a fixation on him. Bawdy 16th century french writer with scatological fixations, pretty funny if you can read material that old. Giant on The Box, the dvd has some interesting material on. The first gig on the video is from a Brussels film studio in 1974. I think the drumming is getting a bit busy, which is one thing I really don't like about the later material. & Phil Shulman left around this point which might be more of an axis point in the change in the sound. Np Sun Ra '78 Happy Medium Next stop earth I will definitely investigate these recommendations, and I will pick up Rabelais from the Library. I'm aware of him, so it's time to read him whilst listenening to GG ;-). I can't for the life of me see any similarity with Supertramp though, as suggested on other posts. Not my thing at all. Sun Ra - Outer Spaceways Incoporated is now playing.
|
| Pages: 4 – [ Previous | 1 2 3 4 | Next ] | Add a reply to this topic |
|
|
|
| Unsung Forum Index | |
