Gentle Giant

Prehistory (including Simon Dupree and the Big Sound) The core of what was to become Gentle Giant comprised three brothers: Phil Shulman (born 1937), Derek Shulman (born 1947) and Ray Shulman (1949–2023). The brothers were of Scottish-Jewish descent. Phil and Derek were born in the Gorbals, which was then a notorious slum area of Glasgow, Scotland. From the start, Gentle Giant was a particularly flexible band because of the exceptionally broad musical skills of its members. One Gentle Giant album would list a total of forty-six instruments in the musician credits — all of which had been played by group members — and five of the six members sang, enabling the band to write and perform detailed vocal harmony and counterpoint. The band's approach to songwriting was equally diverse, blending a wide variety of ideas and influences whether they were considered commercial or otherwise. Early Gentle Giant: the debut album, Acquiring the Taste and Three Friends The band's first album was the self-titled Gentle Giant in 1970, produced by Tony Visconti. After Acquiring the Taste, Martin Smith left the band, apparently because of disagreements with both Ray and Phil Shulman. He was replaced by Malcolm Mortimore. Gentle Giant's next recording was Three Friends (1972). This was the band's first concept album, and was based around the theme of three boys who are "inevitably separated by chance, skill, and fate" as they become men. Over the course of the album, the three friends travel on from being childhood schoolfriends to becoming, respectively, a road digger, an artist, and a white-collar worker. In the process, they lose their ability to relate to each other or understand each other's lifestyles. The development and fate of each character is musically represented by separate yet integrated styles, from hard rhythm-and-blues-edged rock to symphonic classical stylings. In March 1972, Malcolm Mortimore injured himself in a motorcycle accident. To fulfil tour obligations in April, Gentle Giant hired John "Pugwash" Weathers (born 7 February 1947) the band opted to formally replace him with Weathers at the end of the 1972 April tour. Octopus and the departure of Phil Shulman The new line-up of Gentle Giant released the Octopus album later in 1972. Derek Shulman recalled, "It was perhaps the most ridiculous pairing of groups ever in the history of show business. For the most part we got booed off the stage". "John [Weathers] and I really pushed for the band to continue at that point because it looked like we were going to fold. And that seemed just ludicrous – I mean we had Kerry at full strength and Ray writing great. We were really strong live and we were about to get stronger. I think we became a stronger band after Phil left. And that's nothing against Phil. We had just been just hitting our stride as players". In 2005, Derek Shulman reflected, "Civilian was done with less passion than some of the other albums. As it turns out we as a band were just not good at being rock or pop stars. We would have loved to be as popular as a Genesis or Rush or Yes. In hindsight, I sometimes think that Gentle Giant was wrongfully put into the progressive rock category. Much of what we did was very clever, but we certainly didn't do these long complex tunes like Yes or Genesis did". Gary Green's opinion of the split differs. In 2003 he commented: "My own personal opinion is that the band broke up because Derek really wanted a hit album, and I think Ray did too, and they were fed up. They had been musicians longer than I had, and they had tasted it pretty good when they were with Simon Dupree, at least in Britain. And they were looking for some of that in Giant too. My feeling is that we could have continued on as PFM did, or Yes, and still continue. If we had adhered to the statement we started out with, we could still be playing that, and still be earning a reasonable living. That's all water under the bridge and that's fine now. It seemed a bit silly to cut off your creativity for that kind of thing". Post-split Following the dissolution of the band, Derek Shulman went on to a successful career in the organisational side of the music business (initially promotion and artist development for PolyGram, followed by A&R at Mercury Records, Ray Shulman moved into soundtrack work for television and advertising before becoming a successful record producer (working with, among others, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Sundays, and the Sugarcubes). John Weathers went on to drum for Man (an association that lasted until 1996) and later played in Glenn Cornick's Wild Turkey. Gary Green (having settled in America, near Chicago) went on to play with various Illinois bands (including Blind Dates, the Elvis Brothers, Big Hello, and Mother Tongue) and guest on recordings and at concerts by Eddie Jobson and Divae. Gary also played guitar on the album Deeper Imaginings by Paul Adams and Australian Elizabeth Geyer that was nominated best New Age album of 2019 by the Independent Music Awards. Kerry Minnear returned to the UK and settled in Cornwall, spending many years working in gospel music. He was briefly in a band with his son Damon Shulman and recorded several pieces with him. Several of these (under the collective title of Then) were spoken-word pieces in which he reminisced about his upbringing in the Glasgow slums. One of these pieces, "Rats", appeared on Damon Shulman's solo album In Pieces (2003) and can be heard as an audio stream on Damon Shulman's homepage and MySpace page (made available in April 2008). Original Gentle Giant drummer Martin Smith settled in Southampton and drummed with various bands there – he died on 2 March 1997. Second Gentle Giant drummer Malcolm Mortimore has continued to work as a successful sessions drummer in the rock, jazz, and theatre fields. Reunions Despite having seen many of their progressive rock contemporaries reunite for tours, Gentle Giant are notable for having consistently refused to reunite as a full band. In 1997, the Gentle Giant fanbase unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the members to perform a reunion concert. Reasons cited by members for their rejection include busy schedules, health problems, lack of practice on instruments, and other personal reasons. Asked about a possible reunion in 1995, Phil Shulman replied: "We lead such disparate lives now and different lifestyles, different attitudes... I think it's impossible". in order to play Gentle Giant material. This band featured former members guitarist Gary Green and drummer Malcolm Mortimore. They recruited three noted jazz-fusion musicians to complete the band, with Roger Carey on bass and vocals, Andy Williams on guitar, and John Donaldson on piano and keyboards. Green contributed lead vocals to some of the songs. In March 2009, Green and Mortimore were joined by a third Gentle Giant member in the form of Kerry Minnear and Rentle Giant consequently changed its name to Three Friends. Also at this time, the band recruited vocalist Mick Wilson as dedicated lead singer. After a short tour, it was announced that Minnear was leaving the band for personal reasons, and that Three Friends planned to continue as a six-piece. In due course, by 2011, Carey, Williams and Donaldson had left the band, to be replaced by Lee Pomeroy on bass and Gary Sanctuary on keyboards. Charlotte Glasson joined in 2012, adding violin, baritone sax, alto sax and recorder, enabling the band to create a live sound closer to the original recordings. This line-up toured Italy, Canada and the United States in 2012. In 2015, the band consisted of Green, Mortimore, Glasson, Neil Angilley and Jonathan Noyce. They have not performed live since then. A fan video of "Proclamation" was posted on YouTube on 15 July 2020. The video featured appearances from Gentle Giant members Gary Green, Kerry Minnear, Derek Shulman, Ray Shulman (his last band-related appearance before his death), Phil Shulman, John Weathers and Malcolm Mortimore. Additional musicians included Jakko Jakszyk, Billy Sherwood, Yes/Steve Hackett bassist Lee Pomeroy, Rachel Flowers, Dan Reed (Dan Reed Network), Richard Hilton (Chic) and Mikey Heppner (Priestess) among others. The video was directed and edited by Noah Shulman and mixed by his uncle Ray. ==Reissues==

There has been renewed interest in Gentle Giant since 1990, with new fan clubs, new releases of live concerts and previously unreleased material, and several tribute albums. The rights of the band's catalogue are scattered among many companies, not all of which are keen on re-releasing the albums properly. In particular, the first four albums have yet to receive definitive CD releases. For example, the title track on Acquiring the Taste begins with an obvious defect, possibly from a damaged master tape, on all current CD and vinyl releases. The 1996 compilation Edge of Twilight includes a corrected version of the song. Conflicting evidence sometimes reports that this defect exists on the original 1971 vinyl release of the album, with the opening note bending up as the tape comes up to speed – probably an engineering error. In July 2004, the first eponymous album was re-released by Repertoire; in December 2005, they released Acquiring the Taste; in December 2006, Octopus in a mini-sleeve with the original design of Roger Dean was released, and in December 2007, German label Repertoire released Three Friends in a mini-sleeve with the original British release design. Although not widely distributed, these re-issues have been praised for their production quality and remastering. Before that, all first four albums have been re-released on Universal Japan label. In 2005, to celebrate the band's 35th anniversary, a series of digitally remastered and specially packaged CDs of their later albums were released by Derek Shulman's company, DRT Entertainment. They all featured unreleased live tracks (of varying quality) as bonuses. Many of these albums (most notably In a Glass House) were previously difficult to purchase in North America without resorting to imports. The re-released albums are: In a Glass House, The Power and the Glory, Free Hand, Interview, The Missing Piece, the live album Playing the Fool, and Giant for a Day. A reissue series on CD and, with bonus tracks, as digital downloads was begun in 2009/2010. In a 2009 interview Derek Shulman also indicated that plans were in the works to put out an animated film based on The Power and the Glory (this has yet to come to fruition). In 2011 the original mastertapes for Three Friends and Octopus were located and Alucard Music reissued each album with a bonus live performance of material from each respective album. Each album was remastered by Ray Shulman and Francis Kervorkian (both of whom worked on the 2009 remasters). Free Hand and Interview both get re-issued in 2012 on CD/DVD & Vinyl. The CD/DVD features a previously unreleased lost quadraphonic mix. The special 4.1 Surround Sound mix (audiophiles note it's DTS 96/24 and Dolby Digital 48 kHz/24bit) has been adapted from the original Quad mixes. The band members have written new sleevenotes for both albums. 2012's I Lost My Head - The Chrysalis Years is a 4-CD set rounding up all of Gentle Giant's Chrysalis albums with bonus tracks including John Peel sessions, 7" mixes, live tracks & 'b' sides etc. In 2014, The Power and the Glory was re-released as a CD/DVD set with new mixes by Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) from the multitrack masters. The DVD contains new 48 kHz/24-bit Stereo LPCM, DTS 96 kHz/24-bit 5.1, and Dolby AC3 5.1 mixes, as well as a 96 kHz/24-bit LPCM transfer of the original 1974 studio mix. In 2017, Three Piece Suite was released, and focused on tracks from their first three albums (Gentle Giant, Acquiring the Taste, and Three Friends). These tracks were re-mixed by Steven Wilson from the available multi-track tapes. Some songs from the first three albums were not included in the set as the multi-tracks for those specific songs have been lost. The set was available as a CD of the re-mixed songs and a Blu-Ray disk. The Blu-ray disk had 96/24 Stereo LPCM and DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Sound versions of the re-mixed tracks, additional bonus tracks, instrumental versions of some tracks, and Original Album Mixes from Flat Transfers of Mint Condition Original LPs. There were also new video animations included on the 5.1 Surround tracks. This release came packaged as a single Digipack with the two disks, a 16-page booklet, new artwork and was approved by the band for release. Their final album, Civilian, was scheduled to be reissued on CD and available to stream on 20 May 2022. ==Musical style==

Gentle Giant's music was mostly composed by Kerry Minnear and Ray Shulman, with additional musical ideas contributed by Derek Shulman (who was also known to contribute entire songs). Lyrics were mostly written by Phil Shulman and Derek Shulman (Kerry Minnear wrote some lyrics) up until Phil's departure following the release of Octopus (1972) – subsequent lyrics were mostly written by Derek Shulman, with help from Kerry Minnear. It shares several aspects with that of other progressive rock bands, including: • multi-part vocal harmonies • complex lyrics • organisation into concept album form (on occasion) • frequent changes in tempo • frequent use of syncopation and non-standard time signatures, including polymeters (two or more different time signatures played simultaneously) • use of complex melodies, frequently contrasting harmonies with dissonance • extensive use of instrumental and vocal counterpoint • use of musical structures typically associated with classical music (for example, madrigal form on "Knots", fugal exposition in "On Reflection", occasional Early Music stylings and the consistent use of stated, exchanged and recapitulated musical themes exchanged between instruments) • use of classical, brass band and percussion-section instrumentation not generally associated with rock music However, it has been noted that in spite of the comparatively complex initial sound, Gentle Giant's music is in fact fairly traditional in terms of harmony and features relatively few complex chords. In common with most 1970s progressive rock, Gentle Giant compositions are closer to early 20th century neoclassicism than to contemporary classical music (some Gentle Giant songs, such as "Black Cat", "Experience" and "So Sincere", do utilise more complicated modernist harmonics). In general, the band relied on sudden and unexpected compositional twists and turns to stimulate their audience, including: • polyphony • hocketing • unusual chord progressions • breaking up and tonally re-voicing patterns of initially simple chords (with the chords subtly altering from repetition to repetition) • accelerating and decelerating duration of musical themes • rapid and frequent key changes (sometimes within a single bar) • division of vocal lines between different singers (including staggered rhythms) • clever handling of transitions between sections (such as a hard-rock guitar riff being immediately substituted by a medieval choral) ==Personnel==

Members • Gary Green – guitar, mandolin, vocals, recorder, bass guitar, percussion (1970–1980) • Kerry Minnear – keyboards, vocals, cello, vibraphone, xylophone, recorder, guitar, bass guitar, percussion (1970–1980) • Derek Shulman – lead and backing vocals, saxophone, recorder, bass guitar, percussion, "Shulberry" (3-string custom electric ukulele) (1970–1980) • Ray Shulman – bass guitar, violin, guitar, vocals, viola, trumpet, percussion, recorder (1970–1980; died 2023) • Phil Shulman – backing and lead vocals, saxophone, trumpet, mellophone, clarinet, recorder, percussion (1970–1973) • Martin Smith – drums, percussion (1970–1971; died 1997) • Malcolm Mortimore – drums, percussion (1971–1972) • John "Pugwash" Weathers – drums, percussion, vibraphone, xylophone, vocals, guitar (1972–1980) Lineups Member instrumentation Timeline ==Discography==

Studio albums • Gentle Giant (1970) • Acquiring the Taste (1971) • Three Friends (1972) • Octopus (1972) • In a Glass House (1973) • The Power and the Glory (1974) • Free Hand (1975) • Interview (1976) • The Missing Piece (1977) • Giant for a Day! (1978) • Civilian (1980) Live albums • Playing the Fool - The Official Live (1977) Chrysalis, Capitol; recorded (au naturel) on European tour, September to October 1976 • In Concert (1994, recorded at the Golders Green Hippodrome, London, 5 January 1978) • The Last Steps (1996, re-released in 2003, recorded at the Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, 16 June 1980) • Live on the King Biscuit Flower Hour (1998, recorded at the Academy of Music, New York City, 18 January 1975) • In a Palesport House (1999, recorded at Palazzo dello Sport, Rome, 3 January 1973) • Live Rome 1974 (2000, recorded at the PalaEur in Rome, Italy, 26 November 1974) • ''In'terview in Concert'' (2000, recorded at Hempstead, New York, 3 July 1976) • Endless Life (2002, recorded at Music Hall, White Plains, New York, 3 October 1975 and at Community Theatre, Berkeley, California, 28 October 1975) • Prologue (2002, recorded at Halle Münsterland, Münster, Germany, 5 April 1974 and at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 10 October 1975) • Playing the Cleveland (2003, recorded at the Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, 27 January 1975 and at Academy of Music, New York City, 5 November 1975) • Artistically Cryme (2003, recorded at Olympen, Lund, Sweden, 19 September 1976) • The Missing Face (2003, recorded at the Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio, November 1977) • Live in Santa Monica 1975 (2005) • Live in New York 1975 (2005, recorded at Music Hall, White Plains NY, 3 October 1975) • GG at the GG - Sight And Sound In Concert (2006) • ''Live in Stockholm '75'' (2009, recorded at Club Kåren (Kårhuset), Stockholm University, 12 November 1975) • ''King Alfred's College, Winchester 1971'' (2009) • Live at the Bicentennial (2014, recorded at Calderone Theatre, 3 July 1976; Hempstead, New York) Compilation albums • The Original Studio Gentle Giant - Vol. 1 (1974) • The Original Studio Gentle Giant - Vol. 2 (1974) • Giant Steps – The First Five Years (1976) • Pretentious – For the Sake of It (1977) • Circling Round the Gentle Giant (1981) • Edge of Twilight (1996, 2CD) • Out of the Woods: The BBC Sessions (1996) • Champions of Rock (1996) • Out of the Fire: The BBC Concerts (1998, 2CD) • The Essential of Gentle Giant (1999) • Totally out of the Woods: The BBC Sessions (2000, re-release of 'Out of the Woods' with bonus material) • Way of Life (2003, 2CD) • Giant on the Box (2004, CD/DVD) • Three Piece Suite (2017, CD/Blu-Ray) Boxsets • Under Construction (1997, 2-CD boxset of unreleased material, demos, outtakes and odd live recordings) • Scraping the Barrel (2004, 4-CD boxset of unreleased material, demos, outtakes and odd live recordings) • I Lost My Head – The Chrysalis Years (2012, 4-CD boxset of all officially released albums from the period of 1975 to 1980 plus bonus material) • Memories of Old Days (2013, 5-CD box, a compendium Of curios, bootlegs, live tracks, rehearsals and demos) • Unburied Treasure (2019, 29CD/1 Blu-ray boxset of all 11 studio albums and 18 live albums) • Front Row Center (2022, U.S. Dates 1976 - 1980, 10-LP set of live recordings, some previously unreleased, sourced from Gary Green's personal collection) EPs • Playing the Fool - Gentle Giant on Tour (1977) UK singles • "The Power and the Glory" / "Playing the Game" (1974) • "I'm Turning Around" / "Just the Same" (1977) • "Two Weeks in Spain" / "Free Hand" (1977) • "Thank You" / "Spooky Boogie" (1978) • "Words from the Wise" / "No Stranger" (1979) • "The Power and the Glory" / "Proclamation - Live 1977" (2010) Bootlegs • Playing the Foole (A Stake in the Heart - The 1975 American Tour) recorded live on 18 January 1975, at the Academy Of Music in New York City. Released on The Amazing Kornyfone Record Label TAKRL 1943 in 1975. The record sleeve listed the venue as "Utland Communicable Concourse", which was false information. The album achieved such fame, however, that the band decided to adopt the title for their official live double album Playing the Fool (omitting the final "e"), released two years later. • Playing the Foole in Wonderland recorded live on 18 January 1975, at the Academy Of Music in New York City. Released on the Wizardo Records label WRMB 309 in September 1975. This release included an additional fake recording "March Of The Trolls", which the bootleggers had recorded themselves. • Amongst the Darkers recorded live on 7 October 1975, at Ultra-Sonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, New York. Released on The Amazing Kornyfone Record Label TAKRL 1983 in 1975, following broadcast on WLIR Radio in New York City. TAKRL reissued the record again in 1976 with the same catalogue number using a revised title, Amongst the Darkers (Behind the Few - The 1975 American Tour). ==Alucard Music==

Alucard Music is a British music label that releases CDs and DVDs of Gentle Giant. It was founded by Kerry and Lesley Minnear. CD releases • Under Construction (1997, 2CD box set of unreleased material, demos, outtakes and odd live recordings) • In a Glass House (1973 album, remastered CD in 2000) • Scraping the Barrel (2004, 4CD box set of unreleased material, demos, outtakes and odd live recordings) DVD releases • Giant on the Box (2004) • Giant on the Box – Deluxe Edition (DVD + CD, 2005) • GG at the GG – Sight and Sound in Concert (DVD + CD, 2006) ==Filmography==

• Giant on the Box (DVD, 2004) • Giant on the Box – Deluxe Edition (DVD + CD, 2005) • GG at the GG – Sight and Sound in Concert (DVD + CD, 2006) == Literature ==

• • (Transcription of a lecture held in German language in 2005) • (Conference journal. Analysis of the song Knots of album Octopus) • • (Textual analysis of three songs of album Acquiring the Taste) • (Derek Shulman's memoirs of being in Simon Dupree & the Big Sound, Gentle Giant, and as a music executive) ==References==