r/progrockmusic • u/Lado_B • 8d ago
Discussion Where does Gentle Giant rank among the prog greats?
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Gentle Giant. Their musicality, creativity, and overall weirdness blow me away. Honestly, I’d put them in my top 3 prog bands of the 70s. Curious where you all would rank them among the big prog names.
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u/Progrockrob79 8d ago
My prog trinity:
Father: King Crimson
Son: Gentle Giant
Holy Ghost: Yes
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u/Bahamabanana 8d ago
That's an unintentionally funny inclusive yes
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u/Progrockrob79 8d ago
Jon Anderson is literally a heavenly apparition.
And Steve Howe has been dead for 20 years - which is why he looks like a walking skeleton.
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u/BeautifulAd9826 8d ago
Always been no. 1 for me Love gabriel era genesis and early/mid yes. Also, KC ( but not universally ), but Giant had the most consistent run of excellent albums from Aquiring the Taste up to and inclusing Interview
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u/beauh44x 8d ago
I'd just say I agree. They're certainly up there in my top 5 prog bands.
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u/macbrett 8d ago
I rate them highly as well. GG were refreshingly adventurous and different, for prog aficionados with more refined taste. Truly ahead of their time, they seem to be getting belated recognition decades after they packed it in.
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u/BeautifulAd9826 8d ago
Yes definerly, they at long last are getting the kudos (and the cash) they should have had when they were in their prime
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u/chroma709 8d ago
Top of the heap for me.
There used to be a thing called Radio. Back in the day, it wasn't all mass-produced and the on air personalities chose the music. WNEW-FM in New York City was once a beacon of great music.
My friend and I (I was the bassist and he was a composer/lead guitarist of a band I was in at the time) happened to be headed to a Sam Ash music store for strings and pedals, when suddenly the radio played something really different. "A Cry For Everyone" by a band I'd read about in Rolling Stone that had had a touring actual giant die on the tour. It was, of course, Gentle Giant.
We diverted to Tower Records and bought every album we could. There were four at the time.
Saw them about five times. Truly mind boggling live show. Incredible talent. Still in heavy rotation here and now, as is Genesis (not pop Genesis, but I admit a fierce love of Giant's swan song, Civilian). Stricken recently by the passing of Ray Shulman, an incredible bassist.
I freaking love Gentle Giant!
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u/Lado_B 8d ago
That’ so cool! Discovering a band like that. Of course that doesn’t happen anymore. What would you say is your favorite album by them?
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u/chroma709 8d ago
They all have their points. My tp 3 today would be The Power And The Glory, Free Hand, and Three Friends.
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u/Kneefix 8d ago
I still discover artists, old and new, on the radio all the time!
It’s usually BBC 6 on a late night programme or some specific host who may play more obscure stuff in the day. I also get a lot of newly discovered classical, and sometimes jazz, from BBC 3.
I’ll save the album it belongs to on my streamer to check out later and see if I want to buy it.
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u/BathedInDeepFog 8d ago
had a touring actual giant die on the tour
At first I thought you meant like a giant 20 sided die... Do you mean a human with gigantism?
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u/Marvin1955 7d ago
I believe they hired a guy with acromegaly (gigantism) and he died on the tour. I have a book by Gary Steel (?) that details the story, I think the guy was hired by management.
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u/WinterHogweed 8d ago
My ranking of prog bands of the classic era:
- Genesis
- Popol Vuh
- Gentle Giant, VDGG, Jade Warrior
- Yes, The Nice, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, King Crimson
- ELP
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u/mattwrz 8d ago
Popul Vuh very interesting, ive heard some of their tracks but havent got into them really, what album would you recommend as a good starting point
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u/WinterHogweed 8d ago
The discography is all over the place, so it's hard to point to one album as a starting point. But here are two.
- In Den Gärten Pharaos (1971) | Popol Vuh's first two albums are synth-based, before bandleader Florian Fricke abandoned synths altogether. This is my favourite. First side the typical atmospheric synth augmented by a drum, like on the first album Affenstunde (1970), but the second side.... Ah, this is one of my favourite pieces by anyone. It's one side long piece, 'Vuh', that consists of just one chord, a chord that just builds and builds and builds with mad percussion and insane overtones.
- Hosianna Mantra (1972) | With the synths out of the door, Popol Vuh attracks the services of guitarist Conny Veit, who on this album is giving David Gilmour a run for his money. This mystical album, that also boasts the talents of singer Djong Yun, is very far ahead of its time, laying the groundwork for the post rock of Sigur Ros, Talk Talk, God Is An Astronaut and all kinds of bands like that.
Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the output in the 1970s. Don't expect virtuoso prog, however, it's all atmosphere. Once the 80s kick in, the albums get less special and unique, but are still beautiful. A truly unique musical collective, this.
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u/UntowardHatter 8d ago
At the top imo
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u/Lado_B 8d ago
What are your top three albums?
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u/UntowardHatter 8d ago
By GG?
- Power and the Glory
- Free Hand
- In A Glass House.
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u/nashtheslash82 8d ago
Power and the Glory is the greatest prog album of all time imo. But my 2nd favorite GG album, behind Interview. If we are going on favorites.
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u/Tmblackflag 8d ago
Musical taste are subjective, but my two favorite bands are Gentle Giant and Van de Graaff generator.
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u/laweiner 8d ago
Come see Derek Shulman, front man for Gentle Giant at Progstock.com in NJ, Oct 11 & 12. Ask the man yourself.
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u/CapOld2796 8d ago
Everybody’s different. I listen to GG occasionally but have never really gotten into them. I’ll keep doing that and one day they may really click for me.
My top 5 prog bands: Pink Floyd, Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, van der Graaf Generator
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u/GentleTroubadour 8d ago
I see them seldom talked about, but they are my favourite. I think they are a bit of a love them or hate them band. Main singers vocals seem to turn people off
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u/Winniestone 8d ago edited 8d ago
Speaking on an objective level (of success, influence, etc.), I'd probably put them on a B tier with Jethro Tull, VDGG, Moody Blues, Kansas etc. Below the traditional big 4 (Yes, KC, ELP, Genesis) as well as Pink Floyd and Rush who are in superposition both above (because of their greater success) and below (because of their lesser proginess) the big 4.
But talking about subjective enjoyment, they are my number 1, in a tier with KC and Genesis.
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u/PrettyMrToasty 8d ago
They're certainly part of my prog trinity :
King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Gong.
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u/Aggravating_Bat3618 8d ago
One day Im going to get full on into Gong. I just don't always know where to start.
I had one of the Pierre Morellen albums but I know that's only one aspect of them.
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u/PrettyMrToasty 8d ago
Yeah Pierre Moerlen's gong is definitely an offshoot band, and leans much more into Jazz fusion rather than the psych-jazz roots of the band.
Daevid Allen's Gong is where it's at. I'd say listen to Camembert Électrique, then explore from there.
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u/Kai_Daigoji 8d ago
They were my dad's favorite prog group.
Their musicianship is a cut above even the other prog bands, they're just incredible. I will say, they don't have as many songs that I truly love as some of the other bands, but I also think "Wreck" is one of the greatest songs ever written.
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u/TheBonkingFrog 8d ago
GG mostly share the sake bed as KC and VdGG, they followed their own paths, and gave a middle finger to conventionality. I say “mostly” as GG did finally cave-in to label pressure with Civilian, but on the other hand, it’s a very decent album
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u/socgrandinq 8d ago
They are on my Mt. Rushmore of prog with Yes, ELP, and King Crimson. From 71-76 they put out a run of 7 amazing albums. I can’t think of another band that had a 7 album streak.
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u/Suspicious_Simple179 6d ago
Not everything is great. But there’s stuff from Genesis or yes that wasn’t great either. This was a great band and I’m glad we’re talking about them.
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u/nachtschattenwald 8d ago
I have a "big 7" of classic British prog that includes Gentle Giant
(Genesis, ELP, Yes, Gentle Giant, Van der Graaf Generator, Jethro Tull, King Crimson)
"British" including Scotland in this case
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u/skramt 8d ago
I love the music and the medieval tinge to it. My favorite prog music is the poppier stuff - the songs you can kinda hum. That rules out a lot of the less mainstream stuff. I like Gentle Giant
However, their vocalists are all kinda weak and reedy. Kerry is an amazing keyboard player but it feels like he’s playing 80% of the song by himself sometimes, and I wish there was more space for the Shulman brothers in their songs.
So I like them but not as much as Yes or Floyd or Pentangle or such
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u/Remote-Meat6841 8d ago
Their highest charting is Freehand at 48 on Billboard 1975. The songs are longer and more complex than traditional radio airplay. No chart action in the UK which is surprising. Giant is a band for musicians that can appreciate the complexity and virtuoso technical playing. Ray Schulman’s bass lines are compared to the greatness of Chris Squire. Not recommended for the simple minded with low IQ.
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u/FatOwlKenobi 8d ago
In my book they pretty much rank the highest.
Sure, Pink Floyd has mind bending epics, Yes have masterfully crafted technical passages and King Crimson set the benchmark with their debut.
But Gentle Giant was the textbook definition for what a progressive rock band was. A band with an incredibly eccentric sound with influences stretching from classical to soul, from jazz to hard rock, bound together by the forces of a handful of technically profitient multi-instrumentalist mad lads.
They brought the progressiveness to prog in my eyes. Truly irreplacable.
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u/ray_jenkins 8d ago
i've never personally been a bit fan, but i do acknowledge their incredible musicianship and their impact on the underground prog scene in the 70s. i wouldn't put them up with prog legends like the moody blues, pink floyd, jethro tull, genesis, yes, rush, king crimson, or emerson, lake & palmer, but probably right below that.
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u/Acceptable-Bench5593 8d ago
My ranking :
- King Crimson
- Yes
- Genesis
- Frank Zappa
- Gentle Giant
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u/Aggravating_Bat3618 8d ago
As far as my personal physical collection goes?
Genesis
VDGG/PH
Floyd
Rush
Jethro Tull
King Crimson
Marillion
Gentle Giant
Henry Cow
Hmmmm???
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u/Suburban-Dad237 8d ago
They definitely make my top 10, but I don’t rank them up there with yes, Floyd, Genesis, ELP, KC, and Rush. I still think it’s wild that rap star Travis Scott lifted (apparently with permission) the first 30 seconds of proclamation for one of his songs (hyena?). Even wilder was hearing 60,000 young kids singing proclamation when I took my kids to see TS last year.
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u/Meditationmachineelf 8d ago
The goats of the goats who’s trophy room of goats they look up to is where they rank
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u/doilikeyou 8d ago
I adore Gentle Giant and listen to them often (well, up until Giant for a Day! that is), but they sadly aren't in my top 10 for me if you include all genres of prog up and of all eras. There are just a lot of bands to list.
If just the classic era (say 70's mainly) they'd end up in my top 5 though they'd have to fight it out for the #5 spot with Uriah Heep, and where the top 4 spots would be, not in order, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull.
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u/Dirty_Dianah 8d ago
I am completely new to Gentle Giant. What records should I start with as I go through the discography? Thanks!
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u/Romencer17 8d ago
Up at the very fucking top of course
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u/Lado_B 8d ago
Now I’m curious how you would rank all their albums.
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u/majwilsonlion 8d ago
Progarchives has them all ranked. You can see the %ranking and the #number of votes per album.
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u/Romencer17 8d ago
I think the first seven are all total classics. Personal favorite is Acquiring the Taste but I'd probably say Octopus or Power & the Glory is their best. Interview is good too but not quite on the level of the others, and the last three I initially wrote off as too pop not prog enough but they have grown on me over time after repeated listens, they were still always a good band. Live album rules of course.
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u/ADelvecchio 8d ago
Hard to rank but like you, as soon as I heard them, I became obsessed and have loved them ever since!
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u/Lado_B 8d ago
What’s your favorite album by them?
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u/ADelvecchio 8d ago
I hope you enjoy listening to them all and I’d love to hear back when you do! Steven Wilson did some amazing remasters with most of these albums.
My personal rankings are:
The Power and the Glory (whole album is amazing, the first 4 tracks are must listens)
Octopus (Really close to putting this as my favorite, 1A and 1B situation with power and glory)
Three Friends (Underrated, love it)
Gentle Giant (the OG, must listen)
Free Hand (Grows on you with every listen, His Last Voyage is special)
Acquiring the Taste (Most diehard fans rank this much higher, you can really tell the musicianship is reaching peak form but I personally like the other albums better)
In A Glass House (the title track is a must listen and one of my favorites of their whole discography, just an epic track with so many movements and shifts)
In’terview (Really cool concept and songs)
The Missing Piece (cool moments but just not with the same sense of grander)
Civilian (what could’ve been, 80s GG, good but not great in my opinion)
Giant for a Day (love the album cover, just doesn’t have the best replay value, weakest album from such a strong band)
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u/Lado_B 7d ago
The first album I got from them was Octopus years ago. I listened to it a couple of times and thought that it was a fun listen and not much more. I got Three Friends later on and I don’t think I listened to it more than once. But for whatever reason about a month ago I gave Octopus another chance and was totally blown away. Heard Three Friends again and the same thing happened. Got blown away by it, too. And now I’ve been listening to all their albums non-stop. And because I’m an obsessive fella, I bought most of their albums on vinyl - I’m only missing their first two 😅🫣
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u/snaxodus 7d ago
They are the absolute peak for me. Amazing musicians, composers (Kerry and Ray probably deserve most of the credit) and arrangers.
Dammit, I even like Giant for a Day.
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u/digitechsoundworks 7d ago
Gentle Giant are excellent but I'm not good at ranking things, I don't tend to have a solid sense of what I think is better than other stuff, just that I like something or don't.
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u/Suspicious_War5435 7d ago
Very high. Only behind Opeth, King Crimson, Yes, Marillion, and Dream Theater... but they're still in my top 25. I think the only thing that holds them back is the relatively scarcity of their output. Compared to the bands I ranked higher, all of them have a much larger/richer discography. I love every Gentle Giant album, but I can go through their entire discography in a day if I felt inspired.
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u/Phrenologer 7d ago
GG were their own genre. As a convenience we label them prog, because they emerged around the same time and appealed to much the same audience. But the musical headspace they occupied was at right angles to the prog rock scene.
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u/Ballmaster2112 7d ago
I’ve been a casual fan for a few years now- always liked Free Hand and Octopus- but for the last few weeks I’ve listened to them literally every day. For me they stand right at the top along with Genesis, King Crimson and Zappa/Mothers. And just below them I’d rank Yes, Jethro Tull, and Renaissance. Like with Zappa, the music is really intricate/complex, but at the same time there’s an ear-wormy quality that just makes it really easy for me to listen to (and randomly get songs stuck in my head throughout the day).
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u/mdstratts 7d ago
In addition to GG, another couple of Prog Bands I like are Triumvirat, and Rare Bird. I know Renaissance started out as Folk Rock, but didn’t they slide over to a more progressive sound? Annie Haslam’s voice was otherworldly
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u/Wirralgir1 6d ago
Steven Wilson is a huge fan, and his GG remasters (mentioned earlier) are available from Burning Shed 👍
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u/Smackediduring 6d ago
Definitely top 3. Hell, they may even be number one in my book. I mean, Gabriel-era Genesis has to be up there too but.. yeah, I suppose those two are in a constant fight for the number one spot.
It’s a good thing top lists are really just arbitrary nonsense.
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u/thelenis 6d ago
Although they didn't write long epics like Yes or Genesis or Rush, I think their music might be some of the most complex in prog history
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u/MathematicianOk2487 4d ago
Couldn't really get into other albums but In the Glass House is masterpiece
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u/12eightyseven 8d ago
I'd put Gentle Giant respectfully in a third tier (out of maybe 10 tiers). My first tier is all time greats for all music (Zappa, Crimson) my second tier is genius loons that had prog bands (Van Der Graaf Generator, Gabriel-era Genesis, Barret-era Floyd) and my third tier which also includes Yes. I listen to GG way more often than Yes.
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u/BigYellowPraxis 8d ago
Although I do like them, personally I'm not a *huge* fan as I find a lot of their music a bit too cold for me at the end of the day. However they're clearly brilliant, totally unique, and always an interesting listen. They certainly rank amongst the best of prog.
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u/laweiner 8d ago
It’s been going in the Northeast for 7 years, it’s 3 days of Prog music and Prog Fans. I think the fans are as good as the music.
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u/laweiner 8d ago
Also Steve Hogarth is going to be there. People are coming from all over the US. He is never in America.
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u/NeverSawOz 8d ago
4 out of 5 for me. Derek wasn't the best singer, and sometimes their music lacks a bit melody/swing, throwing off the 'flow' of the song, if that makes sense.
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u/Salmacis81 8d ago
Pretty interesting from a musical perspective but I do not like any of their vocalists. Not that they can't sing, they clearly can. I just don't any of their voices.
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u/Mcclane12000 8d ago
Number one for me, constantly blown away by them✌️ Harder to pick second favourite really, Crimson, Yes, Floyd...I dunno!