#Gentle Giant #Shulman brothers #progressive rock #British prog #eclectic prog #classic prog #hard rock
#experimental rock #jazz rock #neoclassical #medieval #1970s #music video
Prog legends Gentle Giant have released a mind-warping visualizer video for His Last Voyage which you can watch above. The track is taken from the new Steven Wilson remix of the band’s 1975 album Free Hand, which is out now. “The video uses a unique AI software algorithm to create a set of abstract visuals,” the band explain of the video, which has appeared on the Gentle Giant YouTube channel. Free Hand was Gentle Giant’s seventh album, originally released in July 1975. It was the most commercially successful of the band’s career reaching the Top 40 album chart in Billboard Magazine. It stands as the culmination of the band’s maturity, following the successes of In A Glass House and The Power And The Glory. From: https://blog.eil.com/2021/08/22/gentle-giant-release-mind-warping-ai-video-for-his-last-voyage/
It’s likely that many readers will be completely unaware of Gentle Giant. It’s also likely that many readers would baulk at this album. It’s certainly ahead its time. ‘Free Hand’ is the seventh album by Gentle Giant, who were active between 1970 and 1980, and who have doggedly refused to reunite ever since. Comprised of multi-instrumentalists, the band was initially formed by the Shulman brothers, Derek, Ray and Phil although Phil had departed way before Free Hand was released in 1975.
The latest progressive rock outfit to have been given the Steven Wilson remix once over, ‘Free Hand’ was the most commercially successful of the band’s albums, which is astonishing when you listen to it today. Comprising high alto and baritone vocal harmonies, recorder, whistles, fiddles as well as the more standard keyboards, bass, drums and piano, there’s such a myriad of styles in their progressive and complex music that one wonders how it gained any kind of commercial success.
The track ‘On Reflection’ is the obvious example, blending baroque, medieval and chamber music styles with classical and folk, there’s hardly a sniff of guitar for much of the song. By all accounts, that was one of the main attractions of the band, their sheer complexity in song writing. Take a listen to the soulful funk groove of the title track, a song of sheer indulgence and multiple time signatures. It’s simply incredible in its changes, feel and overall delivery. Something that today would be so far out of the mainstream most couldn’t even contemplate it.
There are more medieval flavours on ‘Talybont’, with prominent use of the harpsichord and recorders giving the track a 16th century feel whilst ‘Time to Kill’ reverberates to a jazz rock feel, Derek Shulman’s high vocals assisted by backing vocals from the rest of the band. ‘His Last Voyage’ sees the use of Glockenspiel, harpsichord and electric guitar – it’s an almighty complex and somewhat bemusing amalgamation which is likely to be dismissed by many as twee and over progressive. It certainly is an acquired taste.
From: https://therazorsedge.rocks/2021-06-album-review-gentle-giant-free-hand/
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-instrumentalists. Although not commercially successful, they did achieve a cult following. The band stated that their aim was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of becoming very unpopular” although this stance was to alter significantly with time. Gentle Giant's music was considered complex even by progressive rock standards, drawing on a broad swathe of music including folk, soul, jazz, and classical music. Unlike many of their progressive rock contemporaries, their "classical" influences ranged beyond the Romantic and incorporated medieval, baroque, and modernist chamber music elements. The band also had a taste for broad themes for their lyrics, drawing inspiration not only from personal experiences but from philosophy and the works of Francois Rabelais and R. D. Laing. From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Giant
