Nights At The Roundtable – Gentle Giant In Session – 1973
Gentle Giant – admittedly complex, even by Progressive standards.
Gentle Giant were one of those bands who were wildly influential among musicians and a small but loyal fan-base. Commercially, they tried, but never really succeeded to the extent that other bands who followed along similar lines, such as Yes and Genesis, had.
Part of it was a serious attack of talent. And the other part was the extreme complexity of what they were doing. It wasn’t really Rock, but it wasn’t really Jazz either, and it certainly wasn’t Folk and it wasn’t Classical. Gentle Giant was a mixture of everything and it was presented in a way that really the listener to pay attention to what was going on. It was music meant to be listened to, not at. And that’s a tough sell in the world of Pop Music.
But Gentle Giant managed to put up the good fight for ten years, having been together from 1970 until their final demise in 1980. All attempts at a reunion have been fruitless and what’s left are reissues of the band and these sessions they recorded for the BBC.
Tonight it’s a session recorded on August 28, 1973, right around the time of the Music In A Glass House period.
Here’s what they play:
1. The Advent Of Panurge
2. Way Of Life
3. The Runaway.
A major band who have been overlooked, but a pivotal group in the development of the Progressive Rock movement. If you aren’t familiar with them, here is an abbreviated taste of what they were like live and hopefully will persuade you to check out their reissues. If you know the band, I’m preaching to the choir.
