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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

Gentle Giant - Giant On The Box DVD

Label - Alucard
Reviewed by: Tom Karr
Genre: Prog Rock
Country: England
Language: English
Length: 1:49:40
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Label:
Alucard
Band Members: Derek Shulman - Vocals, Saxophone, Recorder, Bass, Percussion Ray Shulman - Bass, Violin, Acoustic Guitar, Recorder, Trumpet, Vocals, Percussion
  Gary Green - Guitars, Recorder, Vocals, Percussion Kerry Minnear - Keyboards, Cello, Vibes, Recorder, Vocals, Percussion
  John Weathers - Drums, Vibes, Tambourine, Vocals, Percussion
     
Track Listing: 1.)-Cogs in cogs 8.)-So sincere
  2.)- Proclamation US TV Concert- Whilst touring in the US in 1975, Giant recorded this TV special at the Terrace Theatre, Long Beach, California. (See Below)
  3.)- Funny ways 1.)-Experience
  4.)-The runaway 2.)-Features from Octopus
  5.)- Experience 3.)-Advent of Panurge
  6.)-Features from Octopus 4.)-Funny ways
  7.)-Advent of Panurge Szene '74 'Szene 74', a topical news show from German television station BRW, filmed this rare footage during Giants European tour of that year. Guitar & drums: from "In a Glass House"
  Photo Gallery, A Collection Of Photos From Gary Greens Private Collections, 38 Photos Extras - (1) Baroque & Roll, Live Footage And Interview
The Review

Seeing as how Gentle Giant has no plans to re-unite this DVD comes along at just the right time. This disc contains the classic 1974 German ZDF TV appearance that has been going around as a video and .mpeg file and the bands 1975 Long Beach concert that was filmed for ABC's In Concert series. Two short pieces are also featured, Szene, a clip from German television and Baroque& Roll, a short Italian documentary in B&W that contains footage of the Giant performing "Features From Octopus" and a band interview. All this footage is from the 1970's and, as such it is somewhat grainy and it is recorded in mono sound. Since all of this is over thirty years old, what else would one expect? Nevertheless, the quality of the bands music and the spectacular level of the performances make all of the technical shortcomings irrelevant.

The first surprise found on this disc is the new intro and menu music recorded by Kerry Minnear. Heavy on clavinet, (big surprise, huh?) this is great stuff, and evidence that Kerry needs to get a solo recording out. The next surprise is how good most of the film used for this presentation really is, considering its age. In the age of HDTV it may seem a bit grainy but it certainly looks better now than it did when it was originally broadcast, and that is a fact (I saw the ABC broadcast as a teenager) I can attest to.

The ZDF broadcast is of the Giant's 1975 tour promoting The Power And The Glory and it makes up the bulk of this disc with eight songs in about fifty minutes. The group starts with "Cogs In Cogs" and continues with "Proclamation", Funny Ways" ,"So Sincere" and "Features From Octopus" among others. The Long Beach show recorded for American TV features only four tunes and all of them are also included in the ZDF broadcast. The Italian short, Baroque& Roll features a band interview but unless you speak Italian it won't do much for you. The questions are asked in Italian and the voice over translation of their answers to Italian makes most of their English language answers near impossible to hear.

The really important (and obvious) reasons that this disc is so welcome are that, unlike most of their peers, Gentle Giant have never performed a reunion concert or tour, none of the members have been in the public eye for near thirty years and there has been little or no video of the band available until now. The other reason is more basic. The Giant was one of the finest bands ever to set foot on stage and after thirty years of obscurity a lot of prog fans have no idea of how amazing, how talented, how important Gentle Giant really was. Folks who are unfamiliar with the band are floored when they see the band members playing two or three different instruments each, sometimes switching in the middle of a song. The stunning virtuosity of the five members of Gentle Giant is even more impressive now in this age of samples and lip-synching than it was in their heyday and the incredible synchronicity of the band members is unlikely to be matched in today's world. As an added bonus a CD of the ZDF performance is included, making this release one hell of a deal. This DVD is very, very highly recommended to all fans of 1970's prog and even more so to anyone who hasn't heard, much less seen Gentle Giant before.

RATING: 5/5

©Thomas Karr May 15, 2006

 

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