We listeners and lovers of classic rock are a faithful breed, often derided
by ‘other’ music fans for our love of ‘the old stuff’.
If you happen to be into progressive classic rock, you find yourself surrounded
by even smaller group of supporters. Then, in the ‘prog rock’ field
if you happen to live for the music of bands like Nektar, Starcastle and Gentle
Giant over the biggies like Pink Floyd or Yes, you find yourself in an even
smaller circle. Being a Gentle Giant fan you are truly in a minority, a fan
of a true ‘cult’ band, a lover of a luminary collective of great
musical mavens who never ‘broke’ big like their more popular contemporaries
Genesis or even ELP. Lucky for you there is the live CD from Gentle Giant, Live
In Santa Monica 1975.
Released by Glasshouse Records, Live In Santa Monica 1975
features the band at just about midway in their career (the last two songs “For
Nobody #1” and “For Nobody #2” were recorded in Dallas in
1977). As the liner note booklet attests, GG often enjoyed more popularity “on
the continent” and in America where they supported acts like Jethro Tull
and Black Sabbath, than they ever did in their home turf of England. This CD
does illustrate they were an acquired ‘taste,’ but there is no denying
the band’s prodigious talents. Helmed by front man Derek Shulman, these
seven songs feature recorders, vibes, various keys, violin, plus the usual array
of rock, bass and drums of any other ‘regular’ rock band. With a
solid amount of personal changes (at the beginning Gentle Giant supported Shulman
and his two brothers, Roy and Phil), and running through three different drummers
(sounds like Spinal Tap!) GG lumbered on through eleven amazing studio albums,
such as “Octopus” and “Giant for a Day” from 1970 until
1980. Live In Santa Monica 1975 is a great live account of
what GG was all about on those studio recordings.
Songs like “Proclamation”-which I feel is probably the best track
here-features some great guitar playing, radical hair-raising changes, vibes
and violin playing. There is the requisite drum solo on “So Sincere”
and just as you think it might be stretching on a little too long, in comes
a nice vibes interlude. The “Advent of Panurge” has what has got
to be one of the few times I ever have heard a recorder duet on record, with
a snippet of “Old McDonald” thrown in for good measure!
But be forewarned — Live Santa Monica 1975 is lacking
in sound quality. The bass distorts on almost every song, we get snippets of
pieces (the first song “Cogs in Cogs” just begins mid song) and
the vocals, never a GG strong point, sound a bit shrill. Doing some research
on Glasshouse and all things Gentle Giant, it seems that the record company
is trying to present cleaned-up, professional packages of albums that were long
available only on bootleg and for this I applaud them, but unless you are truly
a Gentle Giant fan, Live Santa Monica 1975, might be a tough
sell.
From time to time there has been talk of a Gentle Giant reunion, some members
have even played with each other in various incarnations (even recording some
new material), but none of the surviving giants (drummer Martin Smith died in
1997) seem to want to get together for a full “GG” reunion. Derek
Shulman left the band in 1980 and became vice-president at PolyGram, signing
Bon Jovi, Cinderella and Tears For Fears, among others. Currently, Shulman is
the president of his own label and with the other guys scattering to the UK
and America, it seems releases like Live Santa Monica 1975
will truly be the only chance any of us have of hearing Gentle Giant, albeit
maybe not from the best recording source, but at least these many years later.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
