Gentle Giant- Experience (REACTION//DISCUSSION)
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- Опубликовано: 4 авг 2024
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I had the chance to meet the boys from the band a few times on Gentle Giant conventions. They are just really nice and simple guys. All of the ones I could talk to and even do some music with them. They are just amazingly patient and giving out good vibes. Thanks to Kerry, Malcolm, Gary and their great families…
Just watched an interview with Sting and he said :" Music should surprise you....if Im not surprised in the first 8 bars...I switch off"....these guys surprise you 8 times in the first bar....lol
That was a great interview. Maybe the best I’ve seen from Sting.
I was going to mention that exact quote from Mr Sting. I wonder what he thought of Gentle Giant. No one ever mentioned GG except maybe Frank Zappa.
Zappa was aware of GG? I wonder what he said about them
@@georgesonm1774 Not much really. Just that he found them to be an interesting group.
One thing about GG that is not discussed so often is their great lyrics. They have always something essential to say, mostly about the human condition in one way or another. In a Glass House is a perfect example of this.
Very true John!
When I was in college a friend of mine recorded a cassette for me. All that was written on the top was “Gentle Giant”. I listened to it a few times but it didn’t really resonate with me at the time. I listened to the cassette enough times to now realize, thanks to your reactions, that he recorded “In a Glass House”, for me. I’m now getting into GG this time around. In fact, GG has been my most listened to artist over the past month.
It took me ages to uncover the layers of Gentle Giant's musical onion, but once you're frying it up, there's no going back with cooking up the prog hot dogs!--Ok, I think I've taken the food analogy slightly too far. :D
@@pentagrammaton6793 IMO, you can never take a food analogy too far. :) Although, I’m now hungry for lunch and it’s only 9am where I’m at.
@@jaybird4093 Hungry for more Gentle Giant?
@@Rowenband Always!
Gentle Giant rules. What a band. I can’t believe that teenage me (in the seventies) understood and loved them. And I’ve kept them close to my heart my entire life!!! But we can blame Derrick Shulman for later signing Nickelback and Bon Jovi as a label exec…
And the Sugar cubes
And Dream Theater, Pantera and Slipknot!
I was born in '72. No chance of seeing some of my favorite bands! GG being one
@@chrisogburn8240 Was lucky that way , saw GG twice
There’s so much music I feel the same way about. How was I even listening to Uncle Meat and liking it at age 12?
Gentle Giant….Playing the Fool….their live recording…..unless you have seen them live or video of them live…..you will never understand that they put their studio albums to shame when they played live…..taking the music itself…and elevating it up another notch…..the compositions change…..and for the better….lol…..taking brilliance and making It surpass that.
Gentle Giant is the ultimate Prog band for us hard progs and influenced many Prog bands ❤️☝️💫 thanks for the reaction JP ❤️💫☝️
Experience is one of my favorites from Gentle Giant. Both Kerry and Derek sing giving the song real dimensional qualities.
To paraphrase that Roman bloke, 'How could you not be entertained'. This's GG at their best, it's got everything. It's clever, complex, Progy, rocky, has a tinge of funk, a touch renaissance with that hint of a madrigal, along with various guitar solo's, bass runs. A brilliant musical concoction from a very unique band. Absolutely splendid.
This particular song gives sort of Jethro Tull meets Zappa with something in the coffee or tea feel.
What band! Never gets old
“Experience” was the song most played live from this album along with “The Runaway”. I highly recommend checking out some of their legendary performances.
I personally think the live version's of this are better than the studio version. I'll never forget when I saw GG live in '77 the Missing Piece had just been released.
@@Jerry-sr9kq oh man, so jealous. They had already broken up when I first heard Peel the Paint in 1986.
I always loved this track. GG has the most convoluted grooves. Their classical training is evident.
Saw the Giant 4 times.
Brilliant musicians
They were great live!
Having been born in '72, my jealousy knows no end.
What surprises me is that I never heard GG back in the days of ether.
As I’ve said before, I did see the Face and Octopus albums many times over the years but I can’t remember hearing them ever.
I’m enjoying hearing this band, most times, getting to know what a crazy stew they are. Finally.
Sometimes my Spotify mixes end and GG pops up here and there and I know who they are immediately because of this channel.
Are You Experienced? I ammmmm.
Peace and here and their Music
I love the way the arrangement of this song plays into the lyrical theme of growth and changing understanding. As each element is gradually introduced over the first minute, you hear what you *thought* were the main accent points in the rhythm change multiple times. And when the drumbeat finally appears, it sounds to me like it starts in the middle of a measure (?) (someone who knows music better than I feel free to weigh in) giving you a few more seconds of confusion before it finally snaps beautifully into place.
Wow, this is one of my favorite GG songs but I never pondered the double snare roll at the end like you opined, brilliant!! One of the most talented bands ever in my opinion, love their musicianship and song craft.
That is peak GG!
Such a great song by a great band.
You just blew my mind with the snare/breaking glass analogy, gonna have to chew on that.
That downbeat into the last section always surprises me too. I've played along to this album many times and I could never quite nail that.
I love watching your face as you once again are reminded that this band will constantly surprise you! (4:04 , after you were successfully following those keyboard hits :-D )
😅
The groove John Weathers lays down while the others spin around is sick! One of their best.
Best song EVER by the best band EVER !!!
the greatest most criminally underated band ever
This one is a definite grower. Probably the one I've most slowly come to love over the years.
Incredible bass line all through
In my humble opinion, Acquiring The Taste and Three Friends are the best albuns from this great band. You must try.
GG simply awesome...
I went through fusion period. I found after awhile, going to shows, one tune began to sound like the next. Every band member would take a shredding extended solo. I craved great ensemble playing. This is it!
My favorite GG record. Don't know how many hundred times I heard it over the years. You always find something new in it.
Their music grows for every time you listen to it......that's maybe one of the many reasons I like GG so much.
Glad to hear it with you......and yes, this music still makes me smile.
that outro yes. A beautiful track.
Good track but I much prefer the live version in the form of a medley incorporating two of the main songs from In a Glass House, "The Runaway / Experience" on the double album Playing the Fool - The Official Live. From my point of view, these are the definitive versions of these two tracks.
Dude! Gentle Giant. Back in my young buck days I saw this band LIVE three times. Heavy music, relevant lyrics. I dislike it when responders suggest other songs, but in this case I must. Gentle Giant's "Peel The Paint". Thanks to you the music world is now wide open. 'Nuff said for now.
Awesome start of my day...coffee and GG. Thanks JP!!! Everyone have an amazing day.
☕
I'm happy!
I love to hear that! :D
Really like the depth of your analizing thougts on the lyrics and the way GG expressed it in the ending...! I am a huge fan of Gentle Giant since I first heard them play in the 70s. The humour in their music! And their musicianship! Unique!
Excellent video. This is one of those songs that I am sure will get more relatable as one grows older. I always felt that track is a bit in the Three Friends "realm", both lyrically and musically, although the part at the 5:00 minute mark is really something I associate as a typical Glass house trait and the part around 6:30 is in the Free Hand/Power and the glory realms. This album is really varied and rich soundwise and do summarize quite well what the band is all about to my "Experience" :)
One of the best tracks on one of the best GG albums.
JP, your rambling is On Point!
I am so glad you are wading through the wonderful and intoxicating swamp that is Glass House, easily my favorite GG album. This tune in particular holds a deep and dear place in my heart, taking me back to my own more innocent youth. This song helped a young and impressionable bass player understand for the first time that the bass can be an extremely expressive and provocative instrument without needing to be over-the-top thumpthumpthump in-your-face all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with a thumping bass line, this song just showed me a new way of thinking about the instrument, for which I'll always be grateful. So glad you're along for the ride, I enjoy your open-minded, guileless insights.
Hey Justin, your take of how the snare at the end of the piece is of the glass shattering is very perceptive! I think you are spot on with that! I’ve been listening to this wonderfully written and performed tune for years and that never even occurred to me!
Ty! :D
I agree with your final insight. It's very subtle, yet very sonically specific, isn't it? It never appeared before and suggests in the repeating phrase from earlier that something narratively has changed and further suggests there's something further to come. I like it!
You did an EXCELLENT first-reaction analysis of this very complex piece, Justin. Between the ages of 12 and 15 I made a rapid ascent from Three Dog Night/Creedence through Deep Purple to ELP and Yes. When Gentle Giant released _Free Hand_ and opened for Yes in the summer of 1976, they became my favorite band . . . and have stayed there ever since. I got to see them live three times before they broke up. Much of their music just washed over and through me at the time, though my (minimal) musical training could pick apart some of the intertwining melodic and harmony lines, I guess.
But GG were great on all levels -- lyrically as well as musically, and I'm glad you took the time and trouble to share and discuss the words. Not a lot of people who do the reaction videos I've seen do that enough, if at all. And GG certainly deserved it.
Excellent work.
Can’t wait till the title track.
What a great track.. So much going on.. So inventive..
I wish you to have a comment from Gary Green and Shulman brothers
Another perfect example of their trademark gentle & the giant sides. Lyrically amazingly poetic. GG were at the best of the best on so many levels and this incredible album has it's own original charm. I was just listening to "Acquiring the Taste" (2nd LP) another early uniquely original album masterpiece !!!
I could see the gears of your mind turning at various stations on this train, especially there at the end with those rocks being thrown, and the edifice falling down, like a self on first transcendence. I am a bartender who mixes metaphors.
What is fortunate about life today is that folks from different walks can share something at once old and new, in real time or not...that choice is also available, as I write from a few minutes or hours after the fact.
If one only listened to the climaxes of climaxes, down by the river, that joins the ocean, as a germ in the seed grows, we're finally free to get back home, on the range, of songs on a high vibration, if flown too high, will burn the needle. We stir metaphors too. And lyrics.
All to say that it is all good. Time will see and tell just how good.
Love love love your idea about the symbolic breaking of glass in the drumming. I see this was posted months ago but wanted to get in on the convo as well. I’m in the process now of discovering Gentle Giant and boy oh boy are they great!! So many of their songs are structured in almost a jigsaw puzzle-like way, and I’m not 100% sure it’s always successful. Very sharp changes of texture, rhythm, melodic ideas… sometimes it comes off a little as mechanical to me. But, as you said, the songs are infinitely flavorful, and having heard a song once, the second time listening I feel like I recognize the melody from some utopian eternity. So I am still trying to wrap my head around their mechanisms and repetitions, but enjoying the process thoroughly.
Thanks for posting these videos. Really always love your take and your super positive energy.
Thanks Fredo! The jigsaw puzzle nature of their music is a great point! Many pieces to a wonderful whole
It’s also so filled with hooks! I literally have been in the process of discovery for only the last two weeks, but I wake up every morning with one or another song of theirs in my mind. This morning it’s the tough, cool bass line from Way of Life. I’m still not sure I totally understand their form (I’m a modern classical music fan and am most interested in Schnittke, Shostakovich and Britten, whose musical forms have some similarities but are ultimately very different) but I have only the highest respect for and fascination with what Gentle Giant have created. I keep listening. Hopefully the pieces will fall together, but I wonder if part of the point is similar to what David Lynch has done with his puzzle-like films (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive). I think part of the point of breaking things to pieces is to create the sparks between the juxtapositions.
Another track from the best album from the most gifted band ever to tune up. :)
Looking forward to your next and last song review for this album - the title track "In a glass house". I'm a huge GG fan and I regard this their best effort ever at creating a prog masterpiece :)
JP, I see that you do you first listens with many different bands. Mark my words... In thirty years, you will have forgotten most of the bands you've reviewed, but, YOU WILL STILL BE LISTENING TO GENTLE GIANT! I bet ya!!! LOL I will most likely be dead by then, so you will be carrying the Gentle Giant torch!
I love the people who put "thumbs up" without even watching. .....same ones who proclaim " FIRST"!
I'm one of those who give a thumb up before watching - to counter-act those who give a thumb down without watching! I have never proclaimed "First" as I don't have any psychological issues...
demoncrat you are, yes
@@lesblatnyak5947 Ya lost me my friend.
@@joebloggs8636 not u Joe 998
@@lesblatnyak5947 ahhhh..sometimes these are a bit sketchy to follow..
"It's going to take a while" is the right immediate reaction, I reckon. (And often that's how it starts with a future favourite.) It's certainly how I feel. (First time hearing this, for me, too.)
I've never thought of the glass houses saying as pertaining to innocence lost. AFAIK it says someone who could easily be criticized, himself, shouldn't criticize others? So the glassiness of the house simply means it's fragile. Throw that stone at someone who deserves this, and it might break your own window. (And when I step it out like this, it starts to sound like a silly way of putting things. So then maybe it began meaning something else - or comes from a story that gives a context that makes it make sense? Maybe it began as a conceit (in the original meaning of that word - a badly mismatched comparison, that the author cleverly turns into a good one - like "Should I compare thee to a Summers day? ..." ).
Hmm. There's another common interpretation of an old saying that makes less sense than something more simple and direct: "A rolling stone gathers no moss." We tend to use this to say that wanderers and people who don't stick to some clearly defined purpose tend not to succeed - at least in terms of filling their pockets with beautiful green paper. However, what on earth could that have to do with a stone. Stones only roll short distances. ... Unless ... unless we're talking about the rolling stone of a mill, that rolls and rolls, on and on, never ceasing till the day it breaks or wears out and is tossed into the pond. That certainly rolls; that certainly gathers no moss. But what could it have to do with nomads, wanderers, rovers, vagabonds? And maybe the answer is that in the beginning it didn't? Maybe the original meaning of "a rolling stone gathers no moss" was something like, "The person who does all the work generally doesn't reap the reward"? It fits a bit better than the idea of a stone wandering around all over the place, rolling up the hill without the help of Sisyphus, and rolling down without going plop in some bog, or crumping into someone's car, or coming to the end of its rolling in the various ways this takes place.
People who live in glass houses? ... ? ... Skyscrapers? Maybe it was a Prophecy?? ... Now that could be a lucrative line of enquiry for a certain kind of mind...
My favorite tune on the album.
Interesting, I find it difficult to have a clear favourite on this album. How do you feel about this compared to the live versions?
@@progqueen6219 Live is the best way to listen to GG. I saw them open for Yes in 1976.
@@shyshift I had a strong feeling that's what you're going to say. I envy you for being able to experience them live more than I can express in words :)
@@progqueen6219 it was probably my favorite concert ever. Good thing we have the 2 concert videos Giant On The Box and GG at The Golders Green.
@@shyshift I bet, I own them both. It's my way of compensating for being too young to ever experience them live... :) I wish there where more..
A suggestion: you have only two pieces to go, the first one being the very short A Reunion. Would made sense to do them together. Been listening to this for 38 years, so it's really fun to see you hearing it for the first time and trying to figure out the stew. It has staying power BECAUSE it is so rich and asks for more than one (or ten) listens to get into.
I love these Gentle Giant reactions early in the week, sets the norm for the rest. Thank you :)
I've probably said this before, but I find the live versions of this (and The Runaway) superior, especially from Playing the Fool live album (though because they're shorter you loose some of the lyrical content/context). Those are a continious dance fest for me and hopefully a future listen for you.... Thanks for making me play GG on my new speakers until bedtime. Happy listening guys!
Oh and before I forget; Anyone interested in the sonically best version of this album, should buy Alucards (GG's own label), it's noticeably better. Try Discogs or Burning Shed.
This does sound a bit like medieval mixed with rock music. What a surprise ,when at about the 6 minute mark on the video, a complete dynamic musical change up.
Cat walks into the room, JP says " I have to wait for the cat to leave and-waitaminute...cat videos...music reactions...CAT MUSIC REACTION VIDEOS!"
(At least, that's how I heard it...) :D
😅🐈
thumb up
Only band I know of that can take you from the Renaissance Faire to Funkadelic... in the same song.
IIRC this album has the longest songs of any Gentle Giant album more akin to other Progressive Rock bands of the time. Great analysis JP! 👍
Tight as a punk band. Funky as hell. When they chose to.
I think you should try As Old As You're Young by the guys...
There is something very raw about this GG album. Part of that feeling comes from the fact that I had to buy the vinyl as an import back in the day. It wasn't released in the U.S. Imports were twice the cost of U.S. albums. I got $5 a week allowance for cleaning the toilet and doing all the dishes, etc. $20 bucks for a new import album? Do you think a kid has the patience to wait a month when they can buy a half-dozen used albums in that time?
So I had to do what I had to do. And loved to do. Go to "Moby Disc" and let my fingers walk through their used albums. It was still $5 compared to most of the used albums which were like $2 or $3. And it had scuffs and scratches on it as well. But...that didn't matter. I could filter that out in my mind and just hear the amazing music and lyrics on this album.
During a major move when I needed to abandon a lot of belongs I gave it to a friend who recorded that album to tape for me. Decades later I dumped the tape into a wave file and stuck it on my iPod. I still have the iPod. On shuffle it would play for over 18 days without repeating a song.
For me now I love hearing those scratches and pops. The same ones I heard on first listen of this album.
This almost sounds like what you are trying to say about first listen on this. It is a scratchy song. But every scratch and pop belongs.
Blessings.
This was the best song on the album. It's just pure GG.
Try giving the live version of this as a medley paired with The Runaway
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Gentle Giant is much about ‘Acquiring the Taste’, isn’t it?
Favorite track: A Reunion.
Great Giant song Justin, but check out the Live version on your "Playing The Fool" CD
You know my view on GG, it's so much better Live that they can play such complex Prog Live ! Gary Green's Solo and Derek Shulman Vocals are so good Live !!!
Nice reaction : D
Many Gentle Giant songs were improved in a live setting, this being one of them (see "Playing the Fool"). However, Kerry Minnear didn't like singing lead live so beautiful sections were dropped in the live arrangement. Sometimes Derek would take Kerry's part live.
This album was the first without Phil Shulman so it was a difficult album to record. Gentle Giant's sound is quite different between studio and live recordings. I don't think they ever successfully transferred the live sound to the studio. "The Missing Piece" (underrated) comes close but by then they were purposefully "watering down" the elements that made their music unique.
I might be wrong (since I've read this on Wikipedia), but I thought the microphones of the times couldn't accommodate Kerrys very soft/low singing voice without distorting (nowadays they can) :)
@@progqueen6219 Yes, a bit of both. Kerry does have a soft singing voice that was difficult to mic live.
@@blackcatcentralmusic Okay, thanks for the clarification.
My favorite song off of an album I always considered one of my least favorite of their early stuff. I still really like it, but I always put it behind a few others.
No Hammond in the middle section. Is a true positive (church) organ.
If you let your cat Experience Gentle Giant, perhaps it might mellow and become a Modest Mouse? If it doesn't care for the music it will leave the room a Faster Pussycat and hide elsewhere in the house. Peace.
🤣
Justin…You Will enjoy the song even more the third the 4:th the 5:th time.
The
Cat is
Out
1985
JP
Harbour Lights
I’ll be the One
How Sweet it is
Who do you reaaaallyyyy love?
Just 4 experiences from our
Judie
Tzuke
The Cat was never really
in
But Now it’s quite definitely Out
Nice bass on this thru the Cello Rock Blutooth speaker
Audacious Music
That’s 4 sure
. They failed the test for Palatable Art back when i was a kid
Now it’s essential fun
Definitely able to blow the millenials’ minds.
Judie remains just as Valid an alternative though
if not just to hear her wonderously pure vocals.
This is a stomper of a soup song. As Blackstreet muttered in ‘96(?), ‘‘Real Hot’’.
U need Teddy Riley and Mark Morrison too JP
Don’t Leave me Girl!!🍰🥊
How's your day going Jp. This album took the longest to get into . Not sure why. I liked it from the start but it took a while .
Hey there skunk, pretty good! Tired from work, but relaxing now :) Ty!
@@JustJP I hear you. I'm on three weeks straight and still going . Christmas joy in the building trade.
SECOND!👍
🥈
Year? Zappa would love these guys.
1973.When it came out you could only get it in the US as an import a year later.
@@bartgoldstein8339 - thank you. 73 was huge for British bands.
Zappa did like Gentle Giant a lot, which he mentioned in several interviews.
How did they dream up these song structures?
It pays to have 20% of the band having a degree in composition, helps with thinking outside of the "standard" rock-formula.
@@progqueen6219 Sometimes, I think they tried to out-weird themselves.
@@Lwize Haha, you might be right ;) They sure where inventive and creative, maybe a by product of being such skilled musicians?
Why Not?!
Can't find a way into this; too much mock pageantry, celebrated on new-toy keyboards. No disrespect intended, but I'll pass on this one. You'd probably hate most of my musical delvings - but it's good to take a look around to see what the neighbours are up to.
I had good friend at university who was so much into classical music that his income supplement came from reviewing for one of the city's daily evening papers. As a result he had an endless supply of new release LPs from which he used to assemble for me 90-minute reel-to-reels of things he thought would interest or educate me. From those tapes and attending concerts, I came to recognise quite a lot of the styles and influences being put about by classically trained musicians who were involved in contemporary bands, rock, prog, jazz etc. This meant that some of the novelty impact was blunted for me, but I was able to engage or at least give a listen to many pieces of music from something better than a standing start.
David MUnrow and the Early Music Consort, anyone? ruclips.net/video/8xKLUxwcHyk/видео.html
Why make it easy if you can make it this complicated 😋
The ending should hav been a hard one, not a fading away.
Musically, it is okay but I don't care for the vocalist with this music although the hymn section isn't as insufficient and the one section with the rockier vibe is good. I think it would require a more naturally talented singer for this to have a chance of working for me. Actually, it would take an exceptional vocalist for this to work for me. I am not certain if I know of any vocalist who could pull this off. Maybe a blend of Ella Fitzgerald and Joni Mitchell?
I love this song, although it was the one on the album that took the longest to grow on me - but I've always felt Derek didn't quite nail the demanding "hard rock/R&B" vocal in the second half. He sounds a little strained.
I like GG but feel that the vocals are the weakest link by far
If you haven't heard the live version of this song from Playing the Fool album, I'd suggest you'd check it out. A superior version of this song in my opinion (alongside The Runaway).
As you know by now, Gentle Giant takes you on a trip in each of their tunes. Starts off one way takes unimaginable musical twists and turns and then brings you back to the original theme. Works for me!