The Gentle Giant I don't own - is any of this essential?

[happytheman]

I've got Out of the Fire.. which without doing research must be similar to Out of the Woods.. Double album with some great live cuts from The Missing Piece tour I'm guessing..

[PeterG]

Oh, I don't have Giant for a Day.

You're not missing anything! You don't need it. IMO one of their worst albums, if not the worst.

[Brian Griffin]

I think the GG At The GG DVD is totally essential

Excellent quality, better than GG on the Box from a sound / picture standpoint

I like "Missing Piece" more than most seem to, and this tour was the first time I was really down front for a show

DVD totally brought back how jaw dropping they were live, switching out instruments several times during songs, playing their asses off

BG

[Dedatolo]

whatever Gentle Giant IS essential, period. :-)

[PeterG]

whatever Gentle Giant IS essential, period. :-)

Totally disdagree with that. I think if you've got Acquiring the Taste, Octopus and Three Friends you don't really need anything else, I say that as a person who seriously dislikes live albums.

[No Pride]

I was wondering how this thread became a 3 pager so fast until I opened it and realized it's origins were almost a year old. DOH!

I think if you've got Acquiring the Taste, Octopus and Three Friends you don't really need anything else, I say that as a person who seriously dislikes live albums.

Throw in In a Glass House, The Power and the Glory, Free Hand, Interview and The Missing Piece and I'd agree with you.

Except you need Playing the Fool too. I say that as a person who likes live albums.

[gregory]

Nothing essential in proposed list, IMO.
But...
If you are a GG completist, or you feel you had grown to a fan phase, - on Totally Out Of The Woods you'll find a nice early GG track, 'City Hermit'.
For their early songs, you better get "Under Construction'(1997) CD, which contain very early GG stuff, songs that never been published before, some are very nice.
As for Civilian worshipping here, I wouldn't affiliate. Definitely not the part of GG essential stuff. GG connotates with Fellini - they recorded 8 and a half worthy studio albums.
From debut to second side of Missing Piece, one by one.

[wideopenears]

I think Playing the Fool is one of the best live albums by anyone, anywhere, any time.

[No Pride]

I think Playing the Fool is one of the best live albums by anyone, anywhere, any time.

I KNOW it is.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

The only thing that bugs me about live Giant is that you get the obligatory recorder interlude. Big whup! I get that they can all play recorders and other instruments. Why insert this into the middle of a dramatic concert? It's almost as bad as sitting through a John Bonham drum solo!

[Dave (in MA)]

I like live albums, but on what I have from GG (King Biscuit, Playing the Fool, On the Box), the vocals make me cringe.

[old school]

Totally disdagree with that. I think if you've got Acquiring the Taste, Octopus and Three Friends you don't really need anything else, I say that as a person who seriously dislikes live albums.

That statement tells me you do not have a good understanding of Gentle Giant. One of the most outrageous quote's I have read in a long time.

[Progatron]

That statement tells me you do not have a good understanding of Gentle Giant. One of the most outrageous quote's I have read in a long time.

Certainly a head-scratcher, although the three albums he mentions are probably my favourite. I loved the period with Phil Shulman in the band. But I also love the next several releases in the catalogue, surely up to and including In'terview and at least half of The Missing Piece. But everyone's opinions and tastes are unusual. I may be in the minority that I place The Power And The Glory near the bottom of the list though. There's no rhyme or reason to these things, it just has never appealed to me the same way the rest of them (up to In'terview) do.

[zombywoof]

I may be in the minority that I place The Power And The Glory near the bottom of the list though. There's no rhyme or reason to these things, it just has never appealed to me the same way the rest of them (up to In'terview) do.

You are in the minority, but you aren't the only one.

[Progatron]

You are in the minority, but you aren't the only one.

Come on over, we'll throw on In A Glass House and ruminate.

[old school]

Certainly a head-scratcher, although the three albums he mentions are probably my favourite. I loved the period with Phil Shulman in the band. But I also love the next several releases in the catalogue, surely up to and including In'terview and at least half of The Missing Piece. But everyone's opinions and tastes are unusual. I may be in the minority that I place The Power And The Glory near the bottom of the list though. There's no rhyme or reason to these things, it just has never appealed to me the same way the rest of them (up to In'terview) do.

I agree with everything you said but put TPATG way up there. I know people have different opinions but when three albums are mentioned and most of the catalog is missing it sounds very strange to me. And then missing some very good live albums is inexcusable.

[Barniac]

I thnk you have more than the essentials already. Great band (probably my favourite of the era) but after Interview they sank like a stone with Civilian just about hitting rock bottom (pun intended).

[Rand Kelly]

If you like Giant On The Box, you should definitely get GG at the GG!

Agree 100%.

[No Pride]

I'm always amused by the fact that even when we all like the same band, we rarely agree on what their best work is. I think that TPatG was their best studio album, but I'm fine with anybody who disagrees. Now if anybody thinks GfaD is their best, I might have to get evil with them.

[gregory]

I think this might be possible, the existence of a GG fan, whos favorite is GfaD, I believe it's not just a philosophical assumption)

[old school]

I'm always amused by the fact that even when we all like the same band, we rarely agree on what their best work is. I think that TPatG was their best studio album, but I'm fine with anybody who disagrees. Now if anybody thinks GfaD is their best, I might have to get evil with them.

GFAD and Civilian are stinkers! And in my opinion half of Missing Piece sucks. Other then that the rest of the studio albums are auto buys.

[JKL2000]

Is the 35th Anniv edition of In a Glass House from Alucard sonically better than the Road Goes on Forever version?

Also, I have a copy of Giant on the Box and I can't tell if it's the original release or the one included extra material. It's Alucard Alu-gg-03 and has a DVD and CD, but I can't tell if that's the original or the reissue that came out soon after. I see there's also a release from DRT Entertainment but the only difference seems to be the packaging and that one has an interview from VHI with Derek Shulman.

[adap2it]

Is the 35th Anniv edition of In a Glass House from Alucard sonically better than the Road Goes on Forever version?

Also, I have a copy of Giant on the Box and I can't tell if it's the original release or the one included extra material. It's Alucard Alu-gg-03 and has a DVD and CD, but I can't tell if that's the original or the reissue that came out soon after. I see there's also a release from DRT Entertainment but the only difference seems to be the packaging and that one has an interview from VHI with Derek Shulman.

Lost track of which is better than which Jed, however, I can say with confidence to stay away from the DRT releases. The Alucard releases are excellent sounding and are as good if not better than other releases. I would add that when it comes to music that I LOVE, and Gentle Giant is my true love in music, no reworked versions released have ever made me love them more.

[JKL2000]

Lost track of which is better than which Jed, however, I can say with confidence to stay away from the DRT releases. The Alucard releases are excellent sounding and are as good if not better than other releases. I would add that when it comes to music that I LOVE, and Gentle Giant is my true love in music, no reworked versions released have ever made me love them more.

I certainly love the DVD I have, some of the best archival video there is, IMO.

[Progbear]

I’d say that nothing after Interview is essential, including Playing the Fool, which is nice to have but not a must. They heavily rearranged stuff for live performance, which is certainly interesting, and props to them for being able to handle such intricate music live. There’s an entire-band drum solo during “So Sincere” which I’m sure worked better in person than at home in your living room.

After that...Missing Piece is half-good—not great, but good. Most people never get that far, because the good half is at the end, and the first half is dreadful. Civilian has its fans. I am not one of them; why would I want to hear some tired old prog band at the end of their life doing a really poor, half-assed attempt at this kind of music when I can listen to Elvis Costello [for example] doing it well? I like it even less than GFAD, which at least had “Words to the Wise,” an appealing and catchy piece of prog-pop (the less said about the rest of that album, the better, though).