Gentle Giant

小簡介
在古典、搖滾和民謠的世界里，有一片地帶是屬于Gentle Giant的。Gentle Giant以其中世紀騎士般的勇敢精神試圖把游吟詩人的回旋曲和R&B融合在一起，多種打擊樂的運用、對話式的吟唱、重型搖滾樂的結構讓 Gentle Giant的音樂象一鍋大雜燴湯。在樂隊的六重奏中最重要的是Kenny Minnear的鍵盤和Gary Green的吉他，當然Gentle Giant聽起來和其他前衛(wèi)搖滾樂隊如此不同的主要原因是Derek Schulman那非正常人類的唱法，太冷漠了以至于聽起來象音樂學校里的視唱練耳或者格利高里圣詠。Gentle Giant在70年代有點暈頭轉向，不知該走哪條路了。那時正是King Crimson、Yes等前衛(wèi)搖滾樂隊的顛峰時期，迷幻搖滾窮途末路，而布魯斯搖滾正向硬搖滾轉型，搖滾江湖上風云莫測……不過Gentle Giant還有他們的秘密武器，就是不拘泥于風格而通過音樂直接捕獲聽者的心靈，萬變不離其中，只要音樂是發(fā)自內心的就一定會感動聽眾。另外現(xiàn)場演出也是 Gentle Giant吸引聽眾的法寶之一，他們的表演積極向上，而且還充滿幽默！當然最重要的是他們之間團結、如兄弟般的感覺，這種感覺如此真實的原因就是：樂隊里真的有三個親兄弟！
by Bruce Eder
Formed at the dawn of the progressive rock era in 1969, Gentle Giant seemed poised for a time in the mid-70s to break out of its cult-band status, but somehow never made the jump. Somewhat closer in spirit to Yes and King Crimson than to Emerson, Lake & Palmer or the Nice, their unique sound melded hard rock and classical music, with an almost medieval approach to singing.
Gentle Giant was born out of the ruins of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound, an R&B-based outfit led by brothers Derek, Ray, and Phil Shulman. After switching to psychedelia in 1967 and scoring their only major hit that year with Kites, as Gentle Giant the group abandoned both the R&B and psychedelic orientations of the previous band; Derek sang and played guitar and bass, Ray sang and played bass and violin, and Phil handled the saxophone, augmented by Kerry Minnear on keyboards, and Gary Green on guitar. Their original lineup also featured Martin Smith on drums, but they went through several percussionists in the first three years of their existence.
In 1970, Gentle Giant signed to the Vertigo label, and their self-titled first album — a shockingly daring work mixing hard rock and full electric playing with classical elements — came out later that year. Their second effort, 1971s Acquiring the Taste, was slightly more accessible and their third, Three Friends, featuring Malcolm Mortimore on drums, was their first record to get released in the U.S. (on Columbia). Their fourth album, 1973s Octopus, looked poised for a breakthrough; it seemed as though they had found the mix of hard rock and classical sounds that the critics and the public could accept, and they finally had a permanent drummer in the person of John Weathers, an ex-member of the Graham Bond Organisation.
In 1974, however, Gentle Giant began coming apart. Phil Shulman decided to give up music after the Octopus tour, and became a teacher. Then the group recorded the album In a Glass House, their hardest-rocking record yet, which Columbias U.S. arm rejected as too uncommercial. The two-year gap in their American release schedule hurt their momentum, and they werent heard from again until the Capitol release of The Power and the Glory in 1975.
Gentle Giant released Free Hand, their most commercial album, in 1976, but then followed it up with the jarringly experimental Interview. After the 1978 double-album Playing the Fool, the group went through a seeming change of heart and issued a series of albums aimed at mainstream audiences, even approaching disco, but by the end of the 1970s their popularity was in free-fall. Minnear, who had been playing an ever-more central role since the mid-70s, had already left the group when Gentle Giant called it quits in 1980. Ray Shulman later became a producer and had considerable success in England working with bands like the Sundays and the Sugarcubes, while Derek Shulman became a New York-based record company executive.