Wow. Simply, wow. I decided to succumb to Last.Fm's longing recommendation, and finally got my digital hands on one of the most complex prog. rock bands of the '70s you could imagine. And I was stunned. At first, the dissonance threw me off-guard; it had good reason to, mind you. Instead of being a harsh and uninviting sound however, Gentle Giant uses polyrhythmic patterns to the greatest extent, which at times provides similarities to some baroque composers. In The Power and The Glory, legendary drummer John Weathers seems to keep this band from reaching outer space, by providing a driving and steady beat in all of the tracks of this album. I've included the first video of the blog (shock horror), so you can personally witness the almighty Weathers at his most expressive. Never have I seen such an 'in touch' drummer, who expresses such passion towards his playing as he. Please, feast your eyes on "Proclamation".
Anyway, Gentle Giant possesses what many prog rock bands nowadays lack: complexity and sophistication (thank you Wikipedia). Lead singer Derek Shulman shows an obvious natural talent for pitching, as opposed to throwing, as in many of the bands' songs have unpredictable and 'leapy' melodies. As found in "In Reflection", from Free Hand, which gives simply proves that this band was influenced by baroque in one way or another, by providing an inventive a capella fugue to begin the song with and then including an instrumental fugue to finish with.
Such an innovative band of the time deserves much more Youtube views than it currently has.
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