Gentle Giant: Every Album, Every Song (On Track)

If you are a Gentle Giant Fan this book is a must have Read.

I have been a fan of the band since experiencing their first UK tour when they were bottom of the bill below Ten Years After and The Groundhogs. They were so powerful and intriguing and I remember nothing of the other 2 bands at all. I remained a total fan right up until the 'Interview' tour, which was still fantastic, thereafter I felt they were beginning to loose their way. I was looking forward to reading this new book, as, even throughout the life of the band, information was extremely scarce.Sadly only die-hards would be interested in this book, just for completions sake, and because of the rarity of new publications about the band. Gentle Giant attract a loyal hardcore of fans that are generally already pretty knowledgeable about the band's history and are often also well trained in the technical aspects of musicianship and composition. I suspect most long term fans will not find much new information or enlightening revelations, some of his personal opinions may even rankle most readers . The author is clearly a long time fan, but his rock journalist background is very evident. It is a disappointing listing of every track and album with no real new inside information from the band, or new engaging insights or angles from the author. They feel exactly like Rock weekly papers of the 70's album reviews but these have very little soul or imagination applied, and so many are filled with bland and obvious comments that look like a jobbing reviewer getting paid by the word and padding it out, with the worst of the reviews actually filled with banalities (we know how long each track is, and there's a heavy riff followed by an acoustic section) . For an author who claims to be a fan, he is regularly harsh regarding Derek Shulman's vocals, and clearly views him as a weak point in the band, of course he's entitled to his opinion, but when those lead vocals are central to the majority of their output I have to wonder how he can still enjoy it. The presentation by the publishers also has no sense of quality about it. The layout has tight margins, like they've packed the text in to thin the book down. There are 16 pages worth of pictures, but, apart from the reproductions of the album covers, they are poor quality and the live photos are amateurish and mostly uninspiring. I am also reading the recently revised and updated 'Under the ivy', the bio of Kate Bush, it is thoroughly absorbing and in depth and shows what standard can really be achieved with more care, research and imagination, and I believe I will refer back to that book many times, sadly the same will not be true of Gary Steel's lack lustre efforts on Gentle Giant's behalf. At the back, the publishers advertise for more authors to offer submissions for publishing, I'd urge everyone to have a go, even with no previous experience you clearly have a great chance if this is the bar they've set.

The 1-star reviews given to this book so far are unfair. Sonicbond release books written by fans for the fans. I rather like Gary Steel's style and his humorous asides. I disagree with some of his analysis and ratings of the music, but that's natural and makes reading the book more interesting. What I can't let him get away with is his repetitious description of Derek Shulman's singing as "strident". He may be using the wrong word (far too many times), but is he saying that he's a fan of Gentle Giant's music but doesn't like their lead singer? His dismissal of Malcolm Mortimore's drumming is ridiculous. Mortimore was the band's best drummer. He only lasted one album because of an unfortunate motorcycle accident, not because he was sacked. The real problem with this book - and with other titles published by Sonicbond - is the proponderance of unforgiveable factual and grammatical mistakes. Phil Shulman is rightly given credit for singing the studio version of "Funny Ways", but later on we are told that it was Kerry Minnear. The song "The Face" becomes "The Sound" and the albums "Three Friends" and "The Missing Piece" become "Three Boys" and "The Missing Link"! The use of commas is random and often ungrammatical. These books are not cheap. They are twice the price of most paperbacks and at half the length. If Sonicbond want us to continue buying them (and I'm interested in the forthcoming Kansas, Camel and CS&N volumes), they have to do a better job than this.

Not enough musical detail or insight for me. As a long time GG fan (since buying Power and the Glory in 1972 or so and every album before and after) I was expecting to be impressed with this. Unfortunately, it reads like a book by another GG fan who knows only a little of the music and not very much of the musical language in each Giant track. There are more in depth analyses on the net. For a beginner to the music of Gentle Giant, it might serve as a starter but for any serious fan, it is too weak. The rather sneering reference to Gary Green's comment about Cogs in Cogs (“the first part is in 6/4, the second in 15/8 which means the two melodies meet up in 6 different ways, the phrases meet every 60 semi-quavers...”). The author's sneering “if you say so” tells me he doesn’t understand what Gary Green is saying, doesn’t understand the musical nuance and is not adding much to any understanding of the depth and complexity of Giant music. Still, he's got £15 of my money, so who's the fool?

Great read

What's not to like?? First of this series I got was of Yes, my rock obsession, so writing what hasn't been said is hardly an issue. This has told me much I didn't know about the lesser-known aspects of these titanic music-monsters, and unless you're analyzing it all to death, you'll enjoy this read very much!

Como descrito. Entrega super rápida! A+++

Tolles Werk über eine meiner Lieblingsbands! 1000 Dank! Eddy

I love everything Gentle Giant does and it's very interesting to read someone else's take on individual songs from their fascinating albums from 1970 to 1980. The background behind the songs are well presented and the characteristics and remarkable talents of each band member is evident throughout. This is a fun reference when exploring this great progressive band's catalog and a pleasurable read to us old-timers. Highly recommended, almost as much as I recommend Gentle Giant's music!

My expectations were probably too high: I expected something similar to The Complete Beatles Songs: The Stories Behind Every Track. That book is not like that at all.Instead, you have the writer's description of every song, that's it. Sometimes, it's just one sentence, sometimes half a page.Am I interested in his opinion and descriptions? Not really, sorry. As a fan, I already have my opinion.If you have excellent book Gentle Giant: Acquiring The Taste by Paul Stump, you don't need this book. Strump's book offers everything that book offers plus much more: each song's description and sometimes details of how it was written and recorded, plus quite detail biography of the band in historic and cultural context.However that book is as twice as more expensive.So if you don't have their biography Gentle Giant: Acquiring The Taste, this is its poor man's substitute, literally.Not a bad substitute, to be sure, but: the author is a fan and competent enough, and it shows. No serious complains, just I didn't find anything new in it. So, up to you to decide.