Hello Justin. Your interpretation of the music(and lyrics), never fails to be insightful and quite thought provoking particularly when it comes to the music of Gentle Giant, my all time favorite band. I was lucky enough to have seen them perform live on a few occasions (yes, I’m that old!), and was blown away by their versatility! I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on the last two tracks which need to be heard together, by the way. Trust me, you are in for a real treat. By the way, Kerry Minnear in an interview said that of all the music GG has recorded, the last two tracks on Three Friends are the one’s he’s most proud of. Take care and I wish you well.
One of my favourite GG tracks since I heard it first about 40 years ago on a midnight program of our local rock radio station. Wonderful textures, layers, harmonies and dynamics.
"Three Friends" is one of my top 3 favorite Gentle Giant albums...along with "Acquiring the Taste" and "Free Hand". Really, all of them from the debut through "Interview" are great, but those 3 mentioned above are my favorites.
This track illustrates the diversity of GG's music in that it veers from the quasi-medieval style to metal and back again and it does so wonderfully. Amongst their best.
I love all the GG albums being mentioned in previous comments but I also really like like the Civilian album. Inside Out is one of my favorite GG tunes.
Two sides of a painter: The one who appreciates the possibility to create art and the other who is desperate in the process of creating. I've seen them both, my wife's a painter.
all new to me... interesting. several very enjoyable moments. GG are growing on me. only have a few recent reaction experiences to draw upon... As usual appreciate your reaction, insights and deeper dive.
Hey JP, if you can, for the last two remaining pieces, use the Wilson remixes that appeared on Three Piece Suite. The masters for the first three albums weren't fully recovered, and so a full remix of these records wasn't possible. But some tracks were salvaged, including Schooldays, Peel The Paint, Master Class & Quality and Three Friends. They sound SO much better. Keep in mind also if you decide to plunge into Acquiring The Taste.
I have been waiting for this one to come around . Just love it and your reactions . So it’s 1972 , right ? Spacey reverbed guitar over muscular drumming was a thing . You just weren’t expecting to hear it here . GG will do that to you ! JP , I know you like obscurities . Here’s two excellent ones : 1 ) Audience …. in the House on the Hill ( 1971 ). Title track ‘ The House on the Hill ‘ . Eerie , atmospheric , with a drum solo largely using brushes and tenor sax like you seldom get to hear . Plus Howard Werth on vocals and classical guitar won the gig to replace Morrison in the doors ! True story 2 ) Affinity ( 1970 ) , track ‘ Night Flight ‘ . You’ll hear Carol Grimes who may well have been the Brits answer to Grace Slick and some phenomenal keyboard playing in a jazz/ blues based multi faceted composition . Please add them to your list and play’m . You will love them 👍
Afternoon, JP. Dave from The Smoke. Like you, I really enjoyed this track. Loved the way the band took the main riff/melody through so many contrasting phases. I think I prefer their quieter, baroque side, but the way Peeling The Paint transitioned into the heavy King Crimson like phases was stunning. Great analysis of the way the lyrics evolved here. Also on the KC connection, I heard a bit of Bruford in Malcolm Mortimore's drumming, especially in the guitar echoplex section. Having been lukewarm about Gentle Giant back in the 70s, I am really Acquiring The Taste, thanks to you Justin.
As you know and must realize when listening to these prog albums out of sequence you have to consider their evolution. This album was when they were still refining their style. Next LP Octopus was the gateway between their older formative years and the rest of their development which still maintains strong elements of the Psychedelic era with ex-original member original Phil Shulman, singing the first verses. Your interpretation is right on! I love this LP because it is also unique. GG, not only were a Progband but were also always progressing stylistically and musically. Though all the great early Progressive bands were very different, you can hear them all going through the same growing patterns within just a few short years from the early 70s to mid 70's.
Got this album as an import at Korvette's in the bronx in 1972 on Vertigo records(it was very expensive).I remember how much i loved this album but griped on how short it was.Still my favorite band(and i've seen and heard them all) since i first was turned on to them in 1971 with "Acquiring The Taste".Check out "The Moon Is Down" off that album,it encompasses what is the essence of Gentle Giant.Love your takes on them.Keep up the good work!
The riff that started 100 metal bands. This song was my introduction not only to Gentle Giant but to prog. Many metal guitarists cite GG and this song in particular as an influence. The 80s metal band Krokus even quotes the big riff in their song “Our Love.”
I love the bass line on that one. One of my favorites from GG. But I have a lot of favorites from them ! And not often you have a long guitar solo in their songs… this one is quite amazing.
Top tier prog. Your reaction was wonderful! Thank you for raising consciousness about the mighty GG. ‘The Power and the Glory’ is their best album, imho.
Seems like everyone in this band is a multi-instrumentalist, with a fair amount of classical training. And they can rock out when they want to. Very impressive.
Like the rest of this album, this was my first listen. I liked it and I could see it becoming a grower. In the different strokes for different folks department, it varies from artist to artist but I find I often don't know what a piece is about until after I paint it. Sometimes long after. This even happens when the work is based on a photo I have found. There is something in the photo that spoke to me even if I didn't understand it. Peeling back the paint though. I don't know about now but there used to be a market for old paintings that poor artists would buy. They would then either paint over the painting or strip off the existing paint to make it possible to paint over the canvas because starving artists starve because they are poor, not by preference and they paint because they have to.
I still do that, I’m not proud. Thank God I’m not starving though, just like reusing stuff and I tend to change things a lot, so layers will play out to a lil movie. Some paintings.
@@-davidolivares No one would mistake me for someone who was starving and I have reused my own canvases when there was something particularly hideous that needed to covered up... so... I guess I have done it a lot.
IMO this is where Phil's flair for delicate eclecticism ran headlong into Derek and Gary's desire to just rock out. Only the heavier part of this song survived as a concert staple for GG. They kept finding themselves opening for groups like Black Sabbath and needed material that wasn't going to get them constantly booed off the stage!😆
I appreciate the nod. There’s many creatives in this community, and believe me you and they spur me on when I’m feeling less painterly. So thank you. Song wise, this was very dynamic song peaceful to surprisingly heavy. That’s some kick butt guitar. Changing strings right now, bought a used guitar awhile back, finally giving her some love.
Kerry Livgren of Kansas has stated that Gentle Giant was one of his favorite bands & greatest influences. And you can clearly hear it in this song (with the exception of the paucity of vocals). Speaking of Kansas, a full album review of Song for America, their 2nd release, would be fantastic! More Kansas please!!
@@katesjanice Paucity is "the presence of something in only small or insufficient quantities or amounts." I have access to the internet so big words are easy to look up. So in this context, I still don't get the critique. Maybe you'd care to explain in simple terms as I am a bit thick.
@@matreynolds1 You're cool Mathew. It's just that this GG song seems, imo, to have more instrumental interludes than vocal passages. My comment had nothing to do w/ quality, just quantity.
To bastardize the late, great Townes Van Zandt's lyrics in "Waiting Round To Die". I've got three friends it seems, one I've yet to see, and the nurse who brings my morphine, to kill the pain for me. Together me and those three are going to peel the paint,"Waiting Round To Die"! Peace from the least and the beasts.
Take it from an old guitar player, the hours can turn to daze(days?)! Before you know it, it becomes a 'shoegaze'! Particularly if you 'blaze'! Peace and pardon a senile old hippie and my rhyming ways.
"Peel the Paint" does exactly that. The first 5 seconds of the song does NOT reflect how it ends. Probably their best "rock" song but the beginning negates. I LOVE GG. Thanks JP once again!
Maybe the first GG I ever heard in the early mid-70s, maybe not. Similar at least. I was sooo impressed. Still am, just different, more appreciation, slightly less pure awe. Maybe. lm -d -ao. D. Unleaded paint is at least as good as lead-free gas, right? Especially if you're putting the pedal to the metal, and splashing that colourful sh!t everywhere as you careen around the nabe. So long, my longtime home.
Please take "In a glasshouse" next time from album number five. its the best alum and number - please. Your are good to bescribe an d you will love and understand Gentle Giant any more
Hmm, didn't love this, don't think i'm in the mood. It's not bad, and very G², but it didn't grab me, felt a little meandering. I didn't feel it coming alive till that first/main, geet solo. There were subsequent, echoey, geet riffings but these seemed a little subdued, and that following mid break like they were trying to emulate Hendrix's '1983'. It didn't quite work, and then it was just the initial first section reprised. Not great, but who knows, maybe tomorrow when i'm feeling progier....
My interpretation of the lyrics is that the signer is criticizng the artist from the outside. The artist charcater is not self aware and needs to wake up and admit he is not better that other people.
Don't get me wrong GG are in my top 5 bands but the solo I feel would have been better with the whole band behind it not just drums. With a band of such skill The transition back to the main riff could have been smoother . Just saying.
@@skunkworksu7638 That's okay. You're allowed to be wrong and I won't hold it against you. I may have even been wrong once about music myself. But it wasn't this time.
A sloppy rocky tune really....really great sounds for the first 2/3rds and then ...slightly lost it’s anchoring mojo with the discordant bits, with the returning competing loud vocal. Reminds me of *cough* , ABC ‘s second LP, “bEaUtY sTaB”. Bye!
Hello Justin. Your interpretation of the music(and lyrics), never fails to be insightful and quite thought provoking particularly when it comes to the music of Gentle Giant, my all time favorite band. I was lucky enough to have seen them perform live on a few occasions (yes, I’m that old!), and was blown away by their versatility! I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on the last two tracks which need to be heard together, by the way. Trust me, you are in for a real treat. By the way, Kerry Minnear in an interview said that of all the music GG has recorded, the last two tracks on Three Friends are the one’s he’s most proud of. Take care and I wish you well.
That look on JP's face during the killer guitar solo was PRICELESS!!!
🤘
Still my favorite GG album.
This song is a perfect example for GG songs. It has the Gentle and the Giant side in it.
Hello Justin. Your interpretation of the music(and lyrics), never fails to be insightful and quite thought provoking particularly when it comes to the music of Gentle Giant, my all time favorite band. I was lucky enough to have seen them perform live on a few occasions (yes, I’m that old!), and was blown away by their versatility! I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on the last two tracks which need to be heard together, by the way. Trust me, you are in for a real treat. By the way, Kerry Minnear in an interview said that of all the music GG has recorded, the last two tracks on Three Friends are the one’s he’s most proud of.
Take care and I wish you well.
Ty Andrew
One of my favourite GG tracks since I heard it first about 40 years ago on a midnight program of our local rock radio station. Wonderful textures, layers, harmonies and dynamics.
"Three Friends" is one of my top 3 favorite Gentle Giant albums...along with "Acquiring the Taste" and "Free Hand".
Really, all of them from the debut through "Interview" are great, but those 3 mentioned above are my favorites.
This track illustrates the diversity of GG's music in that it veers from the quasi-medieval style to metal and back again and it does so wonderfully. Amongst their best.
I love all the GG albums being mentioned in previous comments but I also really like like the Civilian album. Inside Out is one of my favorite GG tunes.
Two sides of a painter: The one who appreciates the possibility to create art and the other who is desperate in the process of creating. I've seen them both, my wife's a painter.
This was extremely heavy when played live! GG knew how to ROCK. Side B of "Three Friends" is perfection.
all new to me... interesting. several very enjoyable moments. GG are growing on me. only have a few recent reaction experiences to draw upon...
As usual appreciate your reaction, insights and deeper dive.
Try Octopus (which Justin has reacted to) and Free Hand, both are incredible albums.
Hey JP, if you can, for the last two remaining pieces, use the Wilson remixes that appeared on Three Piece Suite. The masters for the first three albums weren't fully recovered, and so a full remix of these records wasn't possible. But some tracks were salvaged, including Schooldays, Peel The Paint, Master Class & Quality and Three Friends. They sound SO much better. Keep in mind also if you decide to plunge into Acquiring The Taste.
I have been waiting for this one to come around . Just love it and your reactions . So it’s 1972 , right ? Spacey reverbed guitar over muscular drumming was a thing . You just weren’t expecting to hear it here .
GG will do that to you !
JP , I know you like obscurities .
Here’s two excellent ones :
1 ) Audience …. in the House on the Hill ( 1971 ). Title track ‘ The House on the Hill ‘ . Eerie , atmospheric , with a drum solo largely using brushes and tenor sax like you seldom get to hear . Plus Howard Werth on vocals and classical guitar won the gig to replace Morrison in the doors ! True story
2 ) Affinity ( 1970 ) , track ‘ Night Flight ‘ . You’ll hear Carol Grimes who may well have been the Brits answer to Grace Slick and some phenomenal keyboard playing in a jazz/ blues based multi faceted composition .
Please add them to your list and play’m . You will love them 👍
Always been one of, if not my favorite GG track, your reaction to the guitar solo did not disappoint.
Afternoon, JP. Dave from The Smoke. Like you, I really enjoyed this track. Loved the way the band took the main riff/melody through so many contrasting phases. I think I prefer their quieter, baroque side, but the way Peeling The Paint transitioned into the heavy King Crimson like phases was stunning. Great analysis of the way the lyrics evolved here. Also on the KC connection, I heard a bit of Bruford in Malcolm Mortimore's drumming, especially in the guitar echoplex section. Having been lukewarm about Gentle Giant back in the 70s, I am really Acquiring The Taste, thanks to you Justin.
Not only heavy, that guitar is also psychedelic! Psych-epic!
Brian Mays guitarsolo in Brighton Rock reminds me att lot of the solo in this song.
As you know and must realize when listening to these prog albums out of sequence you have to consider their evolution. This album was when they were still refining their style. Next LP Octopus was the gateway between their older formative years and the rest of their development which still maintains strong elements of the Psychedelic era with ex-original member original Phil Shulman, singing the first verses. Your interpretation is right on! I love this LP because it is also unique. GG, not only were a Progband but were also always progressing stylistically and musically. Though all the great early Progressive bands were very different, you can hear them all going through the same growing patterns within just a few short years from the early 70s to mid 70's.
I saw this pop up and laughed, “Hang on dude” :)
Lol!
long time fan of the band - it’s so good it’s making me cry watching this. hilarious, awesome. thanks for doing this!!
The greatest underrated band of all times!
add the word criminally
I love this song. Great reaction. Thanks
Ty Hartlor!
Great track, great reaction, well done!
Got this album as an import at Korvette's in the bronx in 1972 on Vertigo records(it was very expensive).I remember how much i loved this album but griped on how short it was.Still my favorite band(and i've seen and heard them all) since i first was turned on to them in 1971 with "Acquiring The Taste".Check out "The Moon Is Down" off that album,it encompasses what is the essence of Gentle Giant.Love your takes on them.Keep up the good work!
The riff that started 100 metal bands. This song was my introduction not only to Gentle Giant but to prog. Many metal guitarists cite GG and this song in particular as an influence. The 80s metal band Krokus even quotes the big riff in their song “Our Love.”
Sometime in the mid-1980s the band Krokus stole this riff and put it in a song.
@@bobcorbin3294 it was more like they were quoting it as a tribute.
I love the bass line on that one. One of my favorites from GG. But I have a lot of favorites from them ! And not often you have a long guitar solo in their songs… this one is quite amazing.
Top tier prog. Your reaction was wonderful! Thank you for raising consciousness about the mighty GG. ‘The Power and the Glory’ is their best album, imho.
nice shout out for David!
I’m flabbergasted. Very cool.
Seems like everyone in this band is a multi-instrumentalist, with a fair amount of classical training. And they can rock out when they want to. Very impressive.
Définitivement mon préféré de Gentle Giant
Like the rest of this album, this was my first listen. I liked it and I could see it becoming a grower. In the different strokes for different folks department, it varies from artist to artist but I find I often don't know what a piece is about until after I paint it. Sometimes long after. This even happens when the work is based on a photo I have found. There is something in the photo that spoke to me even if I didn't understand it. Peeling back the paint though. I don't know about now but there used to be a market for old paintings that poor artists would buy. They would then either paint over the painting or strip off the existing paint to make it possible to paint over the canvas because starving artists starve because they are poor, not by preference and they paint because they have to.
I still do that, I’m not proud. Thank God I’m not starving though, just like reusing stuff and I tend to change things a lot, so layers will play out to a lil movie. Some paintings.
@@-davidolivares No one would mistake me for someone who was starving and I have reused my own canvases when there was something particularly hideous that needed to covered up... so... I guess I have done it a lot.
what a bass guitar!!!!!!! I love it
IMO this is where Phil's flair for delicate eclecticism ran headlong into Derek and Gary's desire to just rock out. Only the heavier part of this song survived as a concert staple for GG. They kept finding themselves opening for groups like Black Sabbath and needed material that wasn't going to get them constantly booed off the stage!😆
This song is so NASTY it can actually peel paint. I love it! My favourite Gentle Giant song.
I absolutely adore this song. It's sooo heavy!
Phenomenal tune!! This has always been my favorite off “Three Friends”
Guitar solo had an early Brian May feel to it. Sounded good.
Will you increase the frequency of reactions to this album? I don’t know how much longer I can keep myself from moving ahead without you. ✌️
Just 1 more video to come, you have my permission to listen to the rest😁
@@JustJP I will exercise my willpower a little longer. Just hurry it up, okay? 😊 JK
I appreciate the nod. There’s many creatives in this community, and believe me you and they spur me on when I’m feeling less painterly.
So thank you.
Song wise, this was very dynamic song peaceful to surprisingly heavy.
That’s some kick butt guitar. Changing strings right now, bought a used guitar awhile back, finally giving her some love.
Congrats on the shout out. I’d like know when you get some works online. I’d like to see some.
@@jaybird4093
Yeah, I need to get that going.
Had a friend get his site hacked and it’s mentally delayed my plans. Soon. Thanks.
🙏🎨
This confirms my feelings that I need more Gentle Giant in my Life.
Thanks for doing this.
Now that you mention it... yeah... this is probably their heaviest song.
Kerry Livgren of Kansas has stated that Gentle Giant was one of his favorite bands & greatest influences. And you can clearly hear it in this song (with the exception of the paucity of vocals).
Speaking of Kansas, a full album review of Song for America, their 2nd release, would be fantastic!
More Kansas please!!
I'm genuinely puzzled how Derek Shulman's stellar singing in the heavy section could be regarded as a paucity of vocals.
@@matreynolds1 From your comment, I don't think that you know what paucity means.
@@katesjanice Paucity is "the presence of something in only small or insufficient quantities or amounts." I have access to the internet so big words are easy to look up. So in this context, I still don't get the critique. Maybe you'd care to explain in simple terms as I am a bit thick.
@@matreynolds1 You're cool Mathew. It's just that this GG song seems, imo, to have more instrumental interludes than vocal passages. My comment had nothing to do w/ quality, just quantity.
@@katesjanice Funnily enough, my favourite Kansas track is probably Magnum Opus which has a dearth of vocal parts.
One of my favourite guitar riffs ever. This is the song that got me into Gentle Giant.
Yessss I like it!
couldn't wait for your reaction at 3:44 lmao. one of their best riffs
Fantastic song
As always, beautiful chaos with GG
Gary Effing Green!!! That's about all that needs to be said!
Indeed, how could a guitarist be so overlooked?
JP, you need a GG "Three Friends" shirt now. That would be SO cool!
To bastardize the late, great Townes Van Zandt's lyrics in "Waiting Round To Die". I've got three friends it seems, one I've yet to see, and the nurse who brings my morphine, to kill the pain for me. Together me and those three are going to peel the paint,"Waiting Round To Die"! Peace from the least and the beasts.
Good stuff! As a guitar player, I can say I am entertained for hours playing into a delay like that! LOL! Looking forward to the rest of 3 friends!
Take it from an old guitar player, the hours can turn to daze(days?)! Before you know it, it becomes a 'shoegaze'! Particularly if you 'blaze'! Peace and pardon a senile old hippie and my rhyming ways.
Isn’t great, gotta have delay… delay…delay.
@@jamespaivapaiva4460
There it is.
This is the sort of jazz noodling/soloing I have no use for. I'm into melody, harmony, meaningful lyrics.
Great insight on how the second part of the song is pealing the paint layed out in the first part.
Sometimes only Gentle Giant will do.
True true
This is peak GG!
"Peel the Paint" does exactly that. The first 5 seconds of the song does NOT reflect how it ends. Probably their best "rock" song but the beginning negates. I LOVE GG. Thanks JP once again!
Wtf! Great just great
Maybe the first GG I ever heard in the early mid-70s, maybe not. Similar at least. I was sooo impressed. Still am, just different, more appreciation, slightly less pure awe. Maybe. lm -d -ao. D.
Unleaded paint is at least as good as lead-free gas, right? Especially if you're putting the pedal to the metal, and splashing that colourful sh!t everywhere as you careen around the nabe. So long, my longtime home.
Please take "In a glasshouse" next time from album number five. its the best alum and number - please. Your are good to bescribe an d you will love and understand Gentle Giant any more
Gary Green got tired of hearing he never did solos.
This is my least favourite early Gentle Giant album, but this track is my favourite from it. It just works really well given the lyrical theme.
Play the riff & solo loud enough, and it will, in fact, peel the paint.
Hearing this again, it's probably the closest they ever got to sounding like VDGG. Heavy stuff.
a little Soft Machine in the middle section too...and early Crimson, of course
Hmm, didn't love this, don't think i'm in the mood. It's not bad, and very G², but it didn't grab me, felt a little meandering. I didn't feel it coming alive till that first/main, geet solo. There were subsequent, echoey, geet riffings but these seemed a little subdued, and that following mid break like they were trying to emulate Hendrix's '1983'. It didn't quite work, and then it was just the initial first section reprised. Not great, but who knows, maybe tomorrow when i'm feeling progier....
My interpretation of the lyrics is that the signer is criticizng the artist from the outside. The artist charcater is not self aware and needs to wake up and admit he is not better that other people.
I like that Benoit!
Gentle Giant go to Electric Lady Land.
Don't get me wrong GG are in my top 5 bands but the solo I feel would have been better with the whole band behind it not just drums. With a band of such skill The transition back to the main riff could have been smoother . Just saying.
No, it was great just the way they did it. The rest of the band playing would have just been a distraction.
@@lashedbutnotleashed1984 no it was not that's why I commented .😆
@@skunkworksu7638 That's okay. You're allowed to be wrong and I won't hold it against you. I may have even been wrong once about music myself. But it wasn't this time.
The extended guitar solo bores me and anyway I prefer the very first part of the piece. Anyway, the best is yet to come with the last two tracks !
A sloppy rocky tune really....really great sounds for the first 2/3rds and then ...slightly lost it’s anchoring mojo with the discordant bits, with the returning competing loud vocal.
Reminds me of *cough* , ABC ‘s second LP, “bEaUtY sTaB”.
Bye!
Hello Justin. Your interpretation of the music(and lyrics), never fails to be insightful and quite thought provoking particularly when it comes to the music of Gentle Giant, my all time favorite band. I was lucky enough to have seen them perform live on a few occasions (yes, I’m that old!), and was blown away by their versatility! I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on the last two tracks which need to be heard together, by the way. Trust me, you are in for a real treat. By the way, Kerry Minnear in an interview said that of all the music GG has recorded, the last two tracks on Three Friends are the one’s he’s most proud of.
Take care and I wish you well.