GG are a genius band. Clever, creative, and ever surprising. You can’t go wrong with anything from their first seven albums. This song is from the album “The Power and the Glory,” a concept album about political power and totalitarianism. In the opening track, crowds can be heard cheering for a new king or ruler. The final track is kind of a reprise of the opener, but by then the crowds are protesting and ready for revolution. You should listen to the whole album in order to get a better feel for the lyrics.
Gentle Giant is the best band I have ever heard! I had the privilege of being part of their burgeoning musical journey back during my college years. As a musician, they were the standard of ensemble playing. During a live performance, it was not unusual for the five members to play 30 + instruments and sing. They were magical musicians who composed incredible material and were able to perform with skill and passion. I have never seen a band enjoying themselves more playing live. INCREDIBLE!! Thank you for showcasing this classic track from The Power and The Glory.
Fun to see new people discovering Gentle Giant. I have been a devoted fan since I first saw them live in 1976. They were a truly unique and talented band. With regard to your question about MIDI, no they did not use MIDI. The mallet instrument you hear is likely a vibraphone, which Kerry played. I believe the only synth to be used for most of their albums was the Mini Moog, but the use of Hammond organ with Leslie and distortion, electric piano with chorus or phase shifter, as well as the funky sound of the Clavinet all worked together to create a broad keyboard palette that sounds electronic, particularly with Kerry's unique approach to rhythm. On your comments about the lyrics, note that this song is from the album, The Power and the Glory. I believe these lyrics are intended to reflect the point of view of a person in a position of power, not the introspection of the writer. From Wikipedia: "The concept for the album was based on the corruption of power and how people on the bottom are affected by the people on top." Hope you have gotten around to enjoying more of their work.
If you watch a live recording, you can see frontman Derek Shulman playing the Shulberry, an instrument invented just for this song. One of the most creative bands ever! Drop the needle almost anywhere in their discography and you'll find something exciting and strange yet made with impeccable pop songcraft.
John, welcome to the world of GG. It was on their first tour in 1970 when I saw them live, and they became one of my favourite bands, so I've been experiencing their music a long time now. The band were all multi- instrumentalists and the stage would be littered with a variety of instruments. They would each often have to swap their instruments three or four times during one number to emulate what they achieved on record, the logistics for the band's techs and sound desk must have been mindboggling. They were around for a decade, pushing boundaries but never really getting the true recognition they deserved. Specific countries and pockets of totally devoted fans kept them going, but in their time no real commercial breakthrough for them, their music was always complex, and just way too far ahead of their time. Their albums have fairly recently been remastered, gaining them renewed interest and a new generation of fans, but to be honest their production was already very clean and upfront and modern sounding on those initial vinyl albums, and although headphones will bring out extra subtleties their albums always sounded great through some good hi-fi speakers, plenty of separation and clarity. Their tracks were very painstakingly sculpted and arranged with tight playing and masses of musical ambition. Their uncompromising stance however made them unpopular with the powerful music press at the time who could make and break bands, and unfortunately they considered the band arrogant. In contrast to this songs lyrics, they just wouldn't play the music game, and after 10 years of pushing hard eventually had to concede. This track is part of a concept album, 'The power and the glory' their 6th album, one of their most popular with fans, and the theme is, unusually for them, about power and politics. This was the era of 'Watergate' and tensions with 'The cold war'. 'Playing the game' is sung from the perspective of a leader of a country or even an empire, be it a King, Emperor, President, or CEO, and he is supremely secure in the fact that whatever anyone tries to do he's pulling ALL the strings. Despite the cheery and funky melody this is far from being inspirational lyrically, they are chillingly arrogant and totalitarian. They were even more prescient being written in 1974 given that now, with current technology, those in positions of power can control the media, use sophisticated surveillance on their citizens or customers, manipulate and suppress on scales never possible before. The album is really a song cycle, charting the rise and inevitable fall of a leader and their regime ('Absolute power corrupts absolutely'), but we never learn and throughout history the cycle keeps repeating. A really good overall grounding of what they could do live is their only official live album 'Playing the fool' . Live they would often rework songs, (say a break that was originally on synths might be a trio on recorders, or a rock section played as an acoustic guitar duo) they would add extended improv sections such as a Vibraphone solo, or segue snippets of tracks into new arrangements. They blended rock, funk, jazz, classical and medieval styles incorporating contrapuntal themes and complex time signatures, with very unique lyrical ideas. One label could be put simply as 'Baroque and Roll', the pastoral with a groove.
Wow, you have the most interesting story and interpretation of the band and their art. I think you're spot on about the history, and I also think your interpretation of their craft and specific projects like The Power and The Glory
I was fortunate to meet GG opening for Rick Wakeman in 1975........in a hockey arena......the next time was in a club in Boston and they did kewl quadrophonic effects....... T
Probably their most accessible song from their most accessible album. Great stuff. Nothing quite like Gentle Giant. Hopefully you will keep going. Cogs in Cogs and No God's a Man also great from this album.
Haha IMO Both TPatG and Three Friends were very much not accessible, and ofc they both ended up my favorite albums lol. Similarly, Playing the Game was not a favorite the first couple of times, I didn't like the repetetive main theme, but yeah this pretty ended up my favorite song of the album as well, so funny you should say this is their most accessible song off of their most accessible album lol, but yeah it's probably just me being weird.... To me, Octopus, Acquiring the Taste and Interview felt more accessible.
Haha I think it's a hopeless effort to defend any of the first 7-8 albums as being "accessable" purely from a musical standpoint as their later material is truly more derivative of more simplistic work by more popular groups of the time. That being said, if one had to pick, I would say Gentle Giant or In A Glass House have the least challenging moments compared to the other 'classic' ones, such as "So Sincere", "Prologue", and "Knots", as well as the A-Side of ATT which is dark and beautiful.
@@unknown6390 haha good point. Now that you mentioned In a Glass House, accessability might not have anything to do with it I guess, could be taste related but I've only tried it about two times and sadly didn't get very far before utterly loosing interest, haven't given up though, will try a few more times at least. Where does it rank for you guys?
My favourite band was Genesis until Cob records accidentally sent me a copy of Gentle Giant’s In a Glass House lp inside a Genesis cover 😅. My friends and I were so disappointed but we thought we may as well play the thing. The needle went on and soon the sound of breaking glass was echoing around our ears. That was 1973 and they have been my favourite band ever since. Every album is great - no bad ones and very few, if any, bad tracks. All have their merits. The only possible rival (for me) to their brilliance was Jethro Tull who approached it on their wonderful Thick as a Brick magnum opus. However, the tone-deaf music critics slated it and Anderson eventually went back to more commercial stuff.
Well before MIDI, that mallet-sounding percussion thing is an instrument they invented called the Shulberry. Basically it's a violin with a pickup inside that they bop the back of.
The mallet thing is marimba combined with a little 2 string instrument they cobbled together just for this song. They liked to call the instrument the Shulberry for laughs.
I just recently came to the conclusion that Gentle Giant are the greatest Progressive Band from the 1970's. The most consistent, and probably even the most complex. Nearly all multinstrumentalists as well. I only owned "Octopus" back in the day, and one of my friends purchased "In a Glasshouse". So I managed to borrow that for a week or so. I wish in hindsight, that I'd gotten pretty much all of the back catalogue back then (a mistake that was rectified in later life) as they are a remarkable testament to a truly gifted group of musicians. 👌
I love these guys. All very talented but the guy who I think deserves a special mention is drummer John 'Pugwash' Weathers. He was a straight ahead rock drummer who didn't read music when he joined so he really had to up his game to play a lot of the complex things Kerry had written.
GG may be my favorite band (with Van der Graaf Generator) of all my lifetime. And this is one of my favorite albums from them. So I'm very glad to hear you react to this song. With GG you have to get used to change of moods, tempo, time signatures, melodies and all this in short songs
I got a funny story for you Few weeks ago I was in the supermarket and I saw a guy wearing a yes shirt & and we started talking prog-rock & he told me the only prog rock groups he couldn't get into were Giant & Van der Graf Which are two of my favorites.....lol Inside I was saying "dude? What the heck???.... Later on I realized I should have said, "Why not give them another chance?"
(Gentle) Giants of prog ! The elder albums/songs are journeys into unknown worlds. I put them in one row with early Genesis (with P. Gabriel !), the long albums of Jethro Tull (Thick as Brick, Passion Play) and extracts of early Oldfield, ELP, some Kansas. Later they switched into Poprock. Music that was only possible in the 70s. So many sounds, ideas and inspirations in only one song. Other bands would have made a whole album of that.
So, to understand these lyrics, you have to understand the album concept. It's about a politician (ie president or prime minister), who campaigns, is voted in, etc. He is talking in this song. Great song, great album - The Power and the Glory!
I think this is the best pop song ever written. I'm serious. This beats the other greats including Royals, Somebody That I Used to Know and In the Air Tonight.
That sound that you thought was a mallet-like or even midi was the “Shulberry” which is something like a three string electric ukulele and was built as a one-off for Derek showman the lead singer. As far as I know they only used it on this song.
What can one say about GG (good or bad) that hasn't been said hundreds of times before?! They were both extraordinary & incomparable - in their literal meanings. So a big 'thank you' to their sound engineers (studio & especially touring): it must be a nightmare to balance all those inputs, yet nothing I've ever heard has been less than immaculate.
The sound you're hearing is that of The Shulberry. It is a one-of-a-kind percussive, stringed instrument created by lead singer Derek Shulman. He plays it on the live version.
The males sounding instrument is actually an instrument designed by the band. It's called a Shulberry, and is a stringed instrument, short necked, and played open. Check out Derek Shulman performing the song live to see him playing it.
This was way pre-midi. The mallet sounding instrument on the album is a marimba I believe but when they played it live they used a custom three string instrument built just for this song - no frets - tuned to those three notes only - Electric guitar pickup and the thing is about the size of a mandolin. The singer played it in their live shows.
Gentle Giant and also Budgie were ridiculously ignored in the 70s - and deserved to be massive forr their musicianship and originality - Budgie should have been as big as Sabbath and GG should have been at the top along YES and Genesis - both Pride of Britain - Try Nothing at all and Think of me with Kindness - (gorgeous)
The least appreciated bands of their day, Never afraid to be totally original in their sound. Such class and so groove oriented at once! All multi-instrumentalists, so talented! The way they blend from so many different eras of music. The vocal are unique choral arrangements. Gary Green! As underappreciated as the band. Truly great! Every member could bring it!
The power and the Glory is a Gentle Giant masterpiece is very political critic album those were times of hail Nixon and Watergate scandal so l like a lot one of my best album of music also very justice political
The Power and the Glory is a loose political concept album. Imagine those lyrics in the mind of Donald Trump and it's pretty frightening, which was GG's intent, I think. It's a meditation on unchecked power.
GG are a genius band. Clever, creative, and ever surprising. You can’t go wrong with anything from their first seven albums. This song is from the album “The Power and the Glory,” a concept album about political power and totalitarianism. In the opening track, crowds can be heard cheering for a new king or ruler. The final track is kind of a reprise of the opener, but by then the crowds are protesting and ready for revolution. You should listen to the whole album in order to get a better feel for the lyrics.
Been digging Them since 70s!!!
Gentle Giant is the best band I have ever heard! I had the privilege of being part of their burgeoning musical journey back during my college years. As a musician, they were the standard of ensemble playing. During a live performance, it was not unusual for the five members to play 30 + instruments and sing. They were magical musicians who composed incredible material and were able to perform with skill and passion. I have never seen a band enjoying themselves more playing live. INCREDIBLE!! Thank you for showcasing this classic track from The Power and The Glory.
Fun to see new people discovering Gentle Giant. I have been a devoted fan since I first saw them live in 1976. They were a truly unique and talented band. With regard to your question about MIDI, no they did not use MIDI. The mallet instrument you hear is likely a vibraphone, which Kerry played. I believe the only synth to be used for most of their albums was the Mini Moog, but the use of Hammond organ with Leslie and distortion, electric piano with chorus or phase shifter, as well as the funky sound of the Clavinet all worked together to create a broad keyboard palette that sounds electronic, particularly with Kerry's unique approach to rhythm. On your comments about the lyrics, note that this song is from the album, The Power and the Glory. I believe these lyrics are intended to reflect the point of view of a person in a position of power, not the introspection of the writer. From Wikipedia: "The concept for the album was based on the corruption of power and how people on the bottom are affected by the people on top." Hope you have gotten around to enjoying more of their work.
If you watch a live recording, you can see frontman Derek Shulman playing the Shulberry, an instrument invented just for this song. One of the most creative bands ever! Drop the needle almost anywhere in their discography and you'll find something exciting and strange yet made with impeccable pop songcraft.
John, welcome to the world of GG. It was on their first tour in 1970 when I saw them live, and they became one of my favourite bands, so I've been experiencing their music a long time now. The band were all multi- instrumentalists and the stage would be littered with a variety of instruments. They would each often have to swap their instruments three or four times during one number to emulate what they achieved on record, the logistics for the band's techs and sound desk must have been mindboggling. They were around for a decade, pushing boundaries but never really getting the true recognition they deserved. Specific countries and pockets of totally devoted fans kept them going, but in their time no real commercial breakthrough for them, their music was always complex, and just way too far ahead of their time. Their albums have fairly recently been remastered, gaining them renewed interest and a new generation of fans, but to be honest their production was already very clean and upfront and modern sounding on those initial vinyl albums, and although headphones will bring out extra subtleties their albums always sounded great through some good hi-fi speakers, plenty of separation and clarity. Their tracks were very painstakingly sculpted and arranged with tight playing and masses of musical ambition.
Their uncompromising stance however made them unpopular with the powerful music press at the time who could make and break bands, and unfortunately they considered the band arrogant. In contrast to this songs lyrics, they just wouldn't play the music game, and after 10 years of pushing hard eventually had to concede.
This track is part of a concept album, 'The power and the glory' their 6th album, one of their most popular with fans, and the theme is, unusually for them, about power and politics. This was the era of 'Watergate' and tensions with 'The cold war'. 'Playing the game' is sung from the perspective of a leader of a country or even an empire, be it a King, Emperor, President, or CEO, and he is supremely secure in the fact that whatever anyone tries to do he's pulling ALL the strings. Despite the cheery and funky melody this is far from being inspirational lyrically, they are chillingly arrogant and totalitarian. They were even more prescient being written in 1974 given that now, with current technology, those in positions of power can control the media, use sophisticated surveillance on their citizens or customers, manipulate and suppress on scales never possible before.
The album is really a song cycle, charting the rise and inevitable fall of a leader and their regime ('Absolute power corrupts absolutely'), but we never learn and throughout history the cycle keeps repeating.
A really good overall grounding of what they could do live is their only official live album 'Playing the fool' . Live they would often rework songs, (say a break that was originally on synths might be a trio on recorders, or a rock section played as an acoustic guitar duo) they would add extended improv sections such as a Vibraphone solo, or segue snippets of tracks into new arrangements. They blended rock, funk, jazz, classical and medieval styles incorporating contrapuntal themes and complex time signatures, with very unique lyrical ideas. One label could be put simply as 'Baroque and Roll', the pastoral with a groove.
Wow, you have the most interesting story and interpretation of the band and their art. I think you're spot on about the history, and I also think your interpretation of their craft and specific projects like The Power and The Glory
I was fortunate to meet GG opening for Rick Wakeman in 1975........in a hockey arena......the next time was in a club in Boston and they did kewl quadrophonic effects.......
T
Baroque and Roll - the title of a really good acoustic Strawbs album. Dave Cousins, Dave Lambert and Brian Willoughby at their masterful best.
Probably their most accessible song from their most accessible album. Great stuff. Nothing quite like Gentle Giant. Hopefully you will keep going. Cogs in Cogs and No God's a Man also great from this album.
Their most accessible album is Three Friends imo. So Sincere, Proclamation etc aren't so easy to listen.
Haha IMO Both TPatG and Three Friends were very much not accessible, and ofc they both ended up my favorite albums lol. Similarly, Playing the Game was not a favorite the first couple of times, I didn't like the repetetive main theme, but yeah this pretty ended up my favorite song of the album as well, so funny you should say this is their most accessible song off of their most accessible album lol, but yeah it's probably just me being weird....
To me, Octopus, Acquiring the Taste and Interview felt more accessible.
Haha I think it's a hopeless effort to defend any of the first 7-8 albums as being "accessable" purely from a musical standpoint as their later material is truly more derivative of more simplistic work by more popular groups of the time. That being said, if one had to pick, I would say Gentle Giant or In A Glass House have the least challenging moments compared to the other 'classic' ones, such as "So Sincere", "Prologue", and "Knots", as well as the A-Side of ATT which is dark and beautiful.
@@unknown6390 haha good point. Now that you mentioned In a Glass House, accessability might not have anything to do with it I guess, could be taste related but I've only tried it about two times and sadly didn't get very far before utterly loosing interest, haven't given up though, will try a few more times at least. Where does it rank for you guys?
Gentle Giant didn't make music, they made astonishing magic!
My favourite band was Genesis until Cob records accidentally sent me a copy of Gentle Giant’s In a Glass House lp inside a Genesis cover 😅. My friends and I were so disappointed but we thought we may as well play the thing. The needle went on and soon the sound of breaking glass was echoing around our ears. That was 1973 and they have been my favourite band ever since. Every album is great - no bad ones and very few, if any, bad tracks. All have their merits. The only possible rival (for me) to their brilliance was Jethro Tull who approached it on their wonderful Thick as a Brick magnum opus. However, the tone-deaf music critics slated it and Anderson eventually went back to more commercial stuff.
Well before MIDI, that mallet-sounding percussion thing is an instrument they invented called the Shulberry. Basically it's a violin with a pickup inside that they bop the back of.
The mallet thing is marimba combined with a little 2 string instrument they cobbled together just for this song.
They liked to call the instrument the Shulberry for laughs.
Derek Shulman was playing a instrument, that was custom built. That gave the 'mallet' sound, that you described.
In the beginning Derek Shulman is playing the Shulberry, an instrument they invented. Gentle Giant is amazing stuff!
One of the instruments on this is the "Shulberry." An instrument they invented & constructed.
John Weathers for being the glue that holds all those bursting ideas together
I just recently came to the conclusion that Gentle Giant are the greatest Progressive Band from the 1970's. The most consistent, and probably even the most complex. Nearly all multinstrumentalists as well.
I only owned "Octopus" back in the day, and one of my friends purchased "In a Glasshouse". So I managed to borrow that for a week or so. I wish in hindsight, that I'd gotten pretty much all of the back catalogue back then (a mistake that was rectified in later life) as they are a remarkable testament to a truly gifted group of musicians. 👌
I love these guys. All very talented but the guy who I think deserves a special mention is drummer John 'Pugwash' Weathers. He was a straight ahead rock drummer who didn't read music when he joined so he really had to up his game to play a lot of the complex things Kerry had written.
GG may be my favorite band (with Van der Graaf Generator) of all my lifetime. And this is one of my favorite albums from them. So I'm very glad to hear you react to this song.
With GG you have to get used to change of moods, tempo, time signatures, melodies and all this in short songs
For sure you like “ A Passion play” right?
@@enriquemachorromendoza4310 Yes, I like it although my favorite Jethro Tull is Thick as a Brick…
I got a funny story for you
Few weeks ago I was in the supermarket and I saw a guy wearing a yes shirt & and we started talking prog-rock & he told me the only prog rock groups he couldn't get into were Giant & Van der Graf
Which are two of my favorites.....lol
Inside I was saying "dude? What the heck???.... Later on I realized I should have said, "Why not give them another chance?"
@@Rowenbandi 💯 agree
Such A Wonderfully Unknown Great Band from UK!!!GOT IT ALL&Dig it!!!
(Gentle) Giants of prog !
The elder albums/songs are journeys into unknown worlds. I put them in one row with early Genesis (with P. Gabriel !), the long albums of Jethro Tull (Thick as Brick, Passion Play) and extracts of early Oldfield, ELP, some Kansas.
Later they switched into Poprock.
Music that was only possible in the 70s.
So many sounds, ideas and inspirations in only one song. Other bands would have made a whole album of that.
Into them back in the 70's had this album. Great track
That lyric break has always reminded me of Peter Hamill and Van der Graaf Generator
So, to understand these lyrics, you have to understand the album concept. It's about a politician (ie president or prime minister), who campaigns, is voted in, etc. He is talking in this song. Great song, great album - The Power and the Glory!
The album came out in the early 70s - all analog, midi hadn't been invented yet. Even if it had I doubt they would have used it. They didn't need to!
You are zeroed in GENTLE GIANT......
THEY WERE THIS PHENOM LIVE TOO
GG is a musical world I always come back to. They made some of the best music I have heard in my life. Unique, virtuosity, clever, always interesting.
The Power and The Glory album loosely tells the story of Watergate. Hence the runaway tape at the end of the album.
You just have to watch the Live video of this fun GG song !! 🎶
I think this is the best pop song ever written. I'm serious. This beats the other greats including Royals, Somebody That I Used to Know and In the Air Tonight.
The story of a King and his subjects
I believe they are using marimba, vibraphone… Minnear is a university trained tuned percussion specialist. He also plays all the keyboards.
I saw them live 4 times, including their next to last show at the Old Waldorf in S F. Best band ever.
That sound that you thought was a mallet-like or even midi was the “Shulberry” which is something like a three string electric ukulele and was built as a one-off for Derek showman the lead singer. As far as I know they only used it on this song.
You have discovered the greatest band ever! keep exploring their music! You will be enthralled!
What can one say about GG (good or bad) that hasn't been said hundreds of times before?! They were both extraordinary & incomparable - in their literal meanings.
So a big 'thank you' to their sound engineers (studio & especially touring): it must be a nightmare to balance all those inputs, yet nothing I've ever heard has been less than immaculate.
Let me know what one can say that’s bad as far as GG goes
The sound you're hearing is that of The Shulberry.
It is a one-of-a-kind percussive, stringed instrument created by lead singer Derek Shulman. He plays it on the live version.
The males sounding instrument is actually an instrument designed by the band. It's called a Shulberry, and is a stringed instrument, short necked, and played open. Check out Derek Shulman performing the song live to see him playing it.
This was way pre-midi. The mallet sounding instrument on the album is a marimba I believe but when they played it live they used a custom three string instrument built just for this song - no frets - tuned to those three notes only - Electric guitar pickup and the thing is about the size of a mandolin. The singer played it in their live shows.
Gentle Giant and also Budgie were ridiculously ignored in the 70s - and deserved to be massive forr their musicianship and originality - Budgie should have been as big as Sabbath and GG should have been at the top along YES and Genesis - both Pride of Britain - Try Nothing at all and Think of me with Kindness - (gorgeous)
They invited that instrument it had 3 strings
He’s the king !
like a fusion band that crashed into a rennaissance fair......I mean that in the nicest way.
This is my favorite Gentle Giant song. ❤️ 🎵 🎶 🎸 🎹 🥁. Now you need to watch the live version of this song. Fantastic!
Favourite GG song. That’s a tough one. I keep coming back to Aspirations - just beautiful!
You are good. Nothing are like Gentle Giant. Its not only music but art. Gentle Giant is a lifestyle forever. You will love it or not !
Dude, try Cogs in Cogs, it's about the most complext 3 minutes of music you'll ever hear whilst still being a tuneful song.
Thanks for showcasing this great song and sharing your thoughts.
The lyrics are from the viewpoint of an arrogant politician.
The least appreciated bands of their day, Never afraid to be totally original in their sound. Such class and so groove oriented at once! All multi-instrumentalists, so talented! The way they blend from so many different eras of music. The vocal are unique choral arrangements. Gary Green! As underappreciated as the band. Truly great! Every member could bring it!
I thought the same about this song....very much like Steely Dan. I have several GG albums, but I have not heard this one before.
This is my fav album from GG worth a listen .
Have you tried Spooky Tooth.
The power and the Glory is a Gentle Giant masterpiece is very political critic album those were times of hail Nixon and Watergate scandal so l like a lot one of my best album of music also very justice political
GG are in my top 5 bands. Yes is at the top
That's the way it is. Yes, Gentle GIANT and then the rest.
The Power and the Glory is a loose political concept album. Imagine those lyrics in the mind of Donald Trump and it's pretty frightening, which was GG's intent, I think. It's a meditation on unchecked power.
Now try Octopus.
This album was my introduction to Gentle Giant. The Steve Wilson Surround mix is jaw dropping.
I really don’t understand all these remixes . They were brilliantly done in the first place … a bit of overkill in my books
Stop saying "dude"!
Medieval funk, lad. It happened.
Congrats you are just beginning your journey in realizing Gg was/is the greatest most epic legendary unique original criminally underated band ever.