Gentle Giant (Super Star): Difference between revisions

The album includes a 12-page booklet, written in Italian, with six incredible [[color photographs]] of the band at different points in their history. The album was released only on vinyl.

== Liner notes in English ==

This isn't a translation as such, simply a transliteration, taking each word or phrase and translating it. To make it sensible clear English requires substantial re-writing of the sometimes tortuous sentence structure. Spelling corrections, or further help with translation, are, as always, welcome.

It is difficult to cite in the panorama of English music, which is always effervescent and rich with striking scenes, a group serious [reliable] and prepared but also conservative in their style and with a stable image like 'Gentle Giant'.

But Gentle Giant would return often to Italy, always in love with those fans who had discovered Genesis many years before their American and British counterparts; and which had caused the success of other excellent groups that weren't native to Italy ['profeti in patria', literally 'prophets of the homeland', I think], like Van der Graaf Generator.

'''The writing below the photo on Page 1 reads:'''

Gentle Giant knew how to make music that was elegant and full of feeling, characterised by a new use of woodwind and strings, without the pretensions of big band, with the sole ambition of creating a rainbow rich of colours, to which the rhythm section added a soft tone, aided by the liquid sound of the vibraphone. Thus was created an avant-garde pop music in which there were flowing elements typical of rock, others of jazz and others of classical music. 'Funny Ways', 'Giant', 'The Advent of Panurge', 'Pantagruel's Nativity', 'Three Friends', 'Why Not?', 'The Runaway' were only some of the titles within their repertoire.

Phil, Derek and Raymond (Ray) Shulman were three brothers from Portsmouth, a city of 250 thousand inhabitants in the South of England, between Bournemouth and Brighton, on the English Channel, not far from the Isle of Wight, famous for its rock festival. The oldest, Phil, born on the 27th August 1937: the second, Derek, the 2nd February 47; the smallest, Ray, musically the most proficient, the 8th December 1949. They began to play when very young, above all in local rhythms and blues groups, inspired by the black American music. There we find them in the early sixties in 'Howling Wolf and the Roadrunners', or to be precise the howling wolves, the name borrowed from the great bluesman Howlin' Wolf (alias Chester Burnett).

At that point the sextet divided: on one side Eric Hine, Tony Ransley and Pete O'Flaherty, of whom we hear little to speak of; one the other Ray, Derek and Phil Shulman, who decided to leave for a new musical adventure a little more ambitious. They became associated first of all with the guitarist, Gary Green, born the 2oth November 1950, brother of Colin, a soloist on the rock-jazz circuit; then the drummer Martin Smith who worked with them for a couple of years; then the keyboard player Kerry Minnear, born the 12th April 1948, just out of the Royal Academy of Music with all the classical baggage with which Gentle Giant couldn't do without. The Shulmans played at that time [in their time?] a large number of instruments: Ray the bass, the guitar, the violin and occasionally drums and piano; Derek bass, alto sax and above all the lead vocals; Phil the brass, of which in particular the trumpet and the tenor sax. It was a time of new romantic and gothic imagery in English pop which nurtured the old fairy tales, of enchanted castles, of ancient ['ossianiche' - I'm not sure what this means] poetry, of antique popular culture. The group chose the name 'Gentle Giant' and presented at the beginning of 1971 an LP, the cover of which reproduced the good-natured face of the giant who held the sextet in the palm of his hand.

'''These photos are accompanied by the following text:'''

Gentle Giant: from left, Kery Minnear, keyboard player and poly-instrumentalist, John Weathers, drummer, Gary Green, guitarist, Ray Shulman, poly-instrumentalist, and Derek Shulman - who below we see playing the sax - lead vocals. The third Shulman, Phil, saxophonist and trumpeter, left the group in 1973.

The character type used for the title and for the cover notes is that of ancient Gothic, that used by Magonza of Gutenberg when he invented the printing process ['printing with mobile characters'], in the 15th century [my history of C15 European literature is limited - I don't know whether 'Magonza da Gutenberg' refers to a person or a company]. Tony Visconti, the able producer of Italian origin who took care of the direction of records in the studio (he worked also with David Bowie, Rick Wakeman, T. Rex, etc.) explained with ['dovizia' - not sure what this is] of characteristic fantasy the origin of the name. The giant of which he told lived in the countryside of Somerset, from which he rarely ventured, only doing so to go and find his girlfirend in France, who was also a daughter of Gargantua (who remembers the tales of Francois Rableais?). One day, however, a sound which wandered with the East wind atracted him; with curiosity, and travelling quickly at night, avoiding the populated areas, he discovered that the sound came [originated] from Portsmouth, in particular from village out from the city, where six musicians were strumming an arrangement of 'Why Not?' at over a hundred Watts. He located them and placed himself around the house, with his ears on the two sides of the walls to obtain a stereophonic effect. The friends saw him and apologised to him for the din [noise]. "Am I disturbed?" responded the giant "but I have never heard music as lovely as this apart from a flock of birds!". Thus the giant became an admirer of the group, and they, after having posed with him for a photograph, decided to take the name of that good-natured [kind, gentle] figure, imposing and confident with a refined palate: because Gentle Giant were even at the start a team endowed with large personality and exquisite musicianship.

The same musicians wrote on the cover of their second album, 'Acquiring the Taste': "It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at risk of becoming very unpopular". There was no paradox, because they soon became the good friends of the European public and their attempts were appreciated: "We have recorded each composition with the one thought - that it should be unique, adventurous and fascinating. It has taken every shred of our combined musical and technical knowledge to achieve this. From the outset we have abandoned all preconceived thoughts on blatant commercialism. Instead we hope to give you something far more substantial and fulfilling".

'''The caption on page 6 accompanying the two photos reads:'''

The music of Gentle Giant: An original 'mixture' of pop, rock, jazz and classical. Says Derek Shulman - seen in the photo during a concert by the group - with a hint of pride: "In England, our records were played on the third channel [Radio 3], which is the BBC's classical music station".

'Acquiring the Taste' is a record more mature and balanced than the preceding one. Amongst their unforgettable pieces, that which opens the collection, dedicated to the birth of Pantagruel: "Pantagruel born -- the earth was dry and burning In Paradise dear Badabec prays for him...". Evidently the group continued to be inspired by Francois Rabelais, the French doctor who under the name of Alcofribas Nasier had published about the middle of the 1500s 'The horrible and frightening stories and bravery of the much renowned Pantagruel king of the Dipsodi, son of the grand giant Gargantua' [I don't know the 'official' translation of this work - this is the literal translation of the title given in the piece]; and also another four books dedicated to Pantagruel and his family, people that were recovered [reinvented] from an old popular publication.

* No God's Man - No God's A Man

* Could'nt - Couldn't