Three Piece Suite

The late 60s and early 70s were a time of change in British rock music. The psychedelia that rose just a few years prior had opened the bridges to a variety of new styles of music as a new generation of men that were entering their early 20s, began to find their voices. Gone were the cover versions and pop singles; in was something much deeper, both musically and intellectually, undoubtedly following the lead set first by The Beatles and their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Gentle Giant was one such group. From the provincial town of Portsmouth, the Shulman brothers – Derek on vocals, Ray on violin and eldest Phil on saxophones – had spent the past few years as Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. Success, though limited, seemed to be more a cross to bear, rather than a key to freedom. Of course, this new era was all about musical freedom; I can’t think of another time in rock’s history when artists could take such chances and risks with their music. Recruiting a talented keyboardist and composer from The Royal Academy of Music, Kerry Minnear, and an ambitious blues guitarist, Gary Green, they reconstituted themselves as Gentle Giant, and signed to Vertigo Records, a new label set up to offering these new “progressive” sounds. Over the course of just a few short years, Gentle Giant released three albums – their debut (Oct. 1970), Acquiring the Taste (July 1971) and Three Friends (April 1972) – that this compilation Three Piece Suite is compiled from. Original drummer Martin Smith and engineer Tony Visconti were replaced by third album, while drummer Malcolm Mortimore would only remain for the last in the trilogy. This compilation contains a few tracks from each album, the original tapes lost somewhere in the near 50 years since their recording, here mixed in both a new stereo and a surround-sound presentation. The recordings represent the work of a group of young and immensely talented musicians, using every ounce of their musical beings to create something uniquely their own. Now, much has been written about the so-called progressive rock during this period of time; none of that is here: only some of the most original, complex, inventive listening recorded to tape. Gentle Giant’s music was all these things and more, but perhaps most importantly and often overlooked, the band never failed to remember that this was rock music. From the opening bars of “Giant,” to the sexy riff of “Why Not?” the band reveals its sound. Grinding organ, a rock solid off-beat, and the powerful and manly vocals of Derek Shulman. “The House, The Street, The Room” winds around before erupting with Green’s blues-inspired wah-wah guitar solo. The band again shift, next offering the epic “Schooldays,” a haunting, swinging display of beauty, before returning the to the electrifying guitar of “Peel the Paint” before ending with the final symphonic refrains of “Three Friends.” While this compilation offers a mere sampling of these three classic albums, it highlights the amazing music that was Gentle Giant and era that was progressive rock.