Sunday Big Note – Listening Session #18

Unlike many of their contemporaries, British group Gentle Giant‘s classical influences ranged beyond the Romantic to incorporate elements of mediaeval, baroque, and modernist chamber music. Undoubtedly, this was what drew Frank Zappa to their music – that, and their elaborate arrangements, complex instrumental parts, and odd meters, too. I know, that was certainly what drew me to the music of Gentle Giant, too: a band made up of multi-instrumentalists who combined diverse elements from rock, classical, jazz, soul, blues, and the avante-garde, playing more than thirty instruments.
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Gentle Giant’s “Funny Ways” – Brussels, 1974

A little something special for all you aficionados of Gentle Giant music. “Funny Ways” is the second track from Gentle Giant‘s debut album of the same name released in 1970. Vocals were provided mostly by Phil Shulman, with Derek Shulman joining in on the verses. Christopher Nupen, a classical music film director, had invited the band to record the 1974 concert in 16mm film in a Brussels film studio for the German television station ZDF.
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