Gentle Giant Giant on the Box DVD with Gentle Giant (NR) +Movie Reviews

Joyful noise

Andrew Stephens | Ottawa, Ontario Canada | 12/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Words fail. This is sublime noise, music, raw creativity. But it's bloody brilliant. If you are a fan of this band and never got to see them then this is a must purchase. If you saw them, like I did for the Interview tour, and just forgot how intense the experience could be, then buy this and let all those memories come flooding back.I have to say this is one of the few music dvd's I have watched in sequence from beginning to end. There is admittedly a little filler, the Italian interview is perplexing (though you can read the English transcript at the official GG web site - http://www.blazemonger.com/GG/ ) and the photographs, while interesting - lack captions, and there is duplication between the two main features. However that is a needless quibble. The quality of sound and video are generally quite good and the selection of material is excellent, primarily from In a Glass House, Octopus and Power and the Glory.The band is tight, powerful, extraordinarily talented and what's even better, play like they love what they're doing and take great joy in playing with one another. There is a lot of interaction between band members, who are quite emotive and self reliant in front of (well at least in the first segment) an audience that doesn't quite know what to make of them.To sum up, worth every damn penny. I can only hope that there is more video somewhere in the vaults that covers off the next segment up to The Missing Piece. I'll book mine now, please."

On The Box -- and more

Cato | 11/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I would only add to comments about this must DVD for Gentle Giant fans:
- the package contains a bonus audio CD of the German TV concert, so you get 50 min and 28 sec of listening pleasure away from the TV
- the background music to the menus is new music composed by Kerry Minnear. It's brief but quite good."

A giant of a dvd

Progrockman | 11/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Astounding music and a fantastic musicianship. After watching this dvd, Gentle Giant has escalated on my all time favorites list. You will be amazed at the variety and complexity of the music on this dvd.
The only unfortunate part is that the video and sound quality is from the 70's but that should not deter anyone from experiencing GG playing live."

A treasure from the past

Lee LaFarge | West Virginia | 08/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a Gentle Giant fan since I first saw them backing Jethro Tull in 1972. For me, GG was the best of all the progressive rock bands from that era. Their music was full of melody and very inventive. You might find several different song styles and counter melodies in one five or six minute track, and all of them extremely beautiful and interesting. They never indulged in the excesses that some of the prog bands did at that time. Just virtuoso performances of totally unique music that could be both haunting in it's beauty, or rock your socks off. Their music styles ranged from rock to English folk, as well as baroque classical music. Jazz was definitely an influence as well as blues, and it all came together in a style that was uniquely their own. The sheer joy of making music is evident on every track of their first 8 or 9 albums. All of the other prog rock bands could get bogged down in pretentiousness or sometimes bore you with long tedious unmelodic compositions. Not Gentle Giant. There was never a wasted note.
It's been twenty four years since they disbanded, and I'd given up thinking I'd ever get to see them again. This DVD is like finding home movies of a lost loved one. The performances are from an old German TV broadcast as well as an American TV broadcast (I think from the old Don Kirshner's "In Concert" series), as well as some brief black and white Italian TV footage. The film and sound quality from 1975, though not up to todays digital standards, looks and sounds remarkably good. The camera work sometimes annoys (a blistering guitar solo, while the camera shows a face), but that's typical of far too many concert films unfortunately. The music from the American show culls a few songs from the German performance for the briefer American TV appearance. The American audience is livelier than the Germans, but the GG performances from both shows are equally excellent! It's just so great to see them again, I refuse to take away any stars for these minor imperfections. If you love Gentle Giant, and you miss seeing them perform (or worse, never saw them perform), then enjoy this gift from the past."

See why this band is truly a progressive giant!

W. J. Stephens | Matrix Pod 230928-34234 A-17 | 08/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a fan of Gentle Giant for over 25 years, so my four star rating is biased, however this does capture the band near the peak of their power (I've seen them three times live) and makes for a fascinating archival gem from the depths of the experimental 70's when rock groups were truly breaking new ground. This was produced by Kerry Minnear, the keyboard wizard, one of the writers and probably main arranger for Gentle Giant. Kerry composed some really intriguing new music for the menus that reminds one of the glory of days gone by.

There are essentially two concert films here both from 1974 with very similar sets one 50 minutes from German ZDF television where the band simply tears it up playing a screaming set of complex, powerful rock with tremendous interplay before a audience that is nearly catatonic. Weird. The second film is a half hour concert in Long Beach, CA with four tracks, all repeats of the ZDF show, but with a much more enthusiastic audience and a better vibe solo from Kerry on "Features from Octopus". The camera work is unfortunately sub-par, there are insufficient group shots, to many close-ups that donâ??t show instruments being played and frustratingly few shots of Gary Green riffing on his guitar. Oh well, itâ??s still such a treat to see this! The close-ups of John Weathers on drums reminded me of how maniacal he was in a fun and friendly sort of wayâ?¦

Finally, there is a short film from Italian TV "Guitar & Drums" from "In a Glass House" that I felt was fairly interesting but unrecognizable(!) â?" some kind of jam between Gary and John. Dispensable and just 3 minutes.

The extras include an interesting interview (well it would be more interesting if nearly all of it weren't dubbed in Italian!) Still it gives a rare glimpse of the personalities of the extraordinary individuals that made up the band. Lastly there are 36 photos from Gary Green's private collection showing the lads at work in Advision studio including Phil Shulman the elder brother of the band who quit after Octopus.

All in all this is absolutely indispensable for any Gentle Giant fan as well as even casual aficionados of 70s experimental progressive rock! Like I said I'm biased and hold Gentle Giant in greater esteem than the most of the more well known prog acts of the such as Yes. In fact say no to yes and yes to Gentle Giant if you dare to escape the matrix!"

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	Gentle Giant - Giant on the Box Actor: Gentle Giant Genres: Music Video & Concerts NR 2004 1hr 47min In 1974 Christopher Nupen invited the band to record this concert in a Brussels film studio to be broadcast as a Sunday Concert on German television station ZDF. Track list: Cogs in cogs, Proclamation, Funny ways, The runa... more » « less
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