on-reflection-digest     Friday, August 27 1999     Volume 01 : Number 1836



gg: Poll
gg: re: Pretentious . . . the lot of you!
gg: Re: Gier goes to GorGG; first GG
gg: GYBE! recommendation
gg: Re: Radio Play
gg: Re: Mammiepoll
gg: Re: GG --- Yes
gg: Reg needs some help picking a Jazz gig!!!
gg: DELIVERY - "Fool's Meeting" / Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"
gg: Mammiepoll
Re: gg: Radio play...
Re: gg: DELIVERY - "Fool's Meeting" / Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"
Re: gg: Radio play...
no gg:Skunk Baxter...
Re: gg: Reg needs some help picking a Jazz gig!!!
Re: gg: Mammiepoll
gg:simpler textures
Re: gg: GG <-> Yes
gg: RE: Mammiepoll
Re: Fwd: Re: gg: GG <-> Yes
gg: no gg but there are 2 GG titles there: Get Gert to Gorgg  ;^)
Re: gg: Mammie's new Poll 
Re: gg: Radio play...
RE: gg: In A Quebecois Glass House 
Re: gg: DELIVERY - "Fool's Meeting" / Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"
gg: Pretentious; GYBE!; Ponty DiMeola Clarke; NFL!; Mammiepoll; Baxter
gg: Morse as fiddler
Re: gg: Pretentious; GYBE!; Ponty DiMeola Clarke; NFL!; Mammiepoll; Baxter
gg: RE: GG<->YES
Re: gg: Mammiepoll....and Pat
gg: TRoS/word of mouth
gg: Flecktones
Re: gg: TRoS/word of mouth
gg: another mammiepoll
gg: new disc

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:25:34 +0100 (BST)
From: Rik Beck 
Subject: gg: Poll

> From: mammienun@webtv.net
> When you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately? 

Like, yes. Love, no.

> Did you run out and start buying their albums, or did some time go by
> before you began to appreciate them? 

At the time (see below), they weren't particularly easy to find (few
CDs, LPs rare). However, I did buy them as I found them. 

> How old were you and what year was it when you 1st heard/bought GG?

About 15, which would put it in 1984. A guy in 'my' band had a tape of
'Three Friends' and 'Pretentious...'. First purchase was probably
'Gentle Giant' on vinyl the same year.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 09:37:07 EDT
From: Biffyshrew@aol.com
Subject: gg: re: Pretentious . . . the lot of you!

JohnEric wrote:

>I now believe that
>the real prog fan ENJOYS and is thrilled by pretension

Pretentious?  _Nous_?

Your pal,
Biffy the Elephant Shrew

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 09:37:21 EDT
From: Biffyshrew@aol.com
Subject: gg: Re: Gier goes to GorGG; first GG

Daniel Barrett wrote:

>The O-R mailing list, however, was founded by Malcolm Smith, not Geir.

Malcolm Smith?  Wasn't he the first two GG drummers?

***

First GG exposure:  1972, via radio airplay.  _Three Friends_ got 
considerable air time on KPRI in San Diego when it came out--and Columbia did 
promote the band to radio at the time, with that special promo EP of 
"Prologue," "Working All Day" and "Three Friends."  I liked the band 
immediately, although I recall that in telling others about them I compared 
them to ELP (hah?).

Your pal,
Biffy the Elephant Shrew

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:46:55 +0100 (BST)
From: Rik Beck 
Subject: gg: GYBE! recommendation

> From Ant, in response to P-Frank's:
> 
>> They're [GYBE!] coming to Philly soon--worth checkin' out?  What
>> type of music?
> 
> Jerry described them as an intellectual Hawkwind. They have Cello's, Violins
> and Glockenspiels as well as Bass, Guitar, Drums. Instrumental,
> trance-inducing repetition with dual screen, home movie type film loops for
> the light show. The pieces do develop and build the dynamics up and down
> with slowly evolving variations of tone and volume. There is no lead
> instrument to speak of but not all the instruments play simultaneously,
> rather they come in and out although the strings are used the mostly to
> drive the thing along melodically while a guitar riff can be the main focus
> of the melody at other times and then a lull while the glockenspiel plinks
> out a simple round. Very powerful and effective live if you don't expect a
> GG complexity. You really should let it take you away somewhere which it
> tends to do anyway wether you like it or not.

Whilst I agree with most of that review, here's my take on this band....

Godspeed You Black Emperor! are a Canadian band on the kranky record
label of Chicago. The band comprises at least eight musicians, including
the usual drum, bass and gtrs, but also including cellos, violins,
bagpipes and glockenspiel. 

AFAIK, there are two CDs readily available

          F#A#oo (oo = infinity)                    krank 027
          slow riot for new zero kanada             krank 034

The music consists mainly of instrumentals, which start from fairly
simple patterns but build up gradually to become overwhelming.
Interspersed with this are 'borrowed' sounds: speech, trains, wind
etc., and amongst the riot there are ambient textures and acoustic gtr.
Live, the mood is continued, although without acoustic gtr. The borrowed
sounds are played on backing tapes.

The music itself isn't massively elaborate, being built upon major
chords and chord progressions, but there is such an intense passion,
such a massive drive, that it sweeps you up. Hypnotic is a good
adjective, IMO.

There is an offical website which lists all the discography - there
aren't many releases, but there are a few reviews. It's at:

             www.gybe.cx

Comparisons would include Porcupine Tree, Epsilon Indi, and the darker
parts of Marillion's 'Brave'. I have heard other musicians mentioned,
including Arvo Part and Pink Floyd circa 'Ummagumma'.

Hope that's of some use.

rb

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 09:46:26 EDT
From: Biffyshrew@aol.com
Subject: gg: Re: Radio Play

Mammienun wrote:

>Immediately after the DJ anounced that the 1st
>caller would win the new Dixie Dregs album Freefall. They'd been playing
>the title track and I really liked it so I called. It was the 1st time
>I ever won anything off the radio!

The only time I ever won anything from the radio was around 1976, when I 
answered a trivia question about Handel (I looked up the answer in the 
encyclopedia while dialing) and got tickets to see the San Diego Symphony 
(Nielsen's fourth, a Bach harpsichord concerto played on piano, and Jessye 
Norman singing Beethoven arias).

Your pal,
Biffy the Elephant Shrew

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 09:46:28 EDT
From: MHB1212GG@aol.com
Subject: gg: Re: Mammiepoll

In a message dated 8/27/99 7:52:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
owner-on-reflection-digest@lists.uoregon.edu writes:

<< Re: gg: New Mammiepoll (was: GG <-> Yes) >>
    Goodday mates. I heard GG on a local radio station in 73, I was 15 at the 
time and had limited funds. What I had heard was a cut off Octopus, can't 
remember which one. When I had the cash I went to the only real record store 
in the area and all they had was TF. So I thought, what the hell, that was a 
decision that changed my life. Unfortunately all we had at home was an 
8-track. The only time I could listen was when my parents weren't home, it 
drove them nuts. From there I went back and got AtT, and proceeded to get all 
others except PtF,(thanks Claudio), not much into the "live" thing for ANY 
band, although I do like the improv stuff.
    About YES, I'm in the minority here. Imagine that!! I never got into Yes. 
It just didn't do anything to get my juices flowing. Nothing, to me, compared 
after hearing GG, I guess. I like a lot of bands, Yes included. Very Few I 
love, and GG is on the top of that short list.  
        Mark Hans 

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 06:54:02 PDT
From: "Dan Weese" 
Subject: gg: Re: GG --- Yes





Yer preachin' to the choir, lad.  I'm making the case that Yes' image was 
not affected by the hard realities, and was building the case for the 
"machine".



My first introduction to Yes was the Yes album over at some college student 
digs.  It was so much better than any of the pablum friends my age were 
listening to, I never much paid attention to the radio after that.



The reason there is no "staying power" is that the wee tykes never had to 
listen to anything longer than 3 minutes long on the local pop station, or 
to any chord more complex than a 7th, or any musical mode beyond the 
Mixolydian rock-em-out blues-derived anthem.



Not making that point at all.  I'm saying Yes sold shitloads because they 
had lovely coloured artwork from Roger Dean which also sold lots of albums 
for Uriah Heep, Budgie and also GG.  It made people pick up the cardboard, 
and that's the bottom line.  I got a copy of Close to the Edge from a 
girlfriend who had bought the album for the artwork, and did not like the 
music, hence my observation.

I love Yes because of the harmonies and the atmospherics.  IMHO Yes' South 
Side of the Sky is a paragon of excellence.  I Get Up I Get Down has been 
played at family funerals.  But the reason anyone sells albums these days, 
or any other day, is a whole machine which starts with a record label, MP3s 
notwithstanding.  Witness the rise of witless gits like Chumbambwa, a Brit 
band who signed with a German label and achieved success in the USA.

I do wish GG would re-form and tour again, if only to show up all these 
poseurs and sellouts.  With a few notable exceptions, most of which are well 
known in this listserv, Richard Thompson being the prime example, excellence 
needs a package to be displayed to best effect.  Jewelers know this, 
software types know this, every retailer on the planet knows that the 
package is what the customer sees first, not the excellence of its contents. 
  GG, even today, with one tour, could reach a new generation of kids in 
search of excellence, but without a video on MTV, they wouldn't sell well 
enough to make it worth the trouble.  GG thrashed about in search of a new 
sound for their last few efforts:  but IMHO it wasn't a sound they lacked, 
it was some marketing shite who could get them into heavy rotation they 
lacked.

Welcome to the machine.


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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:06:47 EDT
From: "Reginald Dunlop" 
Subject: gg: Reg needs some help picking a Jazz gig!!!

Hi there Giants!

I need some help picking out which Jazz gig to attend with my wife at the 
free Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival on Labour Day Weekend. Way too much fine 
talent this year. :) So much fine talent...I'm having a hard time picking 
which ones to go see. It's a 4 day event and it's free(well, nothing's ever 
free...but someone's paying for it :)

Anyway, here's what is of interest to the Regmaster General and playing the 
festival:

DAVE BRUBECK(he's turning 80 next year, is he washed up?)

THE ELVIN JONES MACHINE(Most likely will attend this?)

YUSEF LATEEF(The Gentle Giant in person?)

JOEY DEFRANCESCO(Miles and Mcglaughlin's organist)

So, I need your help. Which one should I go see? I'm can only attend ONE of 
the days. Your help would be more than appreciated. Basically, I'm leaning 
more towards Elvin Jones and Yusef Lateef. Help me please.

Ciao,

REGINALD DUNLOP

np: Voivod - "Phobos"(contains the masterpiece cover of KC's "21st Century 
Schizoid Man" and I don't care much for cover tunes, but the 'vodsters 
really rip it up here and update it light years ahead of its time)




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Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:17:33 EDT
From: "Reginald Dunlop" 
Subject: gg: DELIVERY - "Fool's Meeting" / Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"

Hello again Giants!

Has anyone purchased the reissue of DELIVERY's "Fool's Meeting" on Cuneiform 
Records? If so, is it worth the money for hearing some early Pip 
Pyle(drums), Phil Miller(guitar) and Steve Miller(keyboards). What I really 
want to know is...Does it sound anything like Caravan or Hatfield? Is this 
classic Canterbury or 2nd rate Canterbury material?

Also, should I buy Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"? I had Hillage's "L" and 
didn't care for it much. Is "Fish Rising" a piece of crap or does it deserve 
all the praise? Please let me know.

Later,

REGINALD DUNLOP

still playing: Voivod - "Phobos"


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Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:29:10 -0400
From: Patrick Connor 
Subject: gg: Mammiepoll

>This discussion got me thinking. It's time for another mammiepoll! When
>you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately? 

I first heard them in 1988, age 17.  I was heavily into Yes at the time and
a friend played me something.  I'm thinking now it might have been either
Knots or On Reflection, because I was blown away by an acapella part.
Alas, I never got to get a copy of this tape, and I could never seem to find
GG in stores.

>Did you run out and
>start buying their albums, or did some time go by before you began to
>appreciate them? 

In 1998, I discovered the GG web page, and it intrigued me enough to make an
active search for the music.  Great page Dan!  Whilst in Tower Records, I
happened 
upon AtT and TF, so I picked them up.  I got home, put on Pantagruel's
Nativity, and 
was very confused by the dissonance.  Kerry's voice struck me as wimpy at
first.  
Edge of Twilight confused me even more, but The House, The Street, The Room 
rocked enough for me to keep the cd player on.  

Putting on TF, I found Prologue quite accessible (sounded like what I thought 
1972 prog would sound like, whatever that means...) and it remains one of
my favorite
GG songs.

It took me several months to digest these albums.  Since then I've been
buying them
one at a time to savor them.  I'm up to Free Hand, which I just got this
summer.  


Pat Connor
np: Seldon's Inquisitor -- what, you've never heard of my band?  :-)
Patrick Connor    pconnor@ici.net
"There is nothing more seductive for man than the freedom of his
conscience, but there is nothing more tormenting for him, either."
   --The Grand Inquisitor                    

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 08:28:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Don Tillman 
Subject: Re: gg: Radio play...

   From: mammienun@webtv.net
   Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 08:02:55 -0400 (EDT)

   I'm forunate to live in an area with a station that still plays a good
   deal of prog...i.e Tull, Yes, Genesis, ELP. Not just the most popular
   tunes, but some of the good stuff as well. 

It sounds like you don't want to tell us what radio station this is or
where it's located.  :-)

  -- Don

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:56:05 EDT
From: SPBrader@aol.com
Subject: Re: gg: DELIVERY - "Fool's Meeting" / Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"

The Regmeister asks:

<< Also, should I buy Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"? I had Hillage's "L" and 
 didn't care for it much. Is "Fish Rising" a piece of crap or does it deserve 
 all the praise? Please let me know >>

I had it, sold it. It never really 'took off' in the way I was expecting from 
his work with Khan and Gong. A tad too noodly for moi.

Si

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:59:06 EDT
From: SPBrader@aol.com
Subject: Re: gg: Radio play...

Don writes:

<< It sounds like you don't want to tell us what radio station this is or
 where it's located.  :-) >>

It's hospital radio. Located just of the secure wing ;-)

Si

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:13:33 -0400
From: veeter@vermontel.net
Subject: no gg:Skunk Baxter...

Yeah, I was excited to hear Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter was running, till I
heard he was running for the Grand Old Party(of corporate welfare,
billionaires and neanderthals). Guess all that Steely Dan money went to
his head. I won't hold it aginst his gtr playing though.

John Ryan

np:David Torn-What Means Solid, Traveller?

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:34:37 +0000
From: Diana Green 
Subject: Re: gg: Reg needs some help picking a Jazz gig!!!

hail;
re:


Reginald Dunlop wrote:

> Hi there Giants!
>
> I need some help picking out which Jazz gig to attend with my wife at the
> free Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival on Labour Day Weekend.

Would that we all had the difficulty of having too much cool live music to
choose between. :-)

> DAVE BRUBECK(he's turning 80 next year, is he washed up?)
>
> THE ELVIN JONES MACHINE(Most likely will attend this?)
>
> YUSEF LATEEF(The Gentle Giant in person?)
>
> JOEY DEFRANCESCO(Miles and Mcglaughlin's organist)
>
> So, I need your help. Which one should I go see? I'm can only attend ONE of
> the days. Your help would be more than appreciated. Basically, I'm leaning
> more towards Elvin Jones and Yusef Lateef. Help me please.

I won't say "if I were you", because if I were you, I'd do exactyl what you'd
do.
However:
go see Burdock.
As you pointed out, he's 80. who knows how many more chances you have? I got to
see him when I was 15, the first single artist concert I ever attended, and I
still count it as one of the high points of my life. I count it up there with my
experinces seeing Mingus, Hendrix and GG. One does not pass up an opportunity to
see such a historic figure.
And if he is off a bit, which I don't believe he is, look at it this way: if the
only tme you got to see GG was on the civilian tour, would that have stopped you
from going?
still,
dg
np: local news

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:40:30 EDT
From: JoDoDu@aol.com
Subject: Re: gg: Mammiepoll

>This discussion got me thinking. It's time for another mammiepoll! When
>you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately? 
Not at first...a friend of mine who is a great musician played some IaGH for me, followed by PatG...it took a while, but pretty soon I was hooked. 
>Did you run out and
>start buying their albums, or did some time go by before you began to
>appreciate them?
I bought PatG right away, and then saw a GG concert in Los Angeles and was really blown away.  After the concert I purchases every album.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 15:40:11 +0100
From: Bob Taylor 
Subject: gg:simpler textures

In message , Lindsey Spratt
 writes
>On Thu, Aug 26, 1999 7:38 AM, Bob Taylor 
>wrote:
>> Here's a question that I've always wanted a satisfactory answer to:
>> Of all GG fans I'd expect that nearly all - at least 95% - would admit
>> to liking Yes and have their CDs to some degree; but of all Yes fans, 
>> it is likely that a much lower proportion (<10% ??) would say they were
>> GG fans as well. This is a question for the Yes fans on the list, I
>> suppose, but what is it that is missing in GG albums, that leaves so
>> many unimpressed?
>
>I think the Yes tunes are easier listening: simpler textures (less going on
>at one time), more familiar harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic structures. 

More use of the major keys, interspersed with minor keys, is also part
of this I think.

>I remember being quite startled by the harmonies on PatG when I first heard
>it.
>-lindsey

I still am! I have to say that much though I admire (in the sense of
"how did they achieve that") this album, it doesn't register among my GG
favourites. Cogs in Cogs is special, together with No Gods A Man and
Aspirations.


Come down to it, isn't it really Dereks voice that scatters people
hither and thither and makes it hardest for GG, even nowadays, to pick
up new listeners?

Regardless, I suspect the band are doing better business than a lot of
other 25-year-old artists ....
 
Bob
 
- -- 
Bob Taylor

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 15:51:43 +0100
From: Bob Taylor 
Subject: Re: gg: GG <-> Yes

>Gentle Giant was a word-of-mouth band.  Everyone who bought Gentle Giant was 
>introduced to GG by a friend.  GG appealed, and continues to appeal to
>musicians, because of the technical excellence of the compositions and 
>consummate showmanship of GG.

This I can certainly relate to. The band were largely ignored by radio
even at their peak.

>It is a pity that more musicians have not forged alliances with more 
>multimedia types.  The Yes, Bowie, Gabriel and Pink Floyd machines knew how 
>that worked,
>and succeeded.  GG's management should have done more along that line.

It would be fascinating to learn how much _notice_ GG actually took of
what the band's management tried to tell them. I would speculate that -
until '76, perhaps -  not very much; on the other hand, when they
switched labels to Chrysalis it might(?) have been conditional on them
operating in particular "directions". 
I believe that, later on, Civilian was recorded with more of a thought
of the wider record-buying public. By this time money had come to be a
big, big issue.
Just a thought.

Bob
- -- 
Bob Taylor

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 19:10:35 +0200
From: "Jan-Arjen Voskuilen" 
Subject: gg: RE: Mammiepoll

> From: mammienun@webtv.net
> When you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately?
> Did you run out and start buying their albums, or did some time go by
> before you began to appreciate them?
> How old were you and what year was it when you 1st heard/bought GG?

When I first heard GG, I must have been 12 (1973). My brother and I shared
one bedroom and I had to listen to the albums that he bought. I learned a
lot, although I could not appreciate all music at the time. Especially GG
was a bit too complicated for me. TF and O were the first albums that I
heard. One year later I bought TPatG and I was sold. On vinyl I also bought
IaGH, FH, I, GfaD, C, AtT, but it was on CD that I completed the series.

Jan Arjen Voskuilen

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 10:06:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: "David J. Loftus" 
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: gg: GG <-> Yes

> It's time for another mammiepoll! When
> you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately?

No and yes.  As veterans of the list know, I heard the first minute or 
two of "Schooldays" excerpted on a small disc of selections for music 
teachers' use belonging to my Dad.  I liked it -- at least was intrigued 
- -- but I'm not sure it ever occurred to me that this was commercial music 
that one could go out and buy.  The year was probably 1972 and I was 13.  
I was listening mostly to Deep Purple and Creedence then.

By the spring of 1976 (age 17), I was a confirmed Yes and ELP fan.  My best 
music buddy put on "Free Hand" and I was instantly hooked.  I saw GG 
open for Yes in July and there was no turning back.


David Loftus

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 19:18:36 +0200
From: "Jorunn Nome & Gert Vijn" 
Subject: gg: no gg but there are 2 GG titles there: Get Gert to Gorgg  ;^)

Hi all y'all,

This is spam. I've just updated my sales list at
http://home.sol.no/~vijn/h-swap.htm . You'll find some real nice items there as
well as some crap. It's not specially cheap, especially not for those people who
don't suffer from the European price level. But worth considering.

Anyway, have a look and...  Get Gert to Gorgg!  HAAHAhahahahaha!
;^)

NYC-ya,
V-Gert

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 10:18:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: "David J. Loftus" 
Subject: Re: gg: Mammie's new Poll 

On Fri, 27 Aug 1999, Ant wrote:

> Mammie asked about breaking your virGGinity.
> 
> It was 1972,  I was 16, first album. My friend had bought it cos he liked
> the cover and took a chance. I loved it, he hated it so I got it at a 2nd
> hand price. I then got Octopus, PtFand tPatG when they came out. Seemed to
> miss AtT, 3F, FH,IaGH, Interview and the rest immediately. Only picked 
> them up much later. Hence they still aren't as familiar as the ones I 
> bought early despite repeated playings. There is something to be said 
> for listening to an album when you're young and your brain is still 
> unfragmented shall we say.

So true.  I acquired The Power and the Glory very late, long after I'd 
heard its cuts many times on Live Playing the Fool, and I don't think 
I'll ever be as fond of it as Free Hand, Interview, In a Glass House, or 
Octopus (which is roughly the order in which I acquired the classics), as 
a whole anyway -- although there are individual cuts I think are awesome.

But I think that goes for almost any music.  There's a tender, vulnerable 
period in our youth when almost anything we like goes in deep.  Since I 
grew up hearing all my Dad's Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson, and Modern Jazz 
Quartet, those will always mean more to me than Benny Goodman, about whom 
one of my girlfriends was wild because that's what her Dad played when 
she was little.


> I did see IaGH about 76 in a shop and had a listen to it in the booth 
> but I found it a bit difficult so didn't buy it, fool that I was.

I don't recall ever being turned off or unmoved by something done by GG 
until that infamous blue album with the mask on the cover....


David Loftus

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:28:11 -0700
From: Bob Angilly 
Subject: Re: gg: Radio play...

Actually these are radio signals from 1975 which bounced off a space anomoly
some 12 light years distant.

Don Tillman wrote:

>    From: mammienun@webtv.net
>    Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 08:02:55 -0400 (EDT)
>
>    I'm forunate to live in an area with a station that still plays a good
>    deal of prog...i.e Tull, Yes, Genesis, ELP. Not just the most popular
>    tunes, but some of the good stuff as well.
>
> It sounds like you don't want to tell us what radio station this is or
> where it's located.  :-)
>
>   -- Don

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 10:22:21 -0700
From: "Benson, Tom" 
Subject: RE: gg: In A Quebecois Glass House 

>Timidly, I ask . . . 
>I can't wait any more for the Polygram USA release of In A Glass House --
>can 
>anyone recommend a great place in Manchester, Leeds, West London, or >Surry

>where my friend can pick up a copy of the album in some form for me? 
>I hate to admit that I don't have any recording of it!

This probably doesn't help this specific request, but I have to share this
anyway... I just returned from a trip through parts of Canada, and I was
mightily impressed by the high profile of "PROGRESSIF" music in record
shops in Quebec City. I may have to move there.

In fact, one shop actually had a hanging display which was a repro of
the 'window' picture from the IAGH cover! It was hanging over the prog
section and said something like "In a Glass House - available here -
limited quantities." I just about fell over. They had 2 copies (Terrapin).
I did see a copy in another shop as well. So, for those who can't wait
any longer, Quebec City is a great place to visit anyway...

Tom

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:32:35 -0700
From: Bob Angilly 
Subject: Re: gg: DELIVERY - "Fool's Meeting" / Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"

There is some nice stuff of Delivery but it's not Caravan or Hatfield and is
definitely in the realm of psychedelic pop although much more involved than is
usual.

If you didn't like "L" I'm afraid that's about as good as the Hillage solo
albums get.  Fish Rising has some nice guitar work but Hillage was still too
much in Daevid Allen's shadow to develop much as a songwriter.  Hillage's later
work in System 7 is much better despite being in league with the evil forces of
Thumpo.

Reginald Dunlop wrote:

> Hello again Giants!
>
> Has anyone purchased the reissue of DELIVERY's "Fool's Meeting" on Cuneiform
> Records? If so, is it worth the money for hearing some early Pip
> Pyle(drums), Phil Miller(guitar) and Steve Miller(keyboards). What I really
> want to know is...Does it sound anything like Caravan or Hatfield? Is this
> classic Canterbury or 2nd rate Canterbury material?
>
> Also, should I buy Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising"? I had Hillage's "L" and
> didn't care for it much. Is "Fish Rising" a piece of crap or does it deserve
> all the praise? Please let me know.
>
> Later,
>
> REGINALD DUNLOP
>
> still playing: Voivod - "Phobos"
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 10:33:33 -0700
From: "Scott Steele" 
Subject: gg: Pretentious; GYBE!; Ponty DiMeola Clarke; NFL!; Mammiepoll; Baxter

>Subject: gg: Pretentious . . . the lot of you!

Let me adjust this safety pin in my nose here.  HMmmNn.  There we go.

>I now believe that the real prog fan ENJOYS and is thrilled by pretension ("Gone" can be that way).

We just like to sit bolt upright in that straight-backed chair, button that top button, and listen to that relentless and impenetrable sound of difficult music.

>>This happened in the latest issue of Downbeat - the critics all got together and beat up on Stanley Clarke and Lenny White for putting out Vertu.  "What's this, fusion?  We hate that, don't we?"

>(D)Yowzell Mickman...I think I just had a MAJOR musical flashback...  (J)Where have I known this before?

I think you experienced it while you were in the choir, being preached to, singing a Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy.

My Pfusion bro asks about GYBE, with an exclamation point:

>They're coming to Philly soon--worth checkin' out?  What type of music?

P-Frank, you should go.  It's hard to describe but you should try to make it.  Their records sound like they have about 15 pieces in their band, but I don't know that for sure.

Then he asks about Ponty Clarke DiMeola:

>Saw this CD at the used CD shop yesterday--anybody familiar with it?  It looks to be all acoustic.

Yes, it's remakes of stuff they used to do.  Good versions all.  Song to John with the fiddle in it is quite nice.  If you can get it at a good price I think you should.  This advice comes from Fusion Boy (deep bow).

>GG'day, mates!

Australian English with a Ninjawegian accent.  Hey Veeb!

>Geir's version has remained consistent.

I do think it's good.

>n.p. Chiefs/Jaguars

Sorry Chiefs fans.  Warren Moon still looks good doesn't he?

Mammiepoll:

>When you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately?

I would have given them a lukewarm thumbs up after my first hearing of them (Three Friends, which I dearly love now).  Due to the way they were marketed by Columbia, I really thought this was their first album.

>Did you run out and start buying their albums, or did some time go by before you began to appreciate them?

Some time went by until my second hearing of them, in a record store, where I heard and bought IaGH.

>How old were you and what year was it when you 1st
heard/bought GG?

I must have been 19 because IaGH came out in 1974.

>It's true! Skunk Baxter considering a run for California Representative Brad Sherman (Sherman Oaks) seat as a Republican candidate.

Haw, my old neighborhood!  Not far from where I bought IaGH, maybe 5 miles or even less.

Thunder Girl brags on herself:

>>How old were you and what year was it when you 1st heard/bought GG?

>I was 14 and it was about 8 months ago :)

a precocious, pretentious girl!  We're so proud.  ;)

>PS: ThunderDad says "Hi" ;)

Hi Horned Dad - may I call you Helmut?  - S.

np:  Kit and Coco, In Time

scottst@ohsu.edu

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 10:40:49 -0700
From: "Scott Steele" 
Subject: gg: Morse as fiddler

>One interesting side tid-bit about Steve Morse with Kansas on the Power tour, was that Dust in the Wind featured Morse on the violin!

That's very impressive.  Thanks for sharing that Brad.  Now I wish I had seen one of those shows.  - S.

np:  Happy the Man, Retrospective

scottst@ohsu.edu

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 10:55:35 PDT
From: "Dan Weese" 
Subject: Re: gg: Pretentious; GYBE!; Ponty DiMeola Clarke; NFL!; Mammiepoll; Baxter

>We just like to sit bolt upright in that straight-backed chair, button that 
>top button, and listen to that relentless and impenetrable sound of 
>difficult music.

"The music was... thud like
I usually played such things as roughneckin' thug
Opaque melodies that would bug most people
Music from the other side of the fence"

- -Zappa


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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:08:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: James Warren 
Subject: gg: RE: GG<->YES

- --Quoting Bob Taylor:
"Here's a question that I've always wanted a satisfactory answer to:
Of all GG fans I'd expect that nearly all - at least 95% - would admit
to liking Yes and have their CDs to some degree; but of all Yes fans, 
it is likely that a much lower proportion (<10% ??) would say they were
GG fans as well. This is a question for the Yes fans on the list, I
suppose, but what is it that is missing in GG albums, that leaves so
many unimpressed?

(it is fair to assume that the great majority of the Yes-buying army
have some knowledge of GG; and could have heard at least one album)."
- --the comments already made in regards to Symphonic vs. Chamber
Orchestra comprise a great answer, imho.  Also, Yes continues to tour
and has more popularity (comparitively) than GG, who haven't been
"around" for 20 years.  For those of us who were too young to be
listening to prog in the '70s, it is harder to relate to a band that
we've never seen live, that was undoubtedly a product of the '70s
(imho), etc.

To answer mammie, I'll just briefly sum up my experiences.  Yes was and
is my favorite band.  I was a Yes fan before Gentle Giant, and only had
a brief glimpse of and listen to INTERVIEW back in adolescence (in the
mid-80s).  I didn't have a breadth of musical tastes and experience at
the time, and just stereotyped Gentle Giant as yes-wannabes.  Much
later, at college age, my best friend played me "Knots" off OCTOPUS
(Columbia domestic record).  We were both duly impressed.  But the rest
of the album seemed to pale in comparison to this unique track. 
FINALLY, after college, when I was exposed to things like
alt.music.progressive and the GEPR, etc. (early to mid '90s) I searched
out some GG to buy myself.  I found the first 2 albums on cd at a
store.  Once again, while listening to the vocals on track 1 of AtT, I
got the feeling that this was very Yes influenced.  Does anyone else
make a Yes association with the opening minute or so of "Pantagruel's
Nativity"?... esp. Kerry's vocals here?  But after many listenings of
both albums, I built an appreciation of GG on its own terms.  You
recently saw my post that reported the final stages of my GGeekdom :-) 
Gentle Giant was the quintessential (sp?) progressive rock band.  Yes
is still my favorite,however.

                       JJW

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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:16:11 EDT
From: WhytePunk@aol.com
Subject: Re: gg: Mammiepoll....and Pat

In a message dated 08/27/1999 10:28:38 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
pconnor@ici.net writes:

<< np: Seldon's Inquisitor -- what, you've never heard of my band?  :-)
 Patrick Connor  >>

Hi Pat!  Interesting band name!!!  What "genre" does your band fall under?

Hey Mammie...I wonder if they've interviewed Bruce Seldon!!!  I haven't heard 
much of him these days???  

Neil

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:25:12 -0400
From: "Jerry McCarthy" 
Subject: gg: TRoS/word of mouth

P-Frank wrote:

> gg: NoGG: Ponty-DiMeola-Clarke
> 
> Saw this CD at the used CD shop yesterday--anybody familiar with it?  It
> looks to be all acoustic.

That threesome toured several summers ago, billed as The Rites of
Strings if I recall correctly, and yes, it was all-acoustic. Saw them at
Westbury Music Fair on Long Island.


Dan Weese wrote:

> Gentle Giant was a word-of-mouth band.  Everyone who bought Gentle Giant was 
> introduced to GG by a friend. 

From the overall responses on the list it looks like most concur with
you. But be careful making such sweeping generalizations: if you lived
in the New York City/Long Island area between 1973 and 1977, you
certainly did not need to rely on a friend to introduce you to GG. All
you had to do was turn on a radio.

GG was played several times a day, *every* day, on several radio
stations (in particular WNEW-FM and WLIR-FM) for a period of years. In
fact, hard as this might be for many of you to believe, when Free Hand
was initially released I had to guard against turning against tracks
such as Just The Same and Free Hand because they were being OVERplayed
IMO!


- --Jerry  (NP: Toy Matinee)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:45:49 EDT
From: SSell71096@aol.com
Subject: gg: Flecktones

hail gigantes,
lurkin' dave here.
do you guys have recommendations for exploring the Flecktones - what to check 
out and what to avoid?
tia,
dave
see y'all in October (hopefully with Geir, Dan, and tBitB! :-> )

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:03:25 PDT
From: "Dan Weese" 
Subject: Re: gg: TRoS/word of mouth

>GG was played several times a day, *every* day, on several radio
>stations (in particular WNEW-FM and WLIR-FM) for a period of years.

I have fond memories of WNEW circa 1974-5.  I heard Larry Fast interviewed 
live, when his second album came out.



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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 13:43:44 -0600
From: Jeff Smith 
Subject: gg: another mammiepoll

>When you 1st heard GG, did you like them immediately?
Yes, I heard Three Friends and never bought another Jim Croce album again.

>Did you run out and start buying their albums, or did some time
>go by before you began to appreciate them?
Well, first I had to mow a lawn to get some money but then I ran out and
bought Octopus.

>How old were you and what year was it when you 1st heard/bought GG?
I was 13 and it was 1973 when my older brother bought Three Friends.  He was
turned onto it by a friend who saw them open up for Jethro Tull.

np: Marillion - Brave

Jeff Smith

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 21:25:46 +0100
From: Bob Taylor 
Subject: gg: new disc

I hope I may persuade you all to take a few moments to look at this
site:

            www.zoo.co.uh/~nw/thesky

You will find there a lot of information about a new compilation CD
double-set called The Sky Goes All The Way Home. I have been listening 
to disc 1 and have been very impessed. It has a wide range of material
on it, mostly rock music, and the standard is high. The good-cause you
would be supporting by purchasing this set relates to helping Downs
Syndrome children (the project is the fruit of a lot of hard work by
Ashley Franklin of Radio Derby).

Many, many artists represented and I've decided to list just a
selection:
Rick Wakeman, Robert Fripp, Theo Travis, Peter Hamill, Gordon Giltrap,
The Enid, Andy Pickford, Kevin Coyne, Bekki Williams, Anthony Phillips,
Biosphere, John Wetton,  .............

Lots of mail-order outlets will be getting the disc, I am sure.
This has all been done very professionally, as you will see if you scan
the above 'site. Not making any major claims for the music, which is 
subtle in many cases though never heavy or intense (that would not
have been in keeping with the project).

Enjoy.

Thanks,

Bob 
- -- 
Bob Taylor

------------------------------

End of on-reflection-digest V1 #1836
************************************

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