Gentle Giant "Proclamation" Official Fan Video
December 7, 2020 12:00 PM   Subscribe

Fans from around the world celebrate their love of music and Gentle Giant with their powerful and glorious rendition of Proclamation from the album The Power & The Glory.

And do pay close attention. The video marks the first time in 40 years that all members of Gentle Giant appear on screen and play together in a ‘virtual reunion’. Other notable fans include Jakko Jakszyk of King Crimson, Billy Sherwood of Yes, E.L.O. bassist Lee Pomeroy, Dan Reed of the Dan Reed Network, Richard Hilton of Chic and Mikey Heppner of Priestess.

Bonus tracks:

Gentle Giant perform Proclamation live back in the day.

Previously on Metafilter: Gentle Giant German TV ZDF 1974-Live Brussels film studio

The Power and The Glory of Gentle Giant (Dangerous Minds)

Power and the Glory at Discogs
posted by philip-random (14 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
surprised to get nearly 6 minutes in before the first Chapman Stick sighting!
posted by thelonius at 12:20 PM on December 7, 2020 [6 favorites]


That was great. A good cover is always revealing of the strengths of a song and this was that in spades. And the enthusiasm of the musicians, grooving on the music for the music itself. Fantastic.
Best of the Web!
posted by From Bklyn at 1:21 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


hey! i saw some of my peeps. anthony at make weird music has lots of cool vids, especially about his lifelong goal of playing king crimson's fracture.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:22 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


also, the mixing. nice.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:23 PM on December 7, 2020 [2 favorites]


As a 40-something who grew up in Portland, OR, I just thought about the Dan Reed Network for the first time this millennium.
posted by FallibleHuman at 2:30 PM on December 7, 2020


This thread triggered a whole weird-but-cool thing with one of my friends today. I can't explain, but thank you!
posted by ericthegardener at 3:34 PM on December 7, 2020 [3 favorites]


oh my god and thank you for this
posted by ezust at 3:51 PM on December 7, 2020


I love Gentle Giant. The Power and the Glory is one of my favorites. GG was always at their best the weirder they were... when they "rocked out" they lost some of their magic for me. They have a live album "Playing the Fool" which has a stunning version of "On Reflection" that gives me chills just thinking about it.

Best of the web. Thanks for the post.
posted by SoberHighland at 3:59 PM on December 7, 2020


This is a lot of fun!

I spotted multi-instrumental phenom Rachel Flowers (previously) playing keyboards among the musicians in that fan video.

(Note: links in that 2012 “previously” are broken, but most the linked videos are probably now here in her YT page.)
posted by Songdog at 4:58 PM on December 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I used to listen to them a lot, but lately, it’s gotten difficult. Still cool to see that this has over 100,000 views, who knew they were still that popular? I did see them in ‘79 on the Citizen tour, and while that album may have been a last gasp and was far from their best, the show itself was incredible. I’d rank it in the top ten shows I saw.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:20 PM on December 7, 2020 [2 favorites]


They warmed up Yes when their mega 1976 tour came to Vancouver -- a show I missed because I had my first proper job that summer, closer to the arctic circle than any town. But when I finally returned home, various friends were extolling Gentle Giant's virtues, sharing their albums around as we did in those days. They were definitely interesting, no argument there, but I wasn't exactly converted.

But then I caught them on TV late one night -- this broadcast, I'm pretty sure -- and let's just say, I saw the weird light. Which, for me, is true with a lot of so-called prog rock -- you really need to see it performed to truly grasp its virtuosity and splendour. Which is why this fresh imagining of Proclamation was love at first for me. The sheer mad magic of the Gentle Giant sound extrapolated, exploded, writ large.

Interesting that it was directed and edited by Noah Shulman, son of Derek, founding Gentle Giant member (along with his brothers Phil and Ray) and eventually big deal music biz A+R guy. Hate Nickelback? Blame Derek Shulman.
posted by philip-random at 9:01 AM on December 8, 2020


here's a list by the way of everyone who contributed:

Gentle Giant

Gary Green
Kerry Minnear
Malcolm Mortimore
Derek Shulman
Phil Shulman
Ray Shulman
John Weathers

Fans

Damjan Andonovski
Matthew Arenburg
Brady Arnold
Giuseppe Atzori
Joseph Auger
Mano Bap
Fred Barrett
Drew Binkley
Glen Bourgeois
Filip Brajer
William Brasso
Francis Brennan
Chico Brown
Lieven Brunckhorst
Carlos Camasi
Steven Chestnutt
Gary Citro
Débora Costa
Pedfro Antonio Costa
Gonzalo D'Onofrio
Rasmus Dahl
Dan Bornemark
Hjördis Bornemark
Signe Bornemark
Raphaela de Oliveira
Vincent Di Francesco
Jordy Diaz
Tomas Diaz
Luis Diaz
Leo Ekdahl
Carter Elliot
Thiago Ferraz
Tyler Firment
Rachel Flowers
Lago Franco
Philippe Frenetteroy
Juan Garcia
Anthony Garone
Sarah Garone
Dionysis Georgopoulos
Luca Girardi
Stefan Goodreau
Anders Göran
Andrew Grion
Antonio Guzman
Benjamin Harrison
Mikey Heppner
Richard Hilton
Clifford Irwin
Aslan Istepanov
Jakko Jakszyk
Dalton Jones
Ehsan Kermati
Alex Kimble
Cezar Kotake
Markus Kultanen
David Lago
Tobias Lejdeby
Andrew Liversidge
Pavel Ljubicic
Yuir Lopes
Alex Maciulewicz
Alex Maiers
Jonathan Malkowski
Andrew Mather
Anna Mather
Theodore McClendon
Colt McInnis
Drazen Mikulčić
Jim Mortimore
Leonardo Noriega
Alek Nyberg
Brad Oldham
Doğu Özorhan
Maria Papacheimona
Bob Parker
Matías Paul
Lee Pomeroy (ELO, Rick Wakeman)
Dan Reed
Mat Reynolds
Matheus Roch
Luiz Roveran
Daniel Rozsa
Jason Rubin
Pedro Francisco Figueiredo Salgueiro
Brian Saranec
Karl Schmitt
Michael Scoville
Graham Shaw
Billy Sherwood (Yes)
Bobby Shock
Paul Shone
Elliot Shulman
Damon Shulman
Joel Shulman
Rowan Shulman
Patryk Skorupski
Goetz Steeger
Olve Strelow
Joao Teodoro
Gabriele Toma
Neli Toteva-Sarah (of Prog Rock Tribute Bulgaria)
Tivadar Tóth
Jack Valentine (Mötley Crüe)
Bjorn Wictor
Szymon Witczyński
Ian Zapczynski
posted by philip-random at 9:04 AM on December 8, 2020


Fantastic video! I saw GG in NYC touring The Missing Piece, likely few people's choice for their best, but still a great show (Dr. Feelgood opened in a show that, apparently, saw them get booed off the stage).

I'm not generally a prog fan, but GG always hit the spot. Something about the confluence of great tunes/weirdness/mindboggling musicianship.
posted by the sobsister at 1:12 PM on December 8, 2020


Spiky madrigal weirdness--loved them. His Last Voyage was one of the songs that got me through high school. I saw them open for Yes in 19-seventy-something and they did their fabulous percussion bit with lots of low thunder turning on a dime to tinkling triangles and bells (and twinkling too, with lights blinking in time). Thanks, Philip!
posted by jokeefe at 6:20 PM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


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