Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28045 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-04-24
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, PAL, Import
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Synopsis
Progressive rockers Gentle Giant never quite had the success of contemporaries like Yes or King Crimson, largely because they were so difficult to pin down, moving between the dangerously experimental and the commercially accessible. This concert, held in 1978 at London's Golders Green Hippodrome, includes such songs as 'Just The Same', 'Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It' and 'Funny Ways', as well as the 'Octopus Medley', filmed for The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Customer Reviews

Essential buy
If you have any Gentle Giant album in your collection this is an essential buy,the BBC concert representing the band at their best musically with the added bonus of an impressive visual impact. Like the music, the band initially seem to be moving arround in an unrelated disjointed manner, but with continued watching it all comes together and in fact teases out some of the less obvious musical strands to further increase the audiovisual impact.Watching this concert again having seen the original concert on TV I am aware that the sound is significantly better showing the dynamic nature of this band's music to its best effect. The other video extras are well worth having and futher increase the value of this DVD together with tantalising new snippets of music in the intro. If as I do, you already have the audio cd of the concert, give the bonus disc away to a discerning friend and spread the good news! If you have only heard of Gentle Giant but do not have any of their work this is a good introduction but will be only the start as you will inevitably be drawn into exploring their earlier work.

Gobsmacked!
This is one incredibly talented and underrated band and the DVD shows this for all it's worth. A superb performance which, if you're a fan of this type of music, will surely make those hairs stand on end (if you have any left!). The sound and picture quality is excellent and even the index/menu music has been specially composed for the DVD and...you've guessed it, is fantastic in itself! Derek's voice...listen and be amazed!
Honestly, I can't find a superlative which will do Gentle Giant or this DVD the justice they deserve - play this once and you'll be a Gentle Giant addict...for which there is no cure!

And the CD isn't bad either...
If you've heard snippets of Gentle Giant you probably thought they were a bit weird. They cover a variety of musical elements, typical of progressive rock I guess, including classical, Genesis style soft rock ballads to punchy rock rhythms. My introduction to GG was with The Missing Piece which was supposed to be their first mainstream album. I liked it but was put off by their earlier stuff. Which is where GG at the GG comes in. Yes its got a good selection of tracks from Piece which are great but the highlights are the other songs which, I think, are arranged such that the live playing is much better than their studio versions. Perhaps they had a poor studio producer?

From the album Free Hand (1975) the tracks Free Hand, On Reflection and Just the Same are simply stunning on this DVD;
From The Power and the Glory (1974) there's the mesmerising Playing the Game;
Finally Funny Ways from Gentle Giant (1970) completes the selection.

And so if you were a Yes or Genesis fan and never heard GG, this DVD is highly recommended. Oh and yes, it comes with a CD of the Radio1 recording of the concert. And this on its own is arguably the best GG CD.
PS. Bad clothes warning. Please ignore the outfits, especially the white jump suit which is truly horrible.