Gentle Giant

Three Shulman brothers and three fellow players who spent the 1970s fitting madrigals, hard rock and riddles into the most intricate songs in progressive rock, and kept a devoted cult following long after they split.

Origin
Portsmouth, England
Years active
1970-1980
Genres
progressive rock, medieval folk rock
Labels
Vertigo, WWA, Chrysalis, Columbia, Capitol, Alucard Music

The brothers

Phil, Derek and Ray Shulman were brothers of Scottish-Jewish descent. Phil and Derek were born in the Gorbals in Glasgow, Ray in Portsmouth. Through the 1960s they played in the Howling Wolves and the Road Runners, then as Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, an EMI group fronted by Derek whose Kites went into the British top ten in autumn 1967. A single they released in late 1968 as The Moles, We Are the Moles, was wrongly credited to the Beatles. The group ended in 1969.

In 1970 the brothers formed Gentle Giant with Kerry Minnear, a classically trained keyboard player, Gary Green, a guitarist from the blues, and Martin Smith, the drummer from Simon Dupree. Derek said later that they had no vision for the band, only a need for musicians who would push each other. Between them they covered a long list of instruments, from violin, cello and vibraphone to saxophones, trumpet and recorder. Tony Visconti produced the debut, Gentle Giant, released in November 1970, and Acquiring the Taste followed in July 1971.

Octopus

Smith left in October 1971. Malcolm Mortimore took his place until a motorcycle accident in March 1972, and John Weathers, formerly of the Grease Band, was hired for the April tour and stayed. Three Friends (1972), a concept album about three school friends, was the first record the band produced itself and their first to chart in America, at 197. That summer, from 24 July to 5 August, they made Octopus at Advision Studios in London with the engineer Martin Rushent. Its eight pieces include The Advent of Panurge, taken from Rabelais, and Knots, a vocal puzzle built on the riddles of R. D. Laing. It came out in Britain on 1 December 1972 and reached 170 in the US.

The band spent late summer and autumn 1972 on their first North American tour, mostly opening for Black Sabbath to crowds that were often hostile, the Hollywood Bowl on 15 September among them. Phil Shulman, ten years older than the others, left in early 1973 after the Octopus touring. The historian Geir Hasnes writes that he chose his family over the music business. Octopus was the last album with all three brothers.

Five-piece

As a five-piece they made In a Glass House (1973). Columbia rejected it as uncommercial and dropped the band, and in North America it was sold only as an import until 1992. Derek called its making tortuous. The Power and the Glory (1974), a concept album about power and corruption, came out on Capitol in America and reached 78 there. Free Hand (1975), their first for Chrysalis in Britain, went to 48, their best American placing.

Interview (1976), the live album Playing the Fool (1977), The Missing Piece (1977) and Giant for a Day! (1978) followed. Civilian was recorded in Los Angeles, and after an American tour the band played its last show at the Roxy in West Hollywood on 16 June 1980. Derek said the creative energy had gone. Minnear said they had lost their way musically, and Green believed Derek and Ray wanted a hit.

After

Derek went into the record business, in A&R and then as president of Atco and Roadrunner, and guided AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Dream Theater and Pantera. Ray produced the Sugarcubes, the Sundays and Echo & the Bunnymen and wrote music for games and television. Weathers drummed with Man. Minnear moved to Cornwall, worked in gospel music and runs the band's label, Alucard Music. Phil left music to teach. Green and Mortimore later formed a band that became Three Friends, which Minnear joined for a time and which toured Italy, Canada and the US in 2012.

Gentle Giant received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Progressive Music Awards in 2015, and in July 2020 most surviving members came together for a lockdown video of Proclamation, mixed by Ray. Ray Shulman died at home in London on 30 March 2023, aged 73. Derek's memoir, Giant Steps, appeared in 2025. The band has kept a cult following despite modest sales, renewed since 1990 by fan clubs, archive releases and tribute albums. Spock's Beard's vocal counterpoint is heard in their vein, Echolyn names them as an influence, and Travis Scott's Hyaena samples Proclamation. Steven Wilson has remixed The Power and the Glory, Octopus and Three Piece Suite.

Members

Records

Songs

Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, Spock's Beard, Echolyn, Black Sabbath

Where to go next

Official

  • Gentle Giant The official site and store, with news, reissues and the Missing Interviews.
  • Alucard on Burning Shed The band's own label store, with the remasters and the Steven Wilson mixes.

Reference

Discography and data

  • MusicBrainz Every release, including dozens of archive live albums.
  • Discogs: Octopus More than a hundred pressings of Octopus, with both covers.

Writing and criticism

Interviews

Live performance archives

Film and video

Fan sites and communities

Sources

  1. Gentle Giant, Wikipedia
  2. A short history of Gentle Giant, Gentle Giant Home Page
  3. Derek Shulman interview by Jason Rubin, Gentle Giant Home Page (1991)
  4. Derek Shulman on Giant Steps, Gentle Giant and a life in music, Now Spinning (2025-10-16)
  5. Gentle Giant's Ray Shulman dead at 73, Ultimate Classic Rock (2023)
  6. Derek Shulman guided careers of AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Dream Theater and Pantera, Blabbermouth