The Avant-Garde ( psych. pop / USA))

The Avant-Garde was an American psychedelic pop group formed by Chuck Woolery and Elkin "Bubba" Fowler in 1967. They released three singles on Columbia Records in 1967 and 1968, backed by different session musicians on each release: "Yellow Beads", "Naturally Stoned" (which hit #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in mid 1968), and "Fly With Me". Despite the success of "Naturally Stoned", the group disbanded after "Fly With Me" and never released a full album.

After The Avant-Garde, Fowler went on to a career as a folk singer. Columbia released his LP And Then Came Bubba in 1970, and he played guitar on albums by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Woolery became a country music artist on Warner Bros. Records and later Epic Records, charting twice but never releasing an album. He has since become a game show host, appearing on Wheel of Fortune, Scrabble, Love Connection, Greed, and Lingo. "Naturally Stoned" was also used as the theme to a short-lived reality television series on GSN that starred Woolery, entitled Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned.

This band is best known for Naturally Stoned which hit the Billboard chart at No. 40. and is best described as orchestrated 'psychedelic pop' (the lyrics may be psychedelic but the music is pop) with the backing sounding like a James Bond-type movie theme. It is the flip side which has been compiled however: Honey and Gall resurfacing on Psychedelic Unknowns Vol. 8 (LP & CD) and being an unusual and captivating hippie-psychedelic effort.

Yellow Beads is also dreamy acoustic hippie-pop in their unique style. The final 45 reverts to more standard orchestrated pop format effort on Fly With Me but is rescued by the electrified folk-pop flip.

All their material was composed by B. Fowler or C. Woolery, who it turns out is none other than Chuck Woolery, who would later become one of America's top game show hosts -  he was the original emcee of "Wheel of Fortune" before adding his brand of smarminess to the matchmaking "Love Connection".

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avant-Garde

Rare Bird (prog rock / UK)

Rare Bird was a progressive rock band founded in 1969. They were formed in England, but had more success in other European countries than they did at home. They are mostly remembered for the haunting, organ-based track "Sympathy". It sold one million copies globally.

The history of Rare Bird began when Graham Field placed an advertisement for a pianist in a musical periodical. He got thirty replies and formed a group called 'Lunch'. He met Dave Kaffinetti in November 1968, and together they formulated the basic ideas for Rare Bird. In August 1969, they finally found the ideal rhythm section in Steve Gould, Chris Randall and Mark Ashton. Field and Kaffinetti had originally envisaged that the band would be a four piece and were looking for a singer/bass player. Steve and Chris applied to the ad as vocals/guitar and bass and were taken on. 


The band's initial line-up was as below, although there would be changes by the time they came to work on their third album. The first two members listed were a constant throughout the lifetime of the band.




Steve Gould - lead vocals & bass, rhythm guitar 
Dave Kaffinetti - pianos & assorted keyboards
Graham Field - organ & assorted keyboards
Mark Ashton - drums & backing vocals 


Later members included Fred Kelly (Nic Potter), Ced Curtis, Paul Holland, and Paul Karas on the Epic Forest album with Andy Curtis and Fred Kelly appearing on the album Somebody's Watching. The band finally split up in the mid 1970s.

Dave Kaffinetti (credited as David Kaff) played the part of Viv Savage in This Is Spinal Tap (1984).
The song "Beautiful Scarlet" from their first album was sampled in the 2010 song "Summer's Gonna Hurt You" by electronic music producer/DJ Diplo.


Peace of Mind:

Beautiful Scarlet (1970) Live:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Bird

JANIS, The Way She Was (film/documentary)

Excellent documentary shows the heart, and spirit of Janis.

This 1974 documentary contains some of Janis Joplin's best performances as well as some great spontaneous interviews. It has her incredible performance of Ball and Chain at Monterey ('67), some Cheap Thrills studio sessions ('68), Woodstock ('69), and Calgary ('70). She blows away the audience on Dick Cavett with Move Over and breaks down during the High School reunion interviews. Where she came from in Port Arthur, TX is such a contrast to who she was. And who she was was the incarnation of the Spirit of the 1960s counter-culture.

We get two great performances of Piece of My Heart, one of Tell Mama, Try, and Summertime both live and in studio. 

Janis (The Way She Was) (A Film)

Director: Howard Alk

Format: VHS NTSC

Rating: R (Restricted)

Studio: MCA

Run Time: N/A

UPC: 096898008037

Production Date: 1974

Original Release Date: 1974-10-18

Rerelease Date: 1991-07-01

Synopsis:

Released within five years of Janis Joplin's tragic death in 1970, this documentary is more celebration than investigation. But, the film provides ample opportunity to read between the lines in various interviews, rehearsals and state performances and to understand something of the sadness that persisted beneath Joplin's brash exuberance.

Source: http://www.janisjoplin.net

David Bowie - Early years (video)

This video also contains photos of David Bowie as a baby, young boy and  teenager! (some of them very rare or cute)

Gentle Giant - BBC Radio Concert 1973-1978

Out of the Fire - The BBC concerts

This 2-CDset features two live concerts recorded by the BBC in 1973 and 1978.

The 1973 gig has never been released before whilst the 1978 show appears in its entirety for the first time, featuring the previously unreleased "Funny Ways".

The 8-page booklet includes background liner notes, full recording details and an introduction by Gentle Giant's drummer John Weathers.


CD 1:

1. Introduction
2. Way Of Life
3. Funny Ways
4. Nothing At All
5. Excerpts From Octopus

CD 2:

1. Introduction
2. Two Weeks In Spain
3. Free Hand
4. On Reflection
5. I'm Turning Around
6. Just The Same
7. Playing The Game
8. Memories Of Old Days
9. Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It
10. Special Presentation by John P.Weathers
11 FunnyWays
12 For Nobody
13 Mountain Time

CD 1:  Recorded at the Golders Green Hippodrome, London 16.11.73
First transmission 8.12.73

CD 2:  Recorded at the Golders Green Hippodrome,London 5.1.78
First transmission 21.1.78


Line-up:

Gary Green - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Recorder, Vocals
Ray Shulman - Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Violin, Vocals
Derek Shulman - Bass, Recorder, Saxophone, Vocals
Kerry Minnear - Cello, Keyboards, Recorder, Vocals, Vibraphone, Wind Organ
John Weathers - Percussion, Drums, Vocals

Roger Daltrey (The Who)

Granicus (hard rock / USA)

Granicus is a hard rock band originating from Cleveland, Ohio USA, (playing a style of hard rock similar to Led Zeppelin) who released one full-length album, the eponymous “Granicus” in 1973 on RCA Records.

Taking their name from the river where Alexander the Great achieved his first important victory over the Persians, Cleveland Ohio’s Granicus have far exceeded their ridiculously brief lifespan as a working band to gain lasting and ever-growing favor among serious collectors of obscure ‘70’s hard rock.

Formed at the start of the decade by singer Woody Leffel, Granicus honed their original material in Cleveland area clubs before signing to RCA Records in 1973. 

The album met with little to no commercial success upon release, and after being dropped by RCA, Granicus’s dwindling career prospects eventually contributed to their break-up sometime later. 

For all their inherent talent, none of the band members resurfaced in other groups — save for drummer Battaglia who was briefly associated with a New York-based band called Pandora a few years later.

There are rumors that the band recorded a second album that was never released.

During the Fall of 2010, Granicus reformed and released the album Thieves, Liars, & Traitors.


Line-up:


Woody Leffel - vocals, guitars
Wayne Anderson - lead guitar
Allen Pinell - rhythm guitar
Dale Bedford - bass
Joe Battaglia - drums


Granicus - Prayer:

Source: http://www.last.fm/music/Granicus

Premiata Forneria Marconi (Italian prog.rock)

Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: Award-winning Marconi Bakery) is an Italian progressive rock band. They were the first Italian group to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on a very popular national television program in the U.S.A.
PFM introduced new sounds, such as the synthesizer, to the Italian musical world. They were also among the first to combine symphonic classical and traditional Italian musical influences in a rock music context. Such innovations and their longevity have made them among the most important bands in the international Progressive rock genre.


History:

1966-1970

The original core members of PFM (Mussida, Di Cioccio, Premoli, and Piazza) came together in the mid 1960's while playing together as backup musicians for many different Italian pop, rock and folk singers such as Lucio Battisti, Mina, Adriano Celentano and Fabrizio De André. They appeared on many recordings for other artists during this period and quickly established themselves as top players on the Italian rock and pop scene. Mussida, Premoli, Piazza and Di Cioccio then formed the group "I quelli" (English translation "Them", or "Those Guys") in 1968. I quelli released one album and some successful Italian singles.

Premiata Forneria Marconi was officially formed in Milan in 1970 when the members of I quelli met Mauro Pagani from the group Dalton. Pagani helped the group expand their sound to include violin and flute. By this time they were already highly experienced musicians and easily able to play the kind of complex progressive heavy rock played by the leading English and American groups. Their early live performances included covers by groups such as King Crimson and Jethro Tull. Other early influences included Chicago, Ekseption, and The Flock.
They had a long name, as Italian progressive bands tended to have back then, and so were usually referred to as "La Premiata", and later "PFM". After rejecting Isotta-Fraschini (an Italian car maker) the group finally settled on Pagani's suggestion, "Forneria Marconi" (meaning "Marconi Bakery"), borrowed from the sign of a shop in the small town of Chiari, near Brescia. However, record producer and friend Alessandro Colombini suggested the name was not strong enough, so the title "Premiata" (award-winning) was added. Some objected that "Premiata Forneria Marconi" was too long a name, but the group's philosophy stated that the more difficult to remember a band's name, the more difficult to forget it.

Read more on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiata_Forneria_Marconi


Members:

Current:

Franco Mussida: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12 string guitar, mandolin, vocals (1970–present)
Franz Di Cioccio: drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals (1970–present)
Patrick Djivas: bass, programming (1974–present)
Lucio Fabbri: violin, keyboards (1979–1987, 2000–present )
Gianluca Tagliavini: piano, Hammond, Minimoog, other keyboards (2005–present)
Piero Monterisi: additional drums (2006–present)


Former:

Flavio Premoli: piano, keyboards, Mellotron, Moog synthesizer, lead vocals (1970–1980, 1997–2005)
Giorgio Piazza: bass (1970–1974)
Mauro Pagani: flute, piccolo, violin, vocals (1970–1976)
Bernardo Lanzetti: lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1975–1977)
Gregory Bloch: violin (1976–1977)
Walter Calloni: additional drums (1982–1987)
Roberto Gualdi: additional drums (1997–2005)


Album: Per Un Amico (1972): https://youtu.be/zuImkmDCDME

 "Photos Of Ghosts": https://youtu.be/QJM9hJnSqfg

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiata_Forneria_Marconi

Quotes

“Where words fail, music speaks.” 
Hans Christian Andersen

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” 
 Frank Zappa


“Play it fuckin' loud!” 
 Bob Dylan


“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” 
 Bob Marley


“And, in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make.” 
Paul McCartney


“I accept chaos, I'm not sure whether it accepts me.” 

Bob Dylan

“I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.” 
Paul McCartney


“For those of you in the cheap seats I'd like ya to clap your hands to this one; the rest of you can just rattle your jewelry!” 
John Lennon


“I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.” 
Tom Waits


“Without music, life would be a mistake.” 
Friedrich Nietzsche

Jeff Buckley (rock, jazz, country / USA)

Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan's East Village, such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labels and his father's manager Herb Cohen, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace.

Over the following two years, the band toured widely to promote the album, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. In 1996, they stopped touring and made sporadic attempts to record Buckley's second album in New York with Tom Verlaine as producer. In 1997, Buckley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to resume work on the album, to be titled My Sweetheart the Drunk, recording many four-track demos while also playing weekly solo shows at a local venue. While awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, he drowned during a spontaneous evening swim, fully clothed, in the Wolf River when he was caught in the wake of a passing boat. His body was found on June 4, 1997. Buckley's autopsy showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in his system and the death was ruled as an accidental drowning. 

Since his death, there have been many posthumous releases of his material, including a collection of four-track demos and studio recordings for his unfinished second album My Sweetheart the Drunk, expansions of Grace, his Live at Sin-é EP. Chart success also came posthumously: with his famous cover of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" he attained his first No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs in March 2008 and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart that December. Buckley and his work remain popular and are regularly featured in "greatest" lists in the music press.


Early Life:


Born in Anaheim, California, Buckley was the only son of Mary Guibert and Tim Buckley.  Buckley was raised by his mother and stepfather, Ron Moorhead, in Southern California, and had a half-brother, Corey Moorhead. Buckley moved many times in and around Orange County while growing up with a single mother, an upbringing Buckley called "rootless trailer trash". As a child, Buckley was known as Scott "Scotty" Moorhead based on his middle name and his stepfather's surname.
 His biological father, Tim Buckley, was a singer-songwriter who released a series of highly acclaimed folk and jazz albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Buckley said he only met him once at the age of eight. After his father died of a drug overdose in 1975, he chose to go by Buckley and his real first name, which he found on his birth certificate. To members of his family he remained "Scotty".

Buckley was brought up around music. His mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist. His stepfather introduced him to Led Zeppelin, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Pink Floyd at an early age. Buckley grew up singing around the house and in harmony with his mother, later noting that all his family sang. 
Buckley began playing guitar at the age of five after discovering an acoustic guitar in his grandmother's closet. Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti was the first album he ever owned; the hard rock band Kiss was also an early favorite. At the age of 12, he decided to become a musician, and received his first electric guitar — a black Les Paul — at the age of 13. He attended Loara High School, and played in the school's jazz band. During this time, he developed an affinity for progressive rock bands such as Rush, Genesis, and Yes, as well as jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola.
After graduating from high school, he moved north to Hollywood to attend the Musicians Institute, completing the one-year course at the age of 19. 
Buckley later told Rolling Stone the school was "the biggest waste of time", but noted in an interview with Double Take Magazine that he appreciated studying music theory there, saying, "I was attracted to really interesting harmonies, stuff that I would hear in Ravel, Ellington, Bartók."


Musical style:

Buckley's voice was a particularly distinguished aspect of his music. He possessed a tenor vocal range, he had a vocal range of between three and a half to four octaves. Buckley made full use of this range in his performance, particularly in the songs from Grace, and reached peaks of high E in the tenor range at the culmination of "Grace" and "So Real". These high notes were unusual for a rock musician in that he sung them with his head voice, rather than in a falsetto, and that he sung them for sustained periods. "Corpus Christi Carol" was sung entirely in a high falsetto. The pitch and volume of his singing was also highly variable, as songs such as "Mojo Pin" and "Dream Brother" began with mid-range quieter vocals before reaching louder, higher peaks near the ending of the songs.
Buckley played guitar in a variety of styles ranging from the distorted rock of "Sky is a Landfill", to the jazz of "Strange Fruit", the country styling of "Lost Highway", and the guitar picking style in "Hallelujah". He occasionally used slide guitar in live performances as a solo act and used a slide for the introduction of "Last Goodbye" when playing with a full band. His songs were written in various guitar tunings which, apart from the EADGBE standard tuning, included Drop D tuning and an Open G tuning. His guitar playing style varied from highly melodic songs, such as "Twelfth of Never", to more percussive ones, such as "New Year's Prayer".


Equipment:

Buckley used several guitars, but mainly played a 1983 Fender Telecaster and a Rickenbacker 360/12. When touring with his band he used Fender Amplifiers for a clean sound and Mesa Boogie for overdriven tones. He was primarily a singer and guitarist; however, he also played other instruments on various studio recordings and sessions, including bass, dobro, mandolin, harmonium (intro to Lover, You Should've Come Over), organ, dulcimer (Dream Brother intro), tabla, esraj, harmonica.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Buckley

Zarathustra (heavy, prog rock / Germany)

Biography:

Zarathustra formed in Hamburg (Germany). This obscure 70s heavy rock band is in the vein of popular British, American bands as DEEP PURPLE, ATOMIC ROOSTER, VANILLA FUDGE. Well played their intense rock is strongly melted with progressive tendencies thanks to the use of massive electric organ parts, long instrumental and technical structures, extended jam and adventurous climax. With intelligence and constant creativity, the quintet was pertaining to the evolution of rock music, particularly sensitive to new approaches from everywhere, British late 60s style to psychedelic feel and krautrock experimentations. 

Providing a high level of musical qualities, this brilliant band deserves the attention of any 70s prog rock lovers.



Line-up:

Ernst Herzner -  lead vocals
Michael Just - bass, vocals
Wolfgang Reimer - guitar, percussion, vocals
Klaus Werner - organ
Wolfgang Behrmann - drums, percussion

Source: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=783

Jonathan Wilson (folk, psych, rock, country, rhythm and blues / USA)

Biography: 

Jonathan (Spencer) Wilson, born December 30, 1974, in Forest City, North Carolina, is an American singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer who is now based in Los Angeles.


Genres:  Folk, Psychedelic, Rock, Country, Rhythm and Blues

Instruments: Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Percussion
Years active: 1995–present


“Gentle Spirit” is not simply the name of the debut solo album by Jonathan Wilson, it represents the ethos of the artist himself. Warm, supple melodies etched in layers of stringed instruments and willowy organ motifs accompany his earnest, North Carolinian drawl as he tells tales of humane values lost and found.

Wilson’s music is steeped equally in the woodsy contours of his Blue Ridge experiences and the atmospheric guitar reveries of Neil Young and Quicksilver Messenger Service. In fact, “Gentle Spirit,” an expansive double vinyl set, is remarkably evocative of that golden late ‘60s, early ‘70s period when rural and urban sensibilities colluded in producing some of rock’s most imperishable recordings.


“The only theme on the album has to do with some of the words of the title track, about the desensitizing that we are exposed to on a daily basis, of all the explosions and car bombs and people in despair,” he underscores. “And these things that come at you so fast that you don’t have time to really concentrate on them and give them the reverence and respect they deserve. The album talks about taking some time to, you know, give humanity some kind of reverence-laden soundtrack.

“I play a lot of different instruments on my own recordings. For “Gentle Spirit,” I used a Hofner bass. I played a 1969 Gibson ES 345 a lot, especially when I wanted the guitar tone to cut. It’s the same guitar used by Freddie King. It has a very aggressive kind of bite.“

“I drafted in some friends throughout the recording that allowed me to concentrate on the guitar and vocals. I assembled a band with guys like Otto Hauser for basic tracking that created a certain energy that I couldn’t have produced on my own. I also brought in specific people for certain songs,” Wilson explains. “Gary Louris, the singer from The Jayhawks, singer Andy Cabic and drummer Otto Hauser, of the band Vetiver, and pedal steel player Josh Grange all played on the record. Adam McDougal, a good friend of mine who plays Hammond organ with the Black Crowes, drummer Brian Geltner, legendary bassist Gerald Johnson, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and Gary Mallaber, former drummer with the Steve Miller Band and Van Morrison, were all involved, too.”



Jonathan Wilson discusses his latest album,"Gentle Spirit", with WSJ rock & pop critic Jim Fusilli:

Jonathan performing "Desert Raven" at Crossing Border Festival, The Hague, Holland, November 19, 2011:

Source: http://songsofjonathanwilson.com/about

SONG OF THE DAY / Genesis - Supper's Ready

Supper's Ready (from the album "Foxtrot", 1972)



I. "Lover's Leap"
II. "The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man"
III. "Ikhnaton and Itsacon and Their Band of Merry Men"
IV. "How Dare I Be So Beautiful?"
V. "Willow Farm"
VI. "Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)"
VII. "As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet")


https://youtu.be/szJq1lwnkNw :

David Bowie - Rare video's

David Bowie - Sense of Doubt


This is the pretty rare footage from the unreleased "Sense of Doubt" video in 1977 directed by Stanley Dorfman and reworked by Peter Wachsman.

Recorded and filmed at Hansa Studios, Berlin (1977)

Gentle Giant (prog, symphonic, experimental, hard rock / UK)

Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists. Although not commercially successful, they did achieve a cult following.



Genres: Progressive rock, symphonic rock, experimental rock, hard rock


The core of what was to become Gentle Giant were the three Shulman brothers: Phil (born 1937), Derek (born 1947) and Ray (born 1949). The brothers were of Scottish-Jewish descent and were born in Glasgow, Scotland, in The Gorbals, then a notorious slum. The family moved to Portsmouth, England, where Ray was born. Their father was an army musician turned jazz trumpeter, who continued his musical work in Portsmouth. He encouraged his sons to learn various instruments.


Gentle Giant was formed in 1970 when the Shulman brothers teamed up with two other multi-instrumentalists, Gary Green (guitar, mandolin, recorder etc.) and Kerry Minnear (keyboards, vibraphone, cello etc.), plus drummer Martin Smith, who had previously drummed for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. The classically-trained Minnear had recently graduated from the Royal College of Music with a degree in composition, and had played with the band Rust. Green was essentially a blues player and had never worked with a band above the semi-professional level, but adapted readily to the demanding music of the new band. The Shulman brothers, meanwhile, settled into typically multi-instrumental roles of their own: Derek on saxophone and recorder; Ray on bass and violin; Phil on saxophone, trumpet, and clarinet.

The new band also featured three lead vocalists: Derek Shulman (who sang in a tough rhythm-and-blues style and who generally handled the more rock-oriented vocals); Phil Shulman (who had a softer voice and handled the more folk-influenced leads); and Kerry Minnear (who had a particularly delicate voice and sang lighter folk and chamber-classical lead vocals). However, Minnear did not sing lead vocals at live concerts, due to his inability to support and project his voice at a level suitable for live amplification (Derek and Phil Shulman handled Minnear's lead vocal parts when the band played live). It has been reported that Elton John unsuccessfully auditioned for lead vocalist with the newly formed group.


According to a booklet that was included in their first album, their name was a reference to a fictional character, a "gentle giant" that happens upon a band of musicians and is enthralled with their music. The character is reminiscent of those from the Renaissance tales of Francois Rabelais.


From the start, Gentle Giant was a particularly flexible band due to the exceptionally broad musical skills of its members. One Gentle Giant album would list a total of forty-six instruments in the musician credits — all of which had been played by group members — and five of the six members sang, enabling the band to write and perform detailed vocal harmony and counterpoint. The band's approach to songwriting was equally diverse, blending a wide variety of ideas and influences whether they were considered commercial or otherwise.





Personnel:

Derek Shulman - lead vocals, saxophone, recorder, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion, "Shulberry" (3-string custom electric ukulele) (1970–1980)
Ray Shulman - bass, trumpet, violin, vocals, viola, drums, percussion, recorder, guitar (1970–1980)
Kerry Minnear - keyboards, lead vocals (on recordings only), cello, vibraphone, xylophone, recorder, guitar, bass, drums (1970–1980)
Gary Green - guitar, mandolin, vocals, recorder, bass, drums, xylophone (1970–1980)
Phil Shulman - lead vocals, saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, recorder, percussion (1970–72)
Martin Smith - drums, percussion (1970–1971)
Malcolm Mortimore - drums, percussion (1971–1972)
John "Pugwash" Weathers - drums, percussion, vibraphone, xylophone, vocals, guitar (1972–1980)



Gentle Giant's music was mostly composed by Kerry Minnear and Ray Shulman, with additional musical ideas contributed by Derek Shulman (who was also known to contribute entire songs). Lyrics were written by Phil Shulman and Derek Shulman up until Phil's departure following the release of Octopus – all subsequent lyrics were written by Derek Shulman. By the standards of progressive rock, Gentle Giant’s music is generally considered to be particularly complex and demanding.

The BBC Sight & Sound concert Golders Green Hippodrome, London, January 5th, 1978:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Giant