Gentle Giant On Track – Revised and Updated

Gentle Giant are the ultimate cult progressive band - as revered as Yes or Genesis by those that have 'found' them. They lasted only a decade and never lit up the world's charts, but progressive rock connoisseurs always knew what today's audiences are now beginning to discover: that Gentle Giant belong in the pantheon of great bands of the era. At times edgy and experimental but also capable of great beauty, not to mention some great riffs, the group's explorations of medieval music gave their sound a unique character. But it was the thrilling complexity of its compositions together with the instrumental ability of their players that made their music as potent today as it was at their peak nearly 50 years ago. 
   This book takes a microscopic look at each of Gentle Giant's eleven studio albums and provides fresh assessments of the many live and 'odds'n'sods' recordings, as well as rounding up existing DVD/Blu-ray documentary and performance footage. In doing so, it tells the story of one of progressive music's most fascinating groups and the thrilling - and occasionally torturous - ride the band experienced along the way. Poorly served by literature, very little long-form material has been written about the band, but this revised edition benefits from continued interest in the band, thanks to recent writings by Derek Shulman and an innovative, beautifully crafted expansion of their Live: Playing The Fool album.

 Gary Steel is a New Zealand-based journalist whose enjoyment of loud (and quiet) music hasn’t diminished despite the cicada-like tinnitus he suffers from attending thousands of rock gigs in his 40-plus years of music journalism. In that time, he has also interviewed a who’s who of contemporary music and reviewed just about every record going for whoever would publish his pungent opinions. He has edited and published several music magazines, run his own record store, and now lives in an obscure location with his wife Yoko and two wee monsters.