Progressive rock or prog-rock was the rockers version of the fusion wave that began when jazz musicians started to take interest in rock music. It developed on the both sides of the Atlantic, although it gained more attention in Europe than in the US in the beginnings of the genre popularity. Among the groups that worked in the 70’s in Great Britain were Gentle Giant, a band whose stated aim was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of becoming very unpopular." They sure extended the genre - even by prog-rock standards, their music was very complex, including elements of folk, soul, jazz, and classical music. But, unlike their progressive rock contemporaries, their "classical" influences ranged beyond the Romantic and incorporated medieval, baroque, and modernist chamber music elements. Their songs were usually composed by Kerry Minnear and Ray Shulman, with additional musical ideas contributed by Derek Shulman, while the lyrics, which drew from personal experiences, philosophy and the works of François Rabelais and R. D. Laing, were mostly written by Phil Shulman and Derek Shulman. The richness of their music came also from the fact that the members were multi-instrumentalists, with deep knowledge of different music styles, especially classical. They used this knowledge of polyphony, unusual chord progressions, hocketing, rapid and frequent key changes, and division of vocal lines between different singers to create music which was surprisingly melodic and listenable by any standards. Their ability to handle with ease the transitions between sections (such as a hard-rock guitar riff being immediately substituted by a medieval choral) assured them a cult following and a place as one of the icons of prog rock.
The group was formed by three brothers: Phil, Derek and Ray Shulman, whose father was a jazz trumpet player and he encouraged his sons to learn various instruments. Phil, Derek, and Ray all became multi-instrumentalists who became interested in playing rhythm-and-blues before they decided to go with a more progressive approach. Initially called The Howling Wolves, then The Road Runners, they settled on Simon Dupree and the Big Sound in order to pursue a career in pop music. Signing to the EMI record label, Simon Dupree and the Big Sound produced several non-charting singles before being pushed by their management and label in the direction of psychedelia. This resulted in the UK Top 10 hit "Kites" in the autumn of 1967 (and the release of the Without Reservation album later in the year). But success only frustrated the Shulman brothers, who considered themselves to be blue-eyed soul singers and felt that their change of style was insincere and insubstantial. Attempting to escape their new image, they released a pseudonymous double A-side single in late 1968 as The Moles - "We Are the Moles (parts 1 & 2)". The single was subsequently caught up in a rumor that The Moles were, in fact, The Beatles recording under a different name and with Ringo Starr as lead singer, a rumor which was eventually debunked by Syd Barrett, who outed Simon Dupree and the Big Sound as the band behind the record. Soon after, the brothers disbanded the group and turned their back on pop music for good.
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, who had recently graduated from the Royal College of Music with a degree in composition, brought new influences and the story of the Giant began. With three lead vocalists and all of them being multi-instrumentalists, the sound and music of the band matured to a whole new level. From the start, Gentle Giant was a particularly flexible band because of 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. In my opinion, they are one of the greatest rock bands ever, a group that managed to make complex musical pieces sound so much interesting.
