Circling Round the Gentle Giant
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About the Album
This is a vinyl, Italian compilation on the Chrysalis label (ZNLCH 33166). It was also released on cassette tape (ZNKCH 33166) and 8-track tape (ZNSCH 33166). It was released in a series of budget-priced LPs called "Linea Tre" created in 1976 by RCA Italiana (the RCA headquarters in Italy). The album features tracks from:
Although the album has a Chrysalis logo, it also has the logo of an Italian company, LINEATRE, and also says "Manufactured and distributed by RCA S.P.A. Rome Italy." The songs were selected by Fabrizio Ferrucci and mastered by Piero Mannucci (one of the greatest in the field of Italian discography), who worked for Ricordi (another Italian record company, later absorbed by RCA and Sony).
The cover art shows the band members in a subway station, Belsize Park.
Album photos
The pictured version is a promotional edition, usually held in high esteem by collectors. It can be recognized by the white label and the writing "Campione non commerciabile” ("Non-marketable sample”). Such promos were typically given as gifts within the record company (workers, artists, etc.) or to journalists, radio & TV stations, etc.
Back cover
Vinyl side 1
Vinyl side 2
Liner notes
Translated from Italian by Fabio Sanna
"In 1980, as Gentle Giant reached their tenth anniversary, providing a rare example of cohesion and continuity, Derek Shulman, one of the founders, explained the reasons for their longevity, which he also saw projected into the future: "We are... a group of musicians, who like to do what we do. We want to eat, breathe and live like the Gentle Giant. We are entering a new decade in a really optimistic state of mind," a statement undoubtedly justified by the success it has had over the 1970s.
"The three brothers Derek, Ray and Phil Shulman began their careers in a series of orchestral dance ensembles. They then formed their own band, called Simon Dupree (aka Derek) and the Big Sound, which released an LP and a few singles, two of which also topped the UK Hit Parade in the late 1960s. From the ashes of this group, Gentle Giant was born in 1970, a name to which a short story was linked on the cover of the first album, which told of a good Rabelaisian giant who loved music and discovered six musicians busy rehearsing in a cottage. One of them, seeing him, asked their road manager if by chance he hadn't once again put some LSD in the tea.
"With a skilful mixture of elements of jazz, classical and rock, the Gentle Giants gradually gained the attention of the international public during the 1970s, regularly churning out one LP a year.
"In 1973 Phil Shulman left the group, which now consists of: Derek Shulman, vocals, sax, guitar; Ray Shulman, bass, violin, guitar; Kerry Minnear, keyboards; Gary Green guitar; John Weathers, drums.
"This anthology of ours collects the best of their 1975 and 1976 output, plus a live recording of "Boys in the Sound" from "Octopus", their '73 album based on the work of psychiatrist R.D. Laing and writer Albert Camus."
Track List
- Just The Same
- His Last Voyage
- Empty City
- Interview
- I Lost My Head
- Excerpts From Octopus (mislabeled as "Octopus: Boys in the Sand")