Giant Tracks

What happens when you mix Gentle Giant, 42 musicians, and the Internet? The answer is Giant Tracks: a 2-CD tribute album of Gentle Giant compositions arranged and performed by artists from four countries. GG fans are likely to recognize many participants' names:

Mike Keneally (ex-Zappa guitarist turned solo artist)

Kevin Gilbert (Toy Matinee, Giraffe, Thud)

Steve Hahn (Stickburst)

Alan Benjamin (and his progressive rock band, Advent)

Richard Hilton (well-known producer and session player)

Dan Barrett (creator of the Gentle Giant Home Page)

...and many more musicians from On-Reflection, the Internet's Gentle Giant fan network.

About The Album

Most pieces on Giant Tracks are significantly different from the originals, but are dedicated to the same spirit of experimentation, compositional attention, and humor that were Gentle Giant's trademarks. For example,

A medley of Cogs in Cogs and Aspirations played on Chapman Stick.

An insane rendition of No God's a Man with instrumentation that changes every few seconds.

Wreck as a heavy metal song.

A reggae-influenced River.

A modernized Just The Same with a blistering violin solo.

A Brazilian-influenced Give it Back with female vocals.

A punk Two Weeks in Spain complete with banjo, ukelele, and lip-squeaks.

Reviews are available.

Two pieces on Giant Tracks are original and previously unreleased. Kevin Gilbert's Suit Canon - Fugue of the A&R Staff is a multi-part vocal performance (fugue) in the style of On Reflection. Gustavo Matamoros's In Memory of Gentle Giant is a 20th-century classical work based on bits and pieces of Gentle Giant themes.

Track List

If you're planning on listening to a lot of tracks, consider downloading the Giant Tracks Collage first.

Disc One (60 minutes)

Track	Title (Click for liner notes)	Artist (Click to email)	Listen
1	Suit Canon - Fugue of the A&R Staff	Kevin Gilbert
2	Spooky Boogie	Phil Beane
3	Cogs/Aspirations	Steve Hahn
4	No God's a Man	Mike Keneally
5	BITB	Advent
6	Pantagruel's Nativity	Jeff McClelland
7	Heroes	.com
8	Talybont	Ian McGrath
9	Minnear Medley	Richard Hilton
10	Raconteur Troubadour	Alberto and Enrico Minetti
11	Funny Ways	John Hagewood
12	In Memory Of Gentle Giant, Part 1	Gustavo Matamoros

Disc Two (51 minutes)

Track	Title (Click for liner notes)	Artist (Click to email)	Listen
1	Just The Same	Glass Haus
2	I'm Turning Around	Arlo West
3	Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It	Alan Wiseman
4	Wreck	Pangaea
5	River	Rob Rosen
6	Thank You	Glen Burg
7	Give It Back	Eclipse
8	Two Weeks in Spain	Bug Choir
9	Number One	Dan Barrett
10	In Memory of Gentle Giant, Part 2	Gustavo Matamoros

The Giant Tracks Collage

Here's a quick way to preview every Gentle Giant piece on the album. Our collage contains a very short excerpt of each piece - shorter than the full excerpts above - to give you a flavor for the whole album. The two original pieces by Gilbert and Matamoros are not included.

Can you identify every piece in the collage?

Excerpts from all Gentle Giant tracks

Credits

Conceived by: Rob Rosen

Produced by: The individual artists

Supervising Producer: John S. Hagewood for Hybernation Music

Associate Producer: Michael Applegate

Mastered by: Mack Evans at Magnetic Technology, Nashville, TN

Legal legwork: Dan Barrett

Cover painting: Patricia Deschamps

Cover concept: Glen Burg

Cover and booklet layout: Phil Beane and Roger Eller

Additional artwork: Travis Jiorle (concept), with Tiffany Laine De Mott (photographs)

Additional art assistance: Chad Bacho

Liner notes: Michael Applegate (essay), Dan Barrett (remainder), Alan Benjamin (copyediting)

Web site: Dan Barrett

Special thanks to Tom Dubé, Mike Fink of Chrysalis Songs, The Harry Fox Agency, Geir Hasnes, Kerry & Lesley Minnear of Alucard Music, On-Reflection, Marc Ostrow, Bob Parker, Jon Rubin and the Estate of Kevin Gilbert... and all the members of Gentle Giant.

Giant Tracks is dedicated to Kevin Gilbert.

Mike Keneally appears courtesy of Immune Records.

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This page is maintained by Daniel Barrett