Gentle Giant - Self-titled - LP Gatefold played cleaned vg+/vg+ vertigo 1973 RP

$

20

Competitive pricing is my goal to get rid of the hundred's of Lp's.  I try my best to grade lp's, and on occasion I will play test if time allows... I am trying to clean records that raises my ire of suspicion, but am finding my self these days cleaning everything. My only method of cleaning is a soft brush and cloth and some Audio Advisor product. I do not have a vacuum. I listen with my turntable & needle when I play grade an LP. If a stubborn noise erupts I will then look under a light and microscope. It is quite time consuming. So I may miss a thing or two sometimes on my listings,  but I will always be here to help resolve the issue. All I ask is my buyers realize these points and be rest assured I offer a refund policy but I would prefer you email me so we can work something out first, I may have a back up copy... Ebay deducts points for to many defective records, which I agree it is seller's responsibility...
I have been collecting records since my 20's... Its has been a passion and a part-time hobby, I hope you love and enjoy music as much as I do, and selling is another way to get to know other people with a like minded interest as I. I offer a refund policy, so please give me the opportunity to make good if there is a problem with a transaction. I reserve the right to cancel a transaction after the sale If I find a missed defect on your behalf.
Jacket vg+ some creasing to jacket see pics Record vg+ some lite brush markings. Clean labels. Plays ex!  no skips or names! Great second hand copy! But good enough to be the keeper... check prices, email me with concerns please.
shipping:
1-2 Lp's: $3.50 3-3 Lp's: $3.80 4-5 Lp's: $4.50 6-6 Lp's  $5.50 7-9 Lp's  $6.50 

The core of what was to become Gentle Giant comprised three brothers: Phil Shulman (born 27 August 1937), Derek Shulman (born 11 February 1947) and Ray Shulman (born 8 December 1949). The brothers were of Scottish-Jewish descent. Phil and Derek were born in Glasgow, Scotland, in The Gorbals, which was 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; and Phil, Derek, and Ray all became multi-instrumentalists. During the early 1960s, Derek and Ray became interested in playing rhythm-and-blues and formed a band together. Phil — originally acting as a manager figure in order to look after his much younger brothers — eventually became a band member himself.

Ray Shulman on the musical upbringing of the Shulman brothers

By 1966, the Shulmans' band — initially called The Howling Wolves, then The Road Runners — had taken on the name of Simon Dupree and the Big Sound and was pursuing more of a soul/pop direction. As lead singer and frontman, Derek Shulman took on the 'Simon Dupree' pseudonym while Phil played saxophone and trumpet, and youngest brother Ray played guitar and violin. (Both Ray and Phil also played trumpet and sang backing vocals for the group which, during its lifetime, briefly featured the future Elton John as pianist as well as recording a single with Dudley Moore as guest). 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).

Success only served to frustrate the Shulman brothers, who considered themselves to be blue-eyed soul singers and felt that their change of style was insincere and insubstantial. Derek Shulman was later to describe "Kites" as "utter shit." The Shulmans' opinion was confirmed, in their eyes, by the successive failure of follow-up singles to "Kites". 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)". This compounded their identity crisis as the single was subsequently caught up in a rumour that The Moles were, in fact, The Beatles recording under a different name and with Ringo Starr as lead singer. The rumour was eventually debunked by Pink Floyd leader Syd Barrett, who outed Simon Dupree and the Big Sound as the band behind the record.

In 1969, the Shulman brothers finally dissolved the group in order to escape the pop music environment that had frustrated them. Surprisingly, they did not return directly to rhythm and blues or soul, but chose to pursue a more complicated direction. Ray Shulman later stated "We knew we couldn't continue with the musicians we'd had before. We weren't interested in the other musicians in the band — they couldn't contribute anything. We had to teach them what to do. It got rather heavy when we could play drums better than the drummer, and even on record we were doing more and more of it with overdubs. It got stupid having a band like (that). The first thing was to get some musicians of a higher standard."

Gentle Giant was formed in 1969 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 and Phil on saxophone, trumpet, and clarinet (with all three brothers playing other instruments as and when required).

Derek Shulman on Gentle Giant's writing approach

The new band also featured three lead vocalists. Derek Shulman sang in a tough rhythm-and-blues style and generally handled the more rock-oriented vocals; Phil Shulman handled the more folk-or-jazz-influenced songs; and Kerry Minnear (who had a particularly delicate voice) sang the lighter folk and chamber-classical lead vocals. Minnear did not sing lead vocals at live concerts, because of 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, the band's 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 François Rabelais.

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.