I never got all the nonsense about prog not having a sense of humor. I guess you could say that about Yes. But King Crimson, Genesis, ELP and Jethro Tull applied a lot of humor to their work. Bands like Gong and Caravan had an especially great sense of humor.
I mean Gentle Giant did an album with a cover that had a tongue drooling over an apple that looks deceptively like an asscrack. Ok. Maybe it wasn't brilliant or tasteful humor. But there was humor.
Gentle Giant were one of the more subtle prog bands, but "subtle" is quite a useless word in proggyland. Their music is still full of all the whimsy and bombast one comes to expect from 70s prog. But their compositions rarely featured really long solos and the longest songs they ever did were 8 minutes, generally their songs are pretty short, but they pack a real punch, because they manage to cram so much into their songs. And yet it never feels bloated.
They were quite possibly one of the most eclectic prog bands. All of the band's members are talented multi-instrumentalists, they employ many instruments into the GG sound. Sax, Trumpet, Violin, Cello, Vibraphone. The polyphonic vocal harmonies are another trademark of the band. There's much classical influence in their work, but less oriented towards Neoclassicism than other prog bands, it ranges from the Renaissance and Baroque to Impressionists like Debussy and Expressionists like Schoenberg. With some psychedelia, free jazz, folk and even some blues thrown in.
They express their virtuosity through their music but without trying to compete with each other and they never noodle. They're among the most brilliant melodists in prog, and their composition skills is nothing short of amazing.
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