Gentle Giant (album)

Gentle Giant is the first studio album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1970.

Gentle Giant
Studio album by Gentle Giant
Released	27 November 1970[1]
Recorded	August 1970
Studio	Trident Studios, London
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	37:00
Label	Vertigo
Producer	Tony Visconti
Gentle Giant chronology
Gentle Giant (1970) Acquiring the Taste (1971)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]

Releases

Since the LP was not originally released in the United States, the cover illustration was instead used for the Three Friends album.

Legacy

American hip-hop duo Madvillain sampled "Funny Ways" on "Strange Ways" from their album Madvillainy, which was subsequently featured in an episode of the television show The Boondocks.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kerry Minnear, Derek Shulman, Phil Shulman, and Ray Shulman.

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Giant"	D. Shulman	6:24
2.	"Funny Ways"	P. Shulman (verses, chorus) D. Shulman (chorus, bridge)	4:23
3.	"Alucard"	Ensemble	6:01
4.	"Isn't It Quiet and Cold?"	P. Shulman	3:53

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
5.	"Nothing at All"	P. Shulman (verses, chorus) D. Shulman (verses, chorus, bridge)	9:08
6.	"Why Not?"	D. Shulman (verses, chorus) Minnear (bridge)	5:31
7.	"The Queen"	(instrumental)	1:40

Personnel

Musicians

• Gary Green – lead guitar, 12 string guitar (2, 4 & 5), backing vocals
• Kerry Minnear – Hammond organ (1–3 & 5–7), Minimoog (3, 5 & 7), Mellotron (1, 6 & 7), electric (5), acoustic (2 & 5) and honky-tonk (4) piano, tympani (tracks 1 & 3), xylophone (4), vibraphone (3), cello (2), bass guitar (2), backing and lead (3 & 6) vocals
• Derek Shulman – lead (1–3, 5 & 6) and backing vocals, bass (4)
• Phil Shulman – trumpet (1–3 & 7), alto (3) and tenor (5 & 6) saxophones, descant (6), treble (6) and tenor (6) recorder, backing and lead (2–5) vocals
• Ray Shulman – bass guitar (1–3 & 5–7), electric (5–7) and acoustic (5) guitar, violin (1), violins (2 & 4), triangle (2), backing vocals
• Martin Smith – drums (tracks 1–3 & 5–7), brushed snare drum (track 4)

Additional musicians

• Paul Cosh – tenor horn (1)
• Claire Deniz – cello (4)

Production

• Roy Baker – recording engineer
• George Underwood – cover artist
• Tony Visconti – producer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2024) Peak position Greek Albums (IFPI)[4] 62