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Civilian (Gentle Giant Album)
''Civilian'' is the eleventh and final studio album by the United Kingdom, British band Gentle Giant, released in 1980. It was recorded at Sound City Studios in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles with former The Beatles, Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. Consisting mostly of short rock songs, it is closer to a traditional rock sound than the progressive rock, progressive style for which the band is best known. The album also marked a return to Columbia Records in the U.S. and Canada after an eight-year hiatus; the band's last album released with Columbia had been 1972's ''Octopus (Gentle Giant album), Octopus''. The album peaked at No. 203 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. Soon after the album's release, Gentle Giant played a final tour and then split up. A previously unreleased track, "Heroes No More", has been included on some CD reissues of the album. Another track from the same period, "You Haven't a Chance", appeared on the compilation album ''Under Construction ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. They were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of the members. All of the band members were multi-instrumentalists. Although not commercially successful, the band did achieve a cult following. The band stated that their aim was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of becoming very unpopular", although this stance was to alter significantly with time. Gentle Giant's music was considered complex even by progressive rock standards, drawing on a broad swathe of music including folk, soul, jazz, and classical music. Unlike many of their progressive rock contemporaries, their "classical" influences ranged beyond the Romantic and incorporated medieval, baroque, and modernist chamber music elements. The band also had a taste for broad themes for their lyrics, drawing inspiration not only from personal experiences but from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a recording act is remembered for its " number ones" that outperformed all other albums during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, acquiring its existing name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985), ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1991), and ''Billboard'' 200 Top Albums (1991–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales—both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, the tracking week begins on Friday (to coincide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer neck (music), neck and scale length (string instruments), scale length. The electric bass guitar most commonly has four strings, though five- and six-stringed models are also built. Since the mid-1950s, the bass guitar has replaced the double bass in popular music due to its lighter weight, smaller size, most models' inclusion of Fret, frets for easier Intonation_(music), intonation, and electromagnetic pickups for amplification. Another reason the bass guitar replaced the double bass is because the double bass is "acoustically imperfect" like the viola. For a double bass to be acoustically perfect, its body size would have to be twice as that of a cello rendering it unplayable, so the double bass is made smaller to make it playable. The elect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temperament. A musician who specializes in piano is called a pianist. There are two main types of piano: the #Grand, grand piano and the #Upupright piano. The grand piano offers better sound and more precise key control, making it the preferred choice when space and budget allow. The grand piano is also considered a necessity in venues hosting skilled pianists. The upright piano is more commonly used because of its smaller size and lower cost. When a key is depressed, the strings inside are struck by felt-coated wooden hammers. The vibrations are transmitted through a Bridge (instrument), bridge to a Soundboard (music), soundboard that amplifies the sound by Coupling (physics), coupling the Sound, acoustic energy t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clavinet
The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and responding to a keystroke by striking a given point on a tensioned string, and was designed to resemble the Renaissance music, Renaissance-era clavichord. Although originally intended for home use, the Clavinet became popular on stage, and could be used to create electric guitar sounds on a keyboard. It is strongly associated with the musician Stevie Wonder, who used the instrument extensively, particularly on his 1972 hit "Superstition (song), Superstition", and was regularly featured in rock music, rock, funk and reggae music throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Modern digital keyboards can emulate the Clavinet sound, but there is also a grass-roots industry of repairers who continue to maintain the instrument. Description The Clavinet is an elec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammond Organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup, and Power amplifier, amplifying the electric signal into a speaker enclosure, speaker cabinet. The organ is commonly used with the Leslie speaker. Around two million Hammond organs have been manufactured. The organ was originally marketed by the Hammond Organ Company to Church (building), churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, or instead of a piano. It quickly became popular with professional jazz musicians in organ trios—small groups centered on the Hammond organ. Jazz club owners found that organ trios were cheaper than hiring a big band. Jimmy Smith (musician), Jimmy Smith's use of the Hammond B-3, with its additional harmonic percussion featu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Piano
An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into electrical signals by pickups (either magnetic, electrostatic, or piezoelectric). The pickups are connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to reinforce the sound sufficiently for the performer and audience to hear. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument. Some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone (a lamellophone with a keyboard & pickups). The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s; the 1929 ''Neo- Bechstein'' electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthesizers
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first sold in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars were an English band formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport (vocals, lyrics) and Richard Hall (bass, vocals) who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Sanders (guitar, vocals), Matt Salt (drums) and Dick Truscott (keyboards), they also later added two backing singers: Sarah and Wendy Patridge. Their first single "Health" / "Continental Shelf" was released on local label Fried Egg Records in 1980. They contributed four live tracks to the first edition of '' The Bristol Recorder'' in 1980, and in 1981 released their second single "Work" / "Don’t Wake the Baby" on Recreational Records, which reached No. 45 on the UK Indie Chart. They toured as support to The Thompson Twins, which brought them to the attention of Stiff Records, who promptly signed them up. The band's first single for Stiff was "Language Problems" in 1982, and this was followed by an EP in the same year, from which Toni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Green (musician)
Gary William Green (20 November 1950 in Stroud Green, North London, England) is an English musician. During the 1970s, he was the guitarist for the progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Green was with the band from the debut album ''Gentle Giant'' all the way to the last album ''Civilian''. Green's style was different from most of his peers, being a more blues-based guitarist. Like his fellow band members, Green was also adept at other instruments, including mandolin and recorder. According to a 2008 interview, founding member Phil Shulman said that, despite Green's blues influences, he fit in well with the band's progressive style since Green was "quick on the up-take." In the 70's, Gary had the unique ability to produce tears at will. He was also taught to play the theme tune to a children's tv programme, "Tales from the riverbank" by a friend of a friend, Jonathan Pleshette. Gary was particularly fascinated as it was played fingerstyle, and he only played with a plectrum. Late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Shulman
Raymond Shulman (8 December 1949 – 30 March 2023) was a British musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. With his brothers Derek and Phil, he co-founded the progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Shulman also worked as record producer in the late 1980s and early 1990s for alternative rock artists such as The Sundays and The Sugarcubes. Early life Ray Shulman was born in Portsmouth to Louis Shulman and Rebecca Laufer. He was a student at Portsmouth Technical high school. In 1966 joined his brother Derek Shulman's group, Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. Career Simon Dupree and Gentle Giant After many years of learning how to play the violin and guitar, he was primed for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain as a violinist, but his brother Derek convinced him to join his band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, with their eldest brother Phil. They scored a hit in 1967 with Kites. Simon Dupree and the Big Sound later evolved into Gentle Giant in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerry Minnear
Kerry Churchill Minnear (born 2 January 1948) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer. He is known primarily for his work with the progressive rock band Gentle Giant from 1970 to 1980. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with a major in musical composition and minor in piano and classical percussion. As a member of Gentle Giant, he contributed to all 11 albums over the 10 years life of the band. Though he is adept at several instruments, he primarily played keyboards and provided back up and lead vocals. In addition to keyboard, he also played a multitude of other instruments such as the cello, recorder, guitar, and classical percussion (including vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, timpani and snare drum). He also composed the original musical soundtrack for the 1996 video game ''Azrael's Tear ''Azrael's Tear'' is a 1996 first-person adventure game that presents an eschatological conspiracy fiction narrative about a futuristic Grail Quest. It was pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
