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greetings friends and welcome to marks final collection episode number 15 um today's episode is in response to a request I've had from a few subscribers who want me to start delving into my record collection and showing some of my albums from certain bands so a one that's been brought up a few times by people is the band gentle giant now I have a collection of gentle giant albums gentle giant is a band that I love quite a lot it's a band that's not for everybody's taste they do have some very tricky complicated arrangement type of music and they do have a lot of non-traditional instruments within their music well when they still have obviously guitar bass keyboards drums they also have like xylophone they have some brass instruments like trumpets and stuff like that in there too they've had a stringed sections where members of the band would jump onto a violin and one into a cello for parts it's rather interesting music if you ask me but uh I'm gonna go through the problems I have and because I'm very picky about the pressings that I've gotten from this band because I really enjoy their music and I didn't just go and buy any willy-nilly pressings of it I'd bought ones that we're good oppressing is good ones that I've know through the research I've done that are decent pressings and this is one of those bands where I'd rather have two variations of a record rather than 15 and have those two really good than to have one or two that are good and 14 that are garbage or 13 that are garbage okay so let's start with the first record which is the self-titled gentle giant record which looks like this now this one here is a UK pressing of the record now this in fact is a misprint version of it um there is it's listed wrong the first and third song on site a are in the wrong spots according to the track listing also of interest I'm sure is when you look at this the normal way your record opens is this way like this but they've printed everything like this on it so it's kind of lengthwise if you were to flip the album cover this way you would see it's actually a very big image I'm not too much of a fan of this sort of a layout for a record it's I find it very very odd and it's very odd to put twin with my rest of my albums but whatever music is brilliant so I'm not gonna complain too much now this is on the Vertigo label the vertical swirl which is usually a very respected and well sought-after pressing of a record now I don't know if I misspoke there a second ago if I said that why am I getting such a bad glare here there you go no let me see let me just do one thing here real quick sorry guys the glare will not be as bad okay how's that that's better okay so anyways so yeah this is the it's still a Canadian Press this I'm not mistaken yes it's made in Canada and issued by London records I'll put up all the information as usual up here on the screen for you guys to you uh get more detail of it so I don't have to go and squirm through here looking at it all the time I'll put up all the pertinent information up here but from what I remember I'll just speak um so this is a Canadian pressing because this world London records did it for them in Canada and again this is why I hate these covers because I'm trying to put the record back in here and it's being don't go back in okay I'll just put it in like this okay so that's the first pressing well the first variation of the first record um the next one that I have is of the same record yes I saw the price tag on there because I'm afraid to take it off of to get my trip it but if you take a look at the price tag it does say that it is a original press yes 1972 original pressing now this is again one of those ones that open like this but instead of going up and down with it they actually printed the information properly as I like in a gatefold but the artwork is still like this now this is a Canadian pressing again this was distributed by Polydor records and this has the mercury labels so in fact this one here is an original the other one I think is probably even a reissue but it is on the more sought-after vertigo swirled label which is very interesting so that's the first record next we get to a record that I enjoy very much which is called acquiring the taste it has a very provocative album cover now if you turn it this way you'll notice it's a peach and if you could go take this out here if I open it up properly you'll see it's just a tongue going for a peach on the inside there's the gatefold now this is a Canadian pressing and it is on again the vertical label but this is called the vertigo UFO label and you'll see in a minute why they call it the vertigo UFO because it does little UFOs in the top corner side a side B again I'll put up all the info on screen so that's the this is the 1971 release correct yeah somebody won so then most likely then that one that I showed you before those are probably both reissues I would say yeah yeah you know why because I think that the UK version that the first record came out in 70 and the first album didn't come out in Canada until 72 that's why it's an original Canadian from 1972 anyways back to acquiring the taste here's my second version of it this is the one that's on Mercury Records this one as well is done with Polydor you'll see at the bottom marking it with Polydor the artwork and everything is exactly the same the only differences you'll notice of course is on the top corners there's the mercury symbol instead of the vertigo symbol and this one just like the other one that was on Mercury is on the skyline label this is a really good record it's very sort of looking for it's quite experimental and I'll read a little quote from it it says it is our goal to expand the front sorry it is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary music at the risk of being very unpopular and that is exactly what this record did it expanded the music and it did make them unpopular in some circles because some people thought them a little too highbrow I think so that is according to taste I love that record you can find a copy of it grab it here's another one another record this is a third record this one is really hard to find and I'll get into a little detail with this one this is the third album called three friends now you'll say to yourself well wait a minute isn't that the first record yes and no let me explain to you what I mean by that here's the inside this is vastly different from the other one okay now the story with this is that the version that came out in the UK has an image of three people on the front in a circle the three friends this US and Canadian pressing of it used the original UK cover from the first album I'm not sure why that is I think it was because they didn't have access to the other image or something like that I can't remember now offhand why they didn't use that image but for some reason I think maybe even the record label preferred this one over the other one and it might have even been what year was this come out asking about April 14th 1972 yeah this came out probably around the same time as the first record that issued in Canada in the US so maybe they had actually gotten this record out first it's possible I'm not 100% certain but there's no reason they like to use that cover in the US this is a Columbia Records and this is the one and only pressing I have in this record like I said I try to go for pressings that are really good that sound good that are known to sound excellent this is a very well-respected pressing of this record and to be honest with you I just never found another copy of this record anywhere to be honest speaking of not finding a record anywhere let's get on to the fourth one and that is the record I've been hunting for high and low and finally I found it and great tears of joy came when I found this record and because it's never been issued until like 2011 maybe in North America it was impossibility to find this record it's called in a glass house this came out only in the UK and I'll tell you why I wrote down this available in the US and Canada only as a high-priced import until 2004 when the remastered CD came out the US label Columbia Records rejected the album as to uncommital the label subsequently dropped them which contractually allowed the band to take ownership of the original master recordings and all of the rights to it so this is one of the records that gentle giant have complete copyright to because once - once you're dropped contractually from a record label the recordings revert back to you so this came out on WWE Records in the UK they had no problem issuing this record and they shouldn't any label shouting no problem releasing this is a absolutely fantastic record I love this record the moment I put it on it was like listening to a masterpiece again sorry I'm gonna put up the information where are you guys dark no here's what I can do about some light because I want to get just some light for this one one second here see if I can not as long as or either make it considerably worse or better who will see it so the next one that we're up to is a record that did quite well for them in a record that has been quoted by people like Stephen Wilson is probably one of their favored gentle giant records of all time and that is the power and the glory this is a great record this is a really strong combination of progressive and just some well thought out more commercially friendly music now this here if I'm not mistaken is a Canadian pressing possibly I wouldn't say a first but yeah it looked like it could be a first it's a 1974 pressing it came out September twentieth 1974 released on Capitol Records in the US and Canada it's a concept record about an individual who means to do good using political power he finds himself tempted to abuse power and ultimately becomes what he fought against that is the theoretical concept of the record I believes the first pressing and I'll show you why this record comes out this slick from the top it is not a side loader it is a top loader as they say director I'll take it out this came on Capitol orange labels if you're a beatles collector you'll know all about these different variations of the Capitol Records there's a Capitol purple a Capitol green there's all kinds of different Capitol record colors this is the orange I think this light is doing but that's the Canadian pressing again you'll have the information up here capital master that Capitol Records and I have a second pressing of this record but you'll see right here it even says right here that it is a reissue the main difference is that there's text on the back and apparently someone's writing yeah for some reason to be about $4 on there and the other main difference of notice is that this is the side oops side version of it and there's a label change on this one we have green labels now aside to this is a great record I mean all aside a proclamation so sincere aspirations and playing the game probably one of the top-five best first sides on a record you'll ever hear ever hear okay so that's power and glory after they released the Parana glory you were riding high and they released another record in July of 1975 which is their seventh record which is called freehand the first under new UK label chrysalis records they got a much better production due to their new record deal and this is the highest charting album in the u.s. in the only record to reach the top 50 of course be free hit again when things are ticking things sound great this record is fantastic I mean after power and glory you would think could they top it I don't know if I would say they topped it but this is just as good what a great record is the capital orange labels again as you heard me mentioned earlier they had a new record deal in the UK with chrysalis but they were still on capital in Canada in the United States great record again I'll put up the information some of this information is very interesting about who you know cut the lacquers and stuff like that hopefully dot information when it pops up will show you some of those things here we get to the next record which is the eighth record released April 23rd 1976 it is a concept record conceived as a radio interview so you gentle giant fans nobody know what record I'm already talking about and this is my Canadian pressing of it now the Canadian pressing came out on May 4th the initial release of this record was April 23rd in UK and then in Canada this came out in May 4th and I'm talking about interview still some really strong stuff on this but I started to notice already the dents in the framework with this record and there's no Sun again Capital Orange I think I almost have a complete set of these orange side a side B and all of these are mastered at Capitol Records that famous round building that you see on postcards and stuff like that when you're in Los Angeles that is where these records got mastered okay so that leads us now to today this is like my fourth video I think next we got to the first live album from gentle giant released January 18 1977 called playing the fool the official gentle giant live fantastic album I mean gentle giant is a band to see live I mean if you go on YouTube there's some really really really good video of them on tour plane and some even complete show was there I would highly suggest checking it out you'd be highly impressed it's a band that needs to be seen as well as heard they play great stuff on here Proclamation funny ways which is a great version of it on the air freehand they do so sincere and the big thing is they do excerpts from octopus now I don't have octopus that is a really good record it's also extremely hard to find on vinyl I don't have it I have it on CD but I'm showing vinyl here today so a double album again has come out on the Capitol orange label side a sorry side one sigh - sigh - how's that God excuse me sigh - has a lengthy 15 minute long excerpt from octopus where they do about four or five songs in AD - edited form live from not record here is site three this is side four great record and because gentle giant have always been that kind of band where they're known in the progressive circles but never were a band like a Genesis or something that you can find their records for relatively decent prices I mean there's an old sticker here that says it's $5.99 I mean you could probably get this for ten bucks now somewhere but uh the first couple record not so much their up in the 30 40 50 even a hundred dollars for some of them so those are the ones you want because they sound excellent now we're down to the last record that I own which is bean which is released on September 16th 1977 this one has a change of stylings in it the first side has a bit of punk in pop music style is that it inside - is pure gentle giant progressive so side one is sort of showing a change in writing and that is the missing piece still a good record two weeks in Spain opener is okay bet you thought we couldn't do it is it's okay this is where they kind of dabbled with the punk a bit and stuff like that but situ is fantastic as well does your young memories of old winning for nobodies those are all great songs sorry I got a chill there great record and this one doesn't have any of the orange labels this was a custom label done by Capitol Records a green one it has both side one and two listed on it on the other side you just have a puzzle piece Center so after this record came out there were two more records one was called giant for a day and the other one which is the last one was called civilian pardon me trying for a date I would say is still probably worth getting weaker record in comparison to these ones and civilian is really what's how do I put this trying to be commercially friendly I think they knew that they were at the end of their rope writing why's that just wrote a record of just standard music very ungentlemanly opinion and I I've seen it a lot of places beautiful Near Mint versions for like seven dollars and I still haven't found the need or urged to buy it because I just don't think it's gonna connect with me I've heard some of it and that further made me not want to grab it so but for you know listen make your own opinions go on YouTube check it out if it if it appeals to you I have good news here just pressings of it everywhere good copies of it and for a good price but those are the ones that I have now and I love them all they sound great like I said before my advice to everybody who collects records whether it's gentle giant or Genesis collect what you like but also you know don't be so concerned about collecting lots of variations save a few extra bucks and buy a really good copy maybe a more expensive copy that she knows gonna sound good and play good and won't be popping and cracking and as an inferior mastering job you know do a little bit of research it's well worth it all these you're pressing that I have some of these records they sound fantastic now still and I enjoy listening to them very much so there you go there's my gentle giant collection I'm not sure what I'll do next maybe I might do some of my Genesis maybe my yes maybe I rush who knows kiss when I get along that along to it will be a four-part at least because I have so many records from them have 160 records it'll probably have to be broken up about maybe five parts so I'll leave that one for another time but this has been my gentle giant collection I hope you enjoyed it and until next time this is Marc Anthony Casey bye for now you