Gentle Giant "Three Piece Suite" — Steven Wilson Mixes

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What a pity they couldn't find the multis for 'Prologue" :(

Also wondering why they didn't go the Pentatone/upmix route for those.

I'm glad we got everything they could find the multis for on one disc, instead of what would be three separate releases with Penta upmixes. On Octopus I find the upmixed tracks distracting to the point of being unpleasant and usually skip them when listening in surround, even though they're among my favorite tracks on the album.
 
What a pity they couldn't find the multis for 'Prologue" :(

Also wondering why they didn't go the Pentatone/upmix route for those.

If they would have released “Three Friends” just like “Octopus” (with penteo upmixes for the missing tracks) that would have been fine with me cause at least “Three Friends” would have 4 discrete mixes to 2 upmixes.
However if they followed the same model for the first two albums (“Gentle Giant” and “Acquiring the Taste”) those albums would each have more upmixes than discrete mixes, and I would not want that, so, with all said, I think Gentle Giant did the perfect thing by combining all discrete mixes together as one release and also including the original stereo mixes for all three albums on the Blu-Ray as well.
I’m very happy with the release! :)


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I'm glad we got everything they could find the multis for on one disc, instead of what would be three separate releases with Penta upmixes. On Octopus I find the upmixed tracks distracting to the point of being unpleasant and usually skip them when listening in surround, even though they're among my favorite tracks on the album.

Wow! I thought the Penta upmixes on Octopus were astounding! I think that whole album sounds the best of all the Giants so far. IMO, of course. I'd definitely go for an entire Penta upmix of Glass House, if Steve was up for all the sonic massaging required.
 
Wow! I thought the Penta upmixes on Octopus were astounding! I think that whole album sounds the best of all the Giants so far. IMO, of course. I'd definitely go for an entire Penta upmix of Glass House, if Steve was up for all the sonic massaging required.

IMHO, Steven Wilson has more important things to worry about than creating a faux surround mix for an album with no available multitrack tapes.
 
Wow! I thought the Penta upmixes on Octopus were astounding! I think that whole album sounds the best of all the Giants so far. IMO, of course. I'd definitely go for an entire Penta upmix of Glass House, if Steve was up for all the sonic massaging required.

To me, 'The Power And The Glory' is one of the absolute best surround mixes by anyone, for anyone, ever.
 
Wow! I thought the Penta upmixes on Octopus were astounding! I think that whole album sounds the best of all the Giants so far. IMO, of course. I'd definitely go for an entire Penta upmix of Glass House, if Steve was up for all the sonic massaging required.

That's awesome! For me those tracks just felt flat, while the discrete tracks felt alive. But if you like the sound, then more power to you - I'd prefer if I did also :p
 
I think it's great that they have taken the available material, to make true surround mixes and included flat transfers of the whole albums.

Would be great if more bands took this approach.
 
During a recent podcast interview, Derek Schulman of Gentle Giant mentioned that after "Three Piece Suite" was completed, he heard that someone found the complete multitrack tapes for the first album.

Podcast link (relevant quote is at 1:12 16)
https://podsodcast.com/2017/09/26/em61/

Ah yes - Dan Bornemark, who posted a message on the SW Remixes page on Facebook mentioning why they didn't consult him that he had the tapes for the first album. Here's hoping a separate release will come in the future. And with the remixes in mind - Freedom's Child was lovely!

Also recall this Charlie Nolan character who claimed to have the missing Octopus multi-tracks. Wonder if the Shulmans contacted this guy as well...
 
Ah yes - Dan Bornemark, who posted a message on the SW Remixes page on Facebook mentioning why they didn't consult him that he had the tapes for the first album. Here's hoping a separate release will come in the future. And with the remixes in mind - Freedom's Child was lovely!

Also recall this Charlie Nolan character who claimed to have the missing Octopus multi-tracks. Wonder if the Shulmans contacted this guy as well...

Actually Dan Bornemark has ADAT copies of the multis, that is 16bit/48kHz digital copies, which is more than enough to make a remix. :)
 
A wonderful appreciation of Three Friends in an essay on the 50th anniversary of 1972 releases was linked in that other forum we like: 1972 was 50 years ago ...

From George Varga in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Is 1972 the best year ever for great albums? From Aretha and Stevie to Bowie and the Stones, quite possibly

Gentle Giant, "Three Friends"

Few years have yielded as many memorable progressive-rock albums as 1972, from Yes' "Close to the Edge" and Pink Floyd's "Obscured by Clouds" to Genesis' "Foxtrot" and Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick." Of them, it is Gentle Giant's third album, "Three Friends," that I return to most often...

...The only release Gentle Giant made with the nimble drummer Malcolm Mortimore as a member, "Three Friends" brings a harder edge to the band's ingeniously constructed blend of intricate rock, jazzy sonorities, Renaissance-era madrigals and neo-classical music (which, at times, suggests Bartok by way of Hendrix). The use of a Mini-Moog synthesizer on the title track of "Three Friends" is commendable for its fuss-free artistry, while "Peel the Paint" boasts what is likely the heaviest unison guitar and tenor sax riff I have ever heard.

Of special note is Gentle Giant's deft command of hocketing, a 13th century singing style in which different notes are assigned to different voices. The same technique was adapted about two decades ago by the group Dirty Projectors — which featured San Diego-bred singer Amber Coffman — but Gentle Giant's use of hocketing remains the gold standard for proudly left-of-center rock...
 
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