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The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 8:44 pm
by Trevor Raggatt
So you love the trilogy of prog albums that Gordon released in the 1970s (tetralogy if you include Peacock Party) but here is a Classic bit of Giltrap prog playing from that era that I'll bet you've never heard. The penny only dropped for me a few months ago when I suddenly realised that a tune I had loved for, well decades, was actually The Gordon Giltrap Band in disguise, but still chock full of his distinctive acoustic and electric playing. And if you like Inner Dream and the like you will love this... But a little story first...

Back as a teenager I sang in the choir backing a rock musical by a chap called Paul Field (not heard of him? He went on to pen Sir Cliff's Millennium Prayer, but you can't hold that against him). When I went to university I would check out for his gigs when they came up and go along. I had a few of his albums - including one by the Christian pop band he'd been in during the 70s, "The Best of Nutshell". The last track on that album was a cracker. An overblown, progtastic epic based on the book of Revelation called "Thief In The Night", I loved it. I never thought about who actually played on it. I just knew that it loved it. Tonally it was quite different from the Carly Simon meets Al Stewart sound of the rest of their pop songs. They were great. It was BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!

But being on cassette it has been some years (decades) since I'd actually listened to it. Then, while doing some nostalgia browsing I discovered that the Nutshell albums were now downloadable from Paul Field's website. I couldn't resist and soon they were on my iPod. The first two songs I listened to were my favourites, "Empty Page" and "Thief". When the latter came on I was gobsmacked... That bass, that guitar... It couldn't be, could it?

Straight on to Wikipedia and soon I realised it WAS. The album was recorded by Edwards, Hand and Miller and the backing band was GG and The GG Band. It was so obvious I was amazed I had never spotted it before! Here is a YouTube video of it. If you ignore the evangelical end times theme (if that isn't your thing) I'm sure you'll love it!

Thief in the night - Nutshell http://youtu.be/lVw24PNNSTs

Bandcamp download page: http://paulfield.bandcamp.com/album/believe-it-or-not

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:14 pm
by Roger USA
That's a great piece Trevor and so Gordon, with its touches of Inner Dream and the like. Did Gordon and his band play on it or did Gordon write it? It sounds like a GG band track with lyrics added.

Thanks for posting it!

Roger

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:01 pm
by steve
That's certainly new to me, Trevor, thanks for posting!

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 4:06 pm
by Sue
Being something of a completist where Gordon's items are concerned I bought a copy of this from Ebay quite a few years ago it was listed as follows:

This rare 1979 MYRRH LP is by NUTSHELL who are :-

MO McCAFFERTY - Vocals
ANNIE McCAIG - Vocals
PAUL FIELD - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano.

Other musicians include
GORDON GILTRAP
JOHN GUSTAFSON- ex MERSEYBEATS QUATERMASS, HARD STUFF
KEVIN PEEK- (SKY) Electric Guitars
MIKE GILES- drums

Del Newman also did the string arrangements on a couple of tracks, see list of credits on a current Ebay listing here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NUTSHELL-believe-it-or-not-insert-MYRHH-1979-free-UK-post-/161560215144?hash=item259dbd3e68:g:MJYAAOSw-W5Utunp

must dig it out and have another listen!

Sue

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:27 pm
by Trevor Raggatt
Sue wrote:Being something of a completist where Gordon's items are concerned I bought a copy of this from Ebay quite a few years ago it was listed as follows:

This rare 1979 MYRRH LP is by NUTSHELL who are :-

MO McCAFFERTY - Vocals
ANNIE McCAIG - Vocals
PAUL FIELD - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano.

Other musicians include
GORDON GILTRAP
JOHN GUSTAFSON- ex MERSEYBEATS QUATERMASS, HARD STUFF
KEVIN PEEK- (SKY) Electric Guitars
MIKE GILES- drums

Del Newman also did the string arrangements on a couple of tracks, see list of credits on a current Ebay listing here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NUTSHELL-believe-it-or-not-insert-MYRHH-1979-free-UK-post-/161560215144?hash=item259dbd3e68:g:MJYAAOSw-W5Utunp

must dig it out and have another listen!

Sue


And extra electric guitar by David "Dzal" Martin - another top player. It's pronounced Deisel by the way... Formerly of Box Of Frogs, The Equals, Nazareth and Tom Robinson...

In this vein another to check out is The Passion by Adrian Snell. Gordon's playing is more buried in the mix in this one but the band is in fine form and the Triumvirate sound is unmistakable... http://youtu.be/FpYTeSQ1qJw Also featuring Simon Phillips, Kevin Peek and Dzal.

And finally, a song by the late elder statesman of Jesus Rock, Larry Norman ( by all reports a tricky character to get along with), The Outlaw where Gordon is credited as playing his silver stringed acoustical (from the 1972 album, only visiting this planet) http://youtu.be/i9V3Sl3riX0

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:30 pm
by Trevor Raggatt
Roger, written by Paul Field but as Sue noted backed by the GG Band. They were the effective house band used on a number of recordings by the Triumvitate team...

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:29 pm
by Sue
In this vein another to check out is The Passion by Adrian Snell. Gordon's playing is more buried in the mix in this one but the band is in fine form and the Triumvirate sound is unmistakable... http://youtu.be/FpYTeSQ1qJw Also featuring Simon Phillips, Kevin Peek and Dzal.



got this too, will check out the Larry Norman... thanks Trevor

Sue

Re: The best 70s Giltrap prog tune you've never heard

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 6:03 pm
by Tom McCauley
Trevor Raggatt wrote:So you love the trilogy of prog albums that Gordon released in the 1970s (tetralogy if you include Peacock Party) but here is a Classic bit of Giltrap prog playing from that era that I'll bet you've never heard. The penny only dropped for me a few months ago when I suddenly realised that a tune I had loved for, well decades, was actually The Gordon Giltrap Band in disguise, but still chock full of his distinctive acoustic and electric playing. And if you like Inner Dream and the like you will love this... But a little story first...

Back as a teenager I sang in the choir backing a rock musical by a chap called Paul Field (not heard of him? He went on to pen Sir Cliff's Millennium Prayer, but you can't hold that against him). When I went to university I would check out for his gigs when they came up and go along. I had a few of his albums - including one by the Christian pop band he'd been in during the 70s, "The Best of Nutshell". The last track on that album was a cracker. An overblown, progtastic epic based on the book of Revelation called "Thief In The Night", I loved it. I never thought about who actually played on it. I just knew that it loved it. Tonally it was quite different from the Carly Simon meets Al Stewart sound of the rest of their pop songs. They were great. It was BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!

But being on cassette it has been some years (decades) since I'd actually listened to it. Then, while doing some nostalgia browsing I discovered that the Nutshell albums were now downloadable from Paul Field's website. I couldn't resist and soon they were on my iPod. The first two songs I listened to were my favourites, "Empty Page" and "Thief". When the latter came on I was gobsmacked... That bass, that guitar... It couldn't be, could it?

Straight on to Wikipedia and soon I realised it WAS. The album was recorded by Edwards, Hand and Miller and the backing band was GG and The GG Band. It was so obvious I was amazed I had never spotted it before! Here is a YouTube video of it. If you ignore the evangelical end times theme (if that isn't your thing) I'm sure you'll love it!

Thief in the night - Nutshell http://youtu.be/lVw24PNNSTs

Bandcamp download page: http://paulfield.bandcamp.com/album/believe-it-or-not


I just been listening to the Thief in the Night and I really enjoyed it! Can't stop listening to it lol
Cheers,
Tom