Wraparound Giant Tracks cover painting showing a winding road crossing a green landscape toward a small village, with horses and red Gothic lettering.

Giant Tracks (1997)

publications

A Tribute to Gentle Giant
Various artists | HyberNation Music | Two-CD set

Giant Tracks is a two-CD tribute album featuring new interpretations of Gentle Giant’s music by more than forty musicians from four countries. Released on March 15, 1997, it was conceived and organized through On-Reflection, an international internet-based Gentle Giant fan network.

The album includes a recording of my 1989 composition In Memory of Gentle Giant, performed by percussionist Jan Williams. The 8′40″ recording was divided into two parts: Part 1 closes Disc One and Part 2 closes Disc Two.

A COMMUNITY-MADE PUBLICATION

The Giant Tracks project was one of the most interesting exercises in community building in which I have participated.

In the late 1980s, recordings by two of my favorite bands from the early 1970s—Egg and Gentle Giant—began appearing on CD. After buying several of them and listening closely again, I used samples from the Gentle Giant recordings to compose In Memory of Gentle Giant in 1989.

At some point, I found information about a Gentle Giant fan group in the back of one of the CDs and joined its mailing list. Meanwhile, my friend and colleague Jan Williams had taken an interest in In Memory and began performing it.

During a short Toronto and Buffalo tour in September 1994, Jan and I held a recording session at SUNY Buffalo in which we recorded several works, including In Memory of Gentle Giant. Happy with the result, I sent a copy to the Gentle Giant fan community. Soon afterward, I was invited to contribute it to the Giant Tracks tribute project.

The participating artists pooled money to produce the album. People with relevant experience assumed responsibility for its coordination, legal arrangements, mastering, design, manufacturing and distribution. A simple email group served as the project’s organizational center, allowing everyone responsible for a task to report on its progress.

I had no formal production role beyond contributing the recording and investing in the project. Nevertheless, watching the publication take shape through the collective efforts of people who had largely met through the internet was remarkable.

The album sold quickly enough that the participants soon had to decide whether to take back their earnings or finance another pressing. As I remember it, we chose to make more.

The result was a satisfying community project, made especially meaningful by the support it received from the members of Gentle Giant.

MY CONTRIBUTION

In Memory of Gentle Giant
Gustavo Matamoros, 1989
For percussion and stereo fixed media
Jan Williams, percussion
8′40″
Recorded at SUNY Buffalo, September 1994

The complete performance was longer than the available space remaining on either CD. Supervising producer John S. Hagewood therefore divided the same recording into two parts, placing one at the conclusion of each disc.

In Memory of Gentle Giant was one of only two original, previously unreleased compositions on the album. The other was Kevin Gilbert’s Suit Canon—Fugue of the A&R Staff.

Read about In Memory of Gentle Giant

RELEASE INFORMATION

Title: Giant Tracks: A Tribute to Gentle Giant
Artists: Various artists
Label: HyberNation Music
Format: Two-CD set
Released: March 15, 1997
Conceived by: Rob Rosen
Produced by: The individual artists
Supervising producer: John S. Hagewood
Associate producer: Michael Applegate
Mastering: Mack Evans, Magnetic Technology, Nashville
Cover painting: Patricia Deschamps
Cover concept: Glen Burg
Cover and booklet layout: Phil Beane and Roger Eller
Liner notes: Michael Applegate and Dan Barrett
Copyediting: Alan Benjamin
Website: Dan Barrett

The album was dedicated to Kevin Gilbert, who died while the project was being produced.

TRACK LIST

Disc One

  1. Suit Canon—Fugue of the A&R Staff — Kevin Gilbert
  2. Spooky Boogie — Phil Beane
  3. Cogs/Aspirations — Steve Hahn
  4. No God’s a Man — Mike Keneally
  5. BITB — Advent
  6. Pantagruel’s Nativity — Jeff McClelland
  7. Heroes — .com
  8. Talybont — Ian McGrath
  9. Minnear Medley — Richard Hilton
  10. Raconteur Troubadour — Alberto and Enrico Minetti
  11. Funny Ways — John Hagewood
  12. In Memory of Gentle Giant, Part 1 — Gustavo Matamoros

Disc Two

  1. Just the Same — Glass Haus
  2. I’m Turning Around — Arlo West
  3. Betcha Thought We Couldn’t Do It — Alan Wiseman
  4. Wreck — Pangaea
  5. River — Rob Rosen
  6. Thank You — Glen Burg
  7. Give It Back — Eclipse
  8. Two Weeks in Spain — Bug Choir
  9. Number One — Dan Barrett
  10. In Memory of Gentle Giant, Part 2 — Gustavo Matamoros

RECEPTION

The members of Gentle Giant responded warmly to the project. Ray Shulman specifically mentioned the collaboration, saying that he liked the work by Gustavo Matamoros and Jan Williams.

Visit the official Giant Tracks archive

AVAILABILITY

Giant Tracks has been out of print for many years.