Gentle Giant ( B16 )

Minnear later revealed that the split was amicable and that he had left for reasons of respect (as the Shulman brothers had "not been particularly enthusiastic" about the existence of Three Friends). Carey, Williams and Donaldson have subsequently left the band and been replaced by Lee Pomeroy (bass), Gary Sanctuary (keyboards) and Charlotte Glasson (violin, baritone sax, alto sax, recorder).

Minnear has also recently announced plans for him to collaborate with Ray Shulman on a new writing project.

Reissues

There has been renewed interest in Gentle Giant since 1990, with new fan clubs, new releases of live concerts and previously unreleased material, and several tribute albums. Sadly for fans, the rights of the band's catalogue are scattered among many companies, not all of which are keen on re-releasing the albums properly. In particular, the first four albums have yet to receive definitive CD releases. For example, the title track on Acquiring the Taste (1971) begins with an obvious defect, possibly from a damaged master tape, on all current CD and vinyl releases. The 1996 compilation Edge of Twilight includes a corrected version of the song. Conflicting evidence sometimes reports that this defect exists on the original 1971 vinyl release of the album, with the opening note bending up as the tape comes up to speed - probably an engineering error.

In July 2004, the first eponymous album was re-released by Repertoire; in December, 2005, they released Acquiring the Taste (1971); in December, 2006, Octopus (1972) in a mini-sleeve with the original design of Roger Dean was released, and in December, 2007, German label Repertoire released Three Friends (1972) in a mini-sleeve with the original British release design. Although not widely distributed, these re-issues have been praised for their production quality and remastering. Before that, all first four albums have been re-released on Universal Japan label.

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