Isn't It Quiet And Cold?

Album: Gentle Giant (1970)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Isn't It Quiet And Cold?" is the fourth track on the group's self-titled debut album. It features Phil Shulman on lead vocals, Martin Smith on brushes playing a shuffle rhythm, Claire Deniz on cello, and Kerry Minnear on marimba (listen for it in the jaunty solo after the bridge).

    On the album, it follows the stormy and dark "Alucard" (read the name backwards!), so this song is a kind of quiet that follows the storm. Although this song sounds the most radio-friendly now, some critics at the time remarked that it sounded too "Beatles-y."
  • The best reason we should include this song is to afford our readers a chance to see the charming animation done for it as a tribute, which is shown at right. All we know is that this animation was a student project, done by Lion Wix, a student of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Israel.
  • In our Songfacts interview, when asked how they felt about the group's being labeled as "experimental," "progressive," and "complex," Ray Shulman had this to say: "We can't really escape from it. That was the era that was called progressive music. And the weird thing is in any other field apart from music, 'progressive' is a very positive term. For some reason, I think it certain quarters, progressive was seen as too pompous and overblown, and it should be blown away, and all that kind of stuff. But it was music of its time, and really music has developed ever since psychedelia in the late '60s, people just wanted to more and more push the boundaries of what they call popular music. And starting from the early '70s, we were on that wave." (Check out the full Gentle Giant interview with Derek and Ray Shulman)

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.