(((O))) Review: Derek Shulman – Giant Steps: My Improbable Journey from Stage Lights to Executive Heights

Whenever I would read a book, which is preferably, a graphic novel between the DC and Marvel realms of the Carol Danvers-era of Ms. Marvel, Gail Simone’s run on Batgirl, Leaving Megalopolis, and the Birds of Prey, Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Chuck Beatty & Scott Dixon’s Batgirl: Year One, followed by Sid Smith’s amazing book about King Crimson, Mark Paytress’ Glam!, or Henry Scott-Irvine’s research on Procol Harum, they’ve always perk my interest to finding out more incredible resources that make sense to me.

But when it comes to the masters of Gentle Giant in their 1970s prime during the peak of the progressive rock movement, you can deny their legacy. For Derek Shulman, it’s quite a journey for him. From being a founder and multi-instrumentalist to an A&R guy signing bands such as Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Dream Theater, Pantera, reviving careers from AC/DC to Bad Company, followed by being a president of Roadrunner Records singing Slipknot.

Giant Steps is a trip down memory lane to see Derek, going through his old scrapbook and re-visiting the past, present, and into the future. The book is told through three acts; Finding My Feet, Up and Running, and Finding a New Path. Growing up in a poor family in Gorbals, a rough area in the heart of Glasgow, Scotland, then moving to Portsmouth, England when he was barely two years old during the post-war era which was still recovering post-WWII.

But despite the situation the Shulman’s went through, his father was a trumpet player and played in a jazz band. The Shulman’s was filled with music and whenever his father would bring in musicians to his house, Derek would wake up from the sound of his father and his friend’s playing music and was in awe, knowing this was the direction he would embark on.

For him and Ray, alongside jazz, they heard music from the radio between Radio Luxembourg and American Forces Radio, ranging from Motown, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, R&B, and the Stax label. And once the Beatles came around, it was like everything was changing inside his heart.

There’s a moment in the book when the schoolmaster, Mr. Rogers (No, not the Mr. Rogers from Mister Rogers Neighborhood) asked him what he wanted to do after he finished up with school, he replied “I’m going to write music and be a pop star”. Mr. Rogers scolded him, but Derek stuck to his guns and stand by for good reasons. From Simon Dupree, Gentle Giant, and then working as a record executive to an A&R guy.

Between the Simon Dupree years to Gentle Giant, going from psychedelic-pop into the deeper realms of the progressive rock genre, and a young Elton John who played with Simon Dupree as a keyboardist before making it big in the ‘70s, who was managed by Dick James, working for 10 pounds per week. That’s what it was back then in the 1960s.

And then, the late, great Dudley Moore, who was a session musician, appeared on the track ‘Broken Hearted Pirates’ playing piano, who loved what the band was doing, was un-credited on the single originally released in 1969 before the band broke-up and then re-formed as Gentle Giant, and the rest as they say is history. From 1970 to 1980, to Phil Shulman’s departure in 1973 after the Octopus album was released by starting a family, being opening acts for bands such as Black Sabbath who were great friends with them when they first met at the Open Air Festival in Germany, sharing a bill such as Uriah Heep, Renaissance, Humble Pie, and East of Eden in 1970. Not to mention the situation they had with Yes, Eagles, and the Beach Boys.

I could go on. And on, about that. But when you think of a band like Gentle Giant, you can’t deny the complexity, the time changes, medieval arrangements, folk, classical music, blues, and hard rock. They were more than just the four-letter “P” word. Yes, they were often under the radar, but they made incredible music, but Derek himself is one hell of a story-teller when it comes to the music.

But when it came to Jethro Tull, who took them on the road during the time they were promoting their Thick as a Brick album in 1972, they were welcomed with an excellent reception in the States during the Three Friends-era. Which you could tell a connection of what they were doing in their golden peak. And of course, the late great Grand Wazoo himself, Frank Zappa.

And after the band’s break-up following the release of the Civilian album, Derek didn’t have a plan B, he thought of what to do next the third part of the story. And from the moment that Jerry Jaffe, the head of the rock department offered him a job in 1982 to being a record executive, it was a leap forward for him to being a front-man to being a Luke Skywalker, a Jedi knight to Darth Vader in this Star Wars approach to go into the dark side of the music industry.

It may have been bizarre at first, but it was the next logical step. He worked with bands such as Tears for Fears, who on their first album, The Hurting, played a part in getting radio stations playing two tracks; ‘Mad World’ and ‘Pale Shelter’. Followed by the Scorpions, KISS during their time they took the make-up off in the ‘80s, then jumping ship to being an A&R guy, signing bands such as Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Kingdom Come, Pantera, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Derek was the main man during his time with Polygram.

And as he went from Polygram to ATCO Records, which is the sub-label for Atlantic, and signed one of the most mind-blowing bands from Texas called Pantera when he saw in 1989 and got them their first major record deal after seeing them at a gig in Fort Worth. And then he would get bands like AC/DC and Bad Company to get their careers re-established, and sold platinum albums under his radar.

Then, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, Derek and Mark Ross, organised a free concert at the Tushino Airfield, outside of Moscow, that drew over 1.6 million people to see the bands they loved; Metallica, AC/DC, Pantera, and The Black Crowes in 1991, called the Monsters in Moscow. At first, they had to deal with negotiating, lots of payoffs, Big Macs (Yes, McDonald’s Big Macs! About 500 of them for the workers and musicians who worked their tails off to get the festival up and running), and it was an event that was like a breath of fresh-air for audiences to head bang like there’s no tomorrow.

And now, many years later, it is almost as if Derek himself went through the attic, clearing up the dust, reflecting all of the memories he had. No matter what he went through; the highs and lows, he will always be the Gentle Giant that has a true love of music. There’s not a single stop sign for him to slow down.