for The Road to Venezuela but I thought Gentle Giant were a better live band.

I have never knowingly heard anything by either band.

Anyone care to enlighten me?

Stackridge was a crap wrestler.

but Gentle Giant did come out of Simon Dupree & The Big Sound who represent a far more colourful era and, mercifully, were a singles group.
(See also.....Episode Six being better than Deep Purple, Tyrannosaurus Rex being better than T. Rex, Syd-era Floyd......oh, you know!!!)

Stackridge are an easier listen than the slightly difficult Gentle Giant. I love The Man In The Bowler Hat (produced by George Martin) and the predecessor Friendliness. I have quite a bit of Gentle Giant, but struggle to like more than a few tracks here and there. One of GG's singers is awful.

The winner is Stackridge.

FWIW, the winner is Stackridge, by a mile.

They have tunes. Tunes are nice.

Why engender such artificial constructs as having to prefer the merits of one band over another? (Like those Vee Jay 'The Beatles Vs The Four Seasons' albums of the early 60s, with six songs from each on a side).

It is entirely possible to like both. I do - and there will be plenty of others like me.

That stated, if I had to express a preference for one over t'other, it would definitely be Stackridge. Indubitably. Absolutely. Without question. Both incorporate great musicianship but the depth and breadth of The @ridge's far surpasses that of GG. Added to which, there's always that air of jovial unpredictability at any Stackridge gig which, although not everybody's cup of java, just enhances each gig for me.

GG were - at times - complex and almost wilfully obscure. But every now and then their backgrounds in R&B and Jazz emerged and tunefulness would break out. Worth checking out.

Stackridge, were, and are still, a delight. Much more Beatley / folk-influenced, with elements of jazz and pop also very much in the mix.
Someone earlier reckoned GG were the better live band. I can't agree.
Stackridge in the 70s were always a great night out. Now, with a rejuvenated outlook, they are arguably better then ever. Put it this way - of the 40+ gigs I saw last year, Stackridge topped the lot: Teenage Fanclub, Goldfrapp, Stornoway, Gaslight Anthem, Mumfords, Laura Marling, Tunng, Squeeze, Boy and Bear - very good, all of them - but Stackridge were better. In fact only The Who and Robert Plant even came close. Their return has, quite simply, made my life better!

I love them both. Stackridge clearly evolved from a love of the Beatles and Zappa, which freed them up to embrace pretty much any kind of melody-based music you care to mention. The fact that, at their peak, they had four superb composers to draw upon also ensured that they always had ideas to burn, while a determination to foreground humour meant that the excesses of prog were always kept at bay (while probably alienating the hardcore prog crowd, for whom plumbing the depths of cosmic significanace was what prog was all about). Gentle Giant, on the other hand, aspired to creating something entirely new, woven from strands of rock, classical, madrigals and jazz. Certainly, all the ingredients were there for the worst excesses of wilful prog smartarsery, yet even their loftiest conceits were grounded by Kerry Minnear's wonderful gift for intricate melody and arrangement (so often missing in most prog), Derek Shulman's soulful vocals and Pugwash Weathers' rock-solid drumming. They genuinely were a unique entity, and it does them a great disservice to lump them in with the kind of ego-fuelled, gratuitously complicated nitwits who gave prog such a bad name.

You are taking the piss?

...based upon the sheer beauty of the music within, and the title of the most recent album by either band, has to be a "Victory For Common Sense" by Stackridge.

match postponed.

...bet you this thread won't last as long as the Yes v Pink Floyd one. Oh, that reminds me...(switches over to Yes v Pink Floyd thread to check current status)