c o n r a d

This album is full of complex arrangements, literary references, driving guitar riffs and seventies keyboards, all done in Gentle Giant's unique style. In fact, with the exception of "Think of Me With Kindness", the album's penultimate song, there is only one group which could have possibly written the material on this album. If you've heard any Gentle Giant before, you'll know what I mean. Although this is a remarkably even album, there are still a few track that deserve specific mention. "Raconteur Troubadour" was intended to capture the spirit of the "medieval English troubadour" (sic.), however aside from the the twee wassail lyrics the only way it could be considered medieval is that it makes good background music for a game of D&D. That's not to say it's a bad song, it's in fact a very good Gentle Giant track, it's just not at all medieval. "Knots" is what I like to think of as Gentle Giant's version of "We Have Heaven". However, while I quite like the track by Yes, this is clearly the superior song. The above mentioned "Think of Me With Kindness" is a sentimental ballad, with a fairly straightforward but beautiful melody. Somehow it manages to never quite cross that line which would make it a mawkish ballad for me, though people's opinions may vary on this point. While this is a very solid effort, there is probably a little too much reserve on this album. Certainly there's a lot of daring in terms of harmony and arrangement, but in spite of a few strong moments with the guitar, there's just not enough emotion generated on this album for me. Gentle Giant fans will strongly disagree on this point, I suspect. In all, Octopus is one of the best albums from this seminal progressive rock band. Anybody who likes Gentle Giant will love this album. Those who have not yet been indoctrinated should refer to the more accessible Three Friends first. review by Conrad Leviston — 7-28-03 —

h e a t h e r

This is Gentle Giant's medieval masterpiece. This possesses all the basic prog elements, such as complexity in timing and song structure, varied instruments, and melodic focus. What makes it unique is the radiant medieval mood: exciting instrumental counterpoint, incredible fugue-style vocal harmonies, and otherworldy textures. All elements combine to create intricate, ever changing knot-like melodic patterns. And the songs rock. Some of GG's greatest songs are here: "The Advent of Panurge", "Raconteur Troubadour", "Knots", and the instrumental "The Boys in the Band". There is even a simple, odd ballad entitled "Think of Me With Kindness". What makes these songs great, in addition to the elements mentioned above, are the memorable, catchy melodies. They make the music sound so simple, and yet it clearly isn't. There aren't really many bands that I can compare this to — it is so unique. There is a hyper intellectual nervous energy here that drives the music over the top and makes it fun. Octopus should be in every progressive rock collection. If you like this, try the equally great GG albums, Three Friends and Acquiring the Taste. review by Heather Mackenzie — 10-4-00 —

j o e

Gentle Giant's fourth studio album and their last as a sextet, as Phil Shulman would depart after this. Octopus delivers the goods, and at just over a half-hour, at the very worst you couldn't complain that it overstays its welcome. The first side is particularly strong. "Advent of Panurge" is a typically idiosyncratic song from the band, but also one of those rare instances where I actually prefer Derek Shulman's lead vocals to those of Kerry Minnear. Usually it's the opposite. But on this track, Minnear's pallid contrapuntals, delivered in a watery, effeminate tone, are the only thing about this song I don't like. Here Shulman puts some weight behind the accessible rock hook that the band bursts into, where weight is much needed. "Raconteur Troubadour" is punctuated by electric piano and Ray Shulman giving it just the right touch of the wandering gypsy violin. "Knots" is not only a classic entry in the genre, but in all likelihood probably the most intricate of vocal arrangement heard in a rock song up to that point. One wonders if Queen may have listened to the Giant for some dose of inspiration on their more flamboyant vocal tunes, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Seaside Rendezvous" or "Bicycle Race." Anyway, in "Knots," nonsense phrases weave in and out like one of those circular Celtic designs, and off of these the band bounces additional counterresponses and harmonies. They also spike the punchbowl further, with some viciously creative elements to surprise listeners and keep them rapt in attention, like the juxtaposition of various odd, creaking instruments to play a single melodic line or Minnear's incredible tuned percussion solo break in the middle of the song. The band would take their virtuosic skill for vocal arrangement further and further, peaking with "On Reflection" from Free Hand, where they take the approach beyond playful wordplay exercises and using it to emphasize the emotional theme of the song. Of course, there has to be that 'pass the tea and crumpets' Gentle Giant Moment to drive me crazy, and here it's the orchestral "Dog's Life," sung by Phil. Meant to be an 'affectionate tribute' to their roadies, I'll simply say "whatever," and move on to the next track, which is "Think of Me with Kindness." Minnear more than redeems himself with this. Apart from the obvious showmanship of "Knots," this one is my favorite track on the album, a tender ballad that is still played with a brisk pace that places it slightly out of bounds in that classification. In staunch contrast to "Knots," too, it is very straightforward and benefits greatly by being kept simple. Another must have for those interested in exploring Gentle Giant's albums. Like Free Hand, this album provides just the right balance between accessibility and the band's intricacies. review by Joe McGlinchey — 8-31-05 —

m a t t

The symph-prog detour of Three Friends behind them, Gentle Giant's classic fourth album sounds like the logical successor to Acquiring the Taste, as it builds upon many of the styles introduced on that album. Dense, intricate and tightly-played — a marvel of composition and execution — Octopus is considered by many fans to be Gentle Giant's finest moment and most days I would have a hard time disagreeing. At any rate, I think most listeners would agree that Octopus features the quintessential Gentle Giant sound and also that the album is a great place to experience the band at both a high level of experimentation and comfortable degree of accessibility. Octopus is one of the most understated of the "conventional-wisdom" great progressive rock albums of the 1970s and someone hearing it for the first time would be well-advised to allow numerous spins for it to sink in before deciding for themselves if conventional wisdom is correct. In fact, I think it would be hard for someone hearing this album for the first time not to be at least somewhat under-whelmed initially. It's not big or bombastic. There is no integrated concept. There are no epic-length tracks — the album itself clocks in at just over half an hour. Most of the vocals are melodically elusive and the instrumental hooks tend to lie beneath the surface. The dominant keyboard textures of Three Friends — and consequently, a familiar sonic touchstone with most of the other "great" contemporaneous progressive albums — are subsumed by an extremely intricate, collective approach that results in a sound not so much like a group of individuals as like a single, multi-limbed entity — such as the titular octopod itself (or like a machine, which is how the band was often derided in the pop-music press of their day). Once acclimated, I think most listeners would agree that, far from being either hookless or devoid of emotion, Octopus is probably the most approachable album of Gentle Giant's classic period. I think the first half of the album is an incredible run of music, and the first track "The Advent of Panurge," is probably my favorite Gentle Giant song. A mind-boggling array of musical devices and some well-placed hooks are expertly packed into its all-too-brief 4:40 and it serves as the definitive Octopus track. "Panurge" is followed by "Raconteur Troubadour," a lighter, string-oriented affair that beats Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson to the minstrel theme by a few years. One might not think that a band could do such a thing without it sounding dreadfully cheesy, but Gentle Giant pull it off. "Cry for Everyone" is superficially in the vein of the harder rocking tracks from Gentle Giant albums past and it is probably the easiest song on the album to underestimate. The first time that I heard it, I took it as a not-particularly-tuneful hard rock song with some dissonant portions that seemed arbitrarily inserted. The big guitar riff, though, is just one of many facets of this multi-layered song — it's actually almost as dense and busy as "Pantagruel," and nearly as interesting. "Knots" is a screwball of a song that is most notable for its oddly-arranged vocal harmonies that at first sound as if they have no relation to each other. I think it is a brilliant song, although the band's penchant for jigsaw vocal harmonies on subsequent albums does diminish the tune's idiosyncratic impact. In any event, I think it truly is one of the great tragedies in rock music that the song might draw comparisons to Queen by an uninitiated contemporary listener. "Boys in the Band" starts the second half of the album off excellently. It is the album's only all-instrumental track and it continues with the musical approach of the earlier songs: shifts in tempo, shifts in meter, twisting passages that turn on a dime, and attention to counterpoint. "A Dog's Life," though, is a different animal. A humorous nod to the band's roadies, it is a slower, acoustic, string-heavy piece. It is probably the first song on the album that I think is less than great, although it's still very good and fits the mood and style of the album well. "Think of Me With Kindness" continues in a simpler, slower vein. Unlike "A Dog's Life," though, it strikes me as being slightly out of place on Octopus. It's a musically-straightforward song with an emphasis on the piano and other keyboards — it would have fit in better on Three Friends, and would have been a standout on that album. It features the kind of mannered gentility in the vocals that I tend to hate about progressive rock, so I guess it's a bit disingenuous of me to say that I like the song. But what can I say? I don't love it but I do like it. "River," ends the album and is a welcome return to the musical style established previous to "A Dog's Life" and "Think of Me With Kindness." Bluesy elements creep into the music and establish a link with the band's past (see Gary Green's guitar solo) while generally maintaining the high level of the band's still-evolving harmonic sophistication. review by Matt P. — 4-6-05 —