OCTOPUS

A unique album, and without a doubt, as far as I'm concerned, the band's best. Every time I listen to it again I am surprised that there is no other album in HISTORY that matches the level of instrumentation, vocals, atmospheres, and sensations that this masterpiece generates in me.

Octopus, Gentle Giant's fourth album, is an eclectic album full of passages, rhythmic breakdowns, memorable melodies, wonderfully messy choruses. I would really like to add much more to this part of the review, but I have no words to describe this album, it is something too unique and too well achieved to recite a concrete conception about it. The best I can say is that, to those people who are more interested in the adventurous, the magical and the uncommercial, this is the album for you!

My favourite track is "The Boys in the Band". The nice intro with laughter in the background and the coin spinning and spinning, and out of nowhere.... POW! explodes with a "final boss battle" style melody. In itself, the song is very dynamic and there are many changes, passages, sound exchanges. If it were up to me, I would have lengthened this amazing piece, about 3 minutes to be exact. I feel that with a couple more elements, it would have been much more great. But, that doesn't take away from its majestic presence on the album.

Really, it is quite well achieved in terms of sound quality, vocals (either choir or lead), instruments characteristic of the band, spectral and deep sounds. Definitely, there are quite a lot of prog folk tinges, and that's quite good because the powerful combination that Giant achieves with these elements, is worth to be admired.

The Advent of Panurge: 5/5

Raconteur Troubadour: 4/5

A Cry for Everyone: 3.5/5

Knots: 3.5/5

The Boys in the Band: 5/5

Dog's Life: 4/5

Think of Me with Kindness: 5/5

River: 4/5

9/10, 5 stars for this poetic adventure, so full of magic and charisma that this epic band has given us.

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