OCTOPUS

Discovering Gentle Giant was for me, a huge step. I moved from symphonic grandeur (Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd) to a more underground progressive rock. Lucky for me, the first GG album I purchased was this one. I was strucked immediatly by the 'mathematical' sound . I also discovered in me a fondness for 'medieval' sound (which brought me to Gryphon and then further to Amazing Blondel). Raconteur Troubadour explores the middle age stuff and so is The Advents of Panurge, based on the french litteracy of Rabelais. Gentle Giant is like listening to maths in music (Knots is definitely a good example). It takes a while to like it, but after, you find bands like Yes pompous (and perhaps pretentious?). I mean, when you hear violin or flutes, it's actually them. It's not your basic guitar-bass-keys-drums. Also, humor is very present in their music. Yeah, I like the HUMBLE side of this band. Never we get the feeling that they say :"Hey dudes, preach peace and I love every one of you!" (sorry Jon Anderson but you do sound like Cheech & Chong in 'Up in Smoke'). Great album, but try Glass House and Acquiring The Taste also. Wonderful threesome that is!