OCTOPUS

Gentle Giant

Eclectic Prog

4.31 | 2232 ratings

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FruMp
Prog Reviewer

This is a masterpiece of technical prog rock that will do your head in.

I'd never really gotten into GENTLE GIANT the music never appealed to my tastes and appeared overly bombastic and it just felt like it would require too much effort to get into and I didn't really have the time or inclination to let it all sink in. I recently gave Octopus another chance and everything just seemed to click, the super tight vocal harmonies, the complicated and often dense instrumentation, the cheeky intelligent sense of humour, it all seemed to form this cohesive mass of amazing prog and it made me sad that it had taken this long for me to realise how good this album really was.

Pretty much every song on this album is absolute gem but there are one or 2 songs that stick out from the pack. 'Knots' is schizophrenic with it's flowing complex vocal harmonies and crazy timings it's a real pleasure to listen to time and again for it's unique approach to progressive music. 'Knots' is followed by my favourite song on the album the instrumental 'Boys in the yard' with some amazing melody and frenetic pace, it's amazingly written and executed even better.

The instrumentation on this album is top notch, very technical and virtuosic as a collective, this is one of those albums where every member just slots in perfectly and interplays with one another to create a kind of unified musical consciousness with no one member in particular standing out. I'm particularly partial to the bass and the organs though if it has to be said and the sax on 'Boys in the yard' is amazingly melodic.

Octopus is an amazingly rich and complex work of progressive rock that is essential for any fan of 70's prog.

FruMp | 5/5 | 2007-10-20

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