4th Round Class: Scheherazade v. Octopus

I must admit from the outset that I had only vaguely heard of Renaissance prior to discovering Scheherazade And Other Stories while searching through the immense stack of CD’s my colleagues at Classic Rock Revisited kindly sent to me. I was intrigued that this obscure album, originally released in 1975, was being rereleased in the SACD Hybrid format. Had I somehow missed something big while attending junior high school in the progressive rock haven of northern California?

Well, the answer is an unequivocal yes; and to be honest I feel totally ripped off. I wish I had known of this group when this album was released. I would have been a devoted fan! This being the case I must write this review from the perspective of a musician hearing this group for the first time. I humbly defer to those reading this who are familiar with Renaissance and this album. You are literally decades ahead of me. 

In wonderfully pure progressive rock style Renaissance produced an album over forty-five minutes long that contains only four songs. The songs are complex, involved, highly dynamic, and richly saturated with strings and choirs. You know, all the stuff hardcore prog-heads like me find irresistible.

The three pieces referred to in the title as “and other stories” open the album. These can at times be a little too early seventies sounding - and that’s not easy! There are moments when I curiously feel the need to look down to make sure my bellbottoms are not getting caught in the front sprocket of my ten-speed (I hated when that happened!). But they are still beautiful songs. My favorite of the three is “Trip To The Fair”. It features a thoroughly badass classical piano introduction that is eventually accompanied by intense vocal, percussive, bass and guitar support. Nice way to open an album, guys; you have my attention! 

“Song Of Scheherazade” is the true masterwork of this collection. It follows the format of a symphonic composition. This piece has it all. It is filled with overtones of early Genesis and Rick Wakeman to go along with an occasional Grace Slick with a touch of Loreena McKennitt added in (decades before she hit the scene). All of this is being presented while accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. Yeah … an actual orchestra! How’s that for a crazy concoction! “Song Of Scheherazade” is twenty-five minutes of brilliance. It’s a progressive magic carpet that takes you on an amazing ride as captivating as the namesake’s tales. This is a journey of intense orchestration along with moments of solid rock rhythms, acoustic guitars, and powerful symphonic rock interactions. It’s great stuff!

Thank you, Audio Fidelity, for resurrecting this album. I now have powerful new additions to my progressive rock playlist.

and in the opposite corner

Octopus by Gentle Giant

In progressive rock’s dusty ol’ 1970s yearbook, bands like Yes and Genesis were Most Likely To Succeed. Gentle Giant, on the other hand, were the brilliant and slightly awkward Class Clowns. And they were never as awkward or brilliant as they were on their 1972 masterstroke, ‘Octopus,’ which turns 40 this week.

In the liner notes to the album’s 2011 reissue, multi-instrumentalist Phil Shulman stated, “The eight pieces (on the album) were originally intended as musical portraits of the band and roadies but found their own identity in the making. The title came from Bobbi, my wife, who recognized eight pieces with very different arms as a fair reflection of the band then.” Indeed, ‘Octopus’ is an absolutely perfect title for an album that branches off in so many strange, thrilling directions: No bones about it, ‘Octopus’ is one of the most complex and technically dazzling in the history of progressive rock.

This music is so dense, so challenging, so utterly bizarre (and was so, even during the band’s ’70s heyday) that it’s often overlooked, even by prog obsessives. It takes a special kind of listener to digest a song like ‘Knots,’ a dizzying whirlwind of overlapping, madrigal-tinged vocal harmonies, discordant glockenspiel, and jaunty piano breaks. But for the dedicated, open-minded (and, let’s face it, weird) listener, it’s transcendent, totally unique music that sounds like no other band on the planet.

On ‘Octopus’ (which peaked at an un-stellar but unsurprising 170 on the US Billboard charts), Gentle Giant use their varied instrumentation — guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, assorted percussion, saxophones, violins, loads of vocal harmonies — like bold paints on an abstract canvas, using odd juxtapositions to push listeners out of their comfort zones. But these songs are also fun: ‘The Advent of Panurge’ and ‘A Cry for Everyone,’ for all their shifting structures and busy time changes, are built on Derek Shulman’s muscular vocals and Gary Green’s tight guitar riffs. Even at their most complicated, Gentle Giant never skimp on hooks or energy.

“I remember that we felt pretty confident going in to make this album,’ Green states in the reissue liner notes. ‘We had a good bunch of tunes and our studio chops (particularly Ray’s) were getting better with each record. We continued our experimentation with instrument combinations, sounds, and effects, bouncing ideas back and forth with engineer Martin Rushent, who fell right in step with our brand of madness.” Madness indeed, but a particularly inspired brand. Forty years later, ‘Octopus’ is as off-putting and powerful as it’s ever been.