OCTOPUS

Unquestionably one of the most important prog-albums, though many people often overlook it as a genre-definig record, among Close to the Edge, Seling England by a Pound and others. I find especially Octopus' folky and medieval bits appealing. They give a sense of freshness to Gentle Giant's music. Besides fresh or joyful Octopus can definitely be described as quirky or tricky, because GG's instrumental experimentality and complex polyfonies etc. are quite over the top, but it really doesn't matter 'cause after all that's what prog is all about.

In my opinion the stand-out tracks on Octopus are the happy and interestingly polyfonic The Advent of Panurge, stunningly beautiful ballad Think of Me With Kindness and most of all Knots, the bizarre modern time madrigal. As a major fan of classical music i especially like the way, that Knots uses human voices. It's clearly largely influenged by 20th century choir-tradition.

Sum: If someone asks you: Just what is progressive rock? I recommend you to play him/her Gentle Giant's Octopus.