OCTOPUS

This album is a very mixed bag for me. It contains both some of my favorite Gentle Giant tracks and some of theirs which don't do much of anything for me, and not really anything in between the two. The tracks that are good on here, in my opinion, are the ones which show off more of their complexity and mad influences. I really love the medieval sounds the band plays around with. Some of the tracks on the album I could almost do without, but then we'd only have the Pentapus instead of Octopus. The three tracks I'm speaking of are "A Cry for Everyone", "Think of Me With Kindness", and "River". Technically they're all good Gentle Giant songs, with River especially having a lot of the qualities I most love in their music, but they've never really impressed me for one reason or another. As for the rest of the tracks, they all have the certain quirky charm I enjoy so much from my favorite Gentle Giant albums, or in the case of "Knots" are so much fun and so hyper complex you can't help but fall in love with the track. Ever since I first heard the album, I've loved the first two tracks, along with "Knots" and "Dog's Life", and "The Boys in the Band" has grown on me over time.

I will admit that I'm definitely a fan of the band's older sound, and the fact that they're moving away from it on this album may be what bothers me so much about it. This album is probably a good one to introduce yourself to the music of Gentle Giant, and despite the few weaker tracks it's still good. Three stars from me.