OCTOPUS

At one point, Gentle Giant was one of my favorite bands. But my enjoyment of their music did not come naturally at first listen. In fact, I distinctly remember my first listen to this unique band and my thought was "What in the world is this crap?" That was my first impression of Gentle Giant and the album I was listening to was Octopus.

But after about three of four listens, tracks like "Knots" and "The Boys in the Band" caught my ear and grabbed me. It wasn't long after that I bought Free Hand and In a Glass House, and my love affair with Gentle Giant had begun.

While I really like all of the early albums, I sincerely believe that this album is truly the best of the bunch. Gentle Giant's signature sound is put on full display from the opening track "The Advent of Panurge," a haunting number with a quirky blend of vocals and instruments which builds in a dramatic fashion all the way to the final note.

"Raconteur Troubadour" immediately follows creating a rich medieval atmosphere with an appropriate storyline. "A Cry for Everyone" is a rocker with various instruments providing some nifty solos.

"Knots" is one Gentle Giant's most famous songs as it establishes a type of sound that will forever be linked to them as multiple vocal parts are sung alongside music which initially seems to clash, but works in a dizzying array of musical complexity. This is one of those songs that you hate the first time you hear it, like it on second listen and then fall in love with it the third time.

The rest of the disc is more prog goodness with "The Boys in the Band" being a fun instrumental, "Dog's Life" and "Think of Me with Kindness" being gentle ballads and finally "The River" as another quirky Knots-like number. This is Gentle Giant's finest hour and strongest album from start to finish. Definitely a must-have for any collector of prog.