OCTOPUS

I picked up this album about 6 months ago having never heard Gentle Giant before (except for the song Wreck). My first impression upon hearing the opening verse in that soft renaissance-like style: "There coming over Charaton Bridge. Look do you see the man who is poor but rich. What do you wish; and where do you go; Who are you; where are you from; will you tell me your name? Rest awhile; call me your friend. Please stay with me I'd like to help" was simply... What in the world is this crap? Note that I have traditionally been a metal fan.

Then, at 00:50, the song just took off. The bass and piano interplay was captivating. Trying to follow the counterpoints in there had me intrigued. When the vocals came back in, they were much stronger: "Then said he fair Pantagruel, my name is Panurge and I have come from Hell." I knew at this point, I was in for an interesting ride. The atmosphere had been laid.

Raconteur Troubadour was even better song with its waltzy character. The absence of downtime between these tracks and maintainence of the energy and flavor of the first track told me that this band knew how to construct an album. As track 2 had more renaissance leanings (and lyrical content), track 3 (Cry For Freedom) brought in the hard rock style. For 1972, this track was keeping pace with anything Led Zeppelin ever wanted to do while blowing them out of the water with the added instrumentation and interplay. Knots is simply a magnificent, daring work of vocal ingenuity. The contradictory riddle in the style of a 4 part vocal fugue is something you'll hear few bands attempt. Note that this track obviously inspired Neal Morse a great deal. "He tries to make her afraid by not being afraid." What? There's even a xylophone solo here done by the drummer that will make your head tilt.

The Boys In The Band is an instrumental track with alot of busy sections that feed off each other and mix very well. It's clear the musical knowledge of this band is quite strong by this point. The positive here is that no instrument dominates the others. It's clearly balanced and very well mixed. A Dog's Life is the weakest track on the album but maintains a quirkiness that fits in with the other tracks. The lyrics alone are allegorical of a tale of the band's roadies in the context of a faithful pet. Think of Me With Kindness is a slower ballad that shows GG can display some real emotion in their writing. While the other songs are over-the-top and quirky, this track gives the listener a break from the insanity and weirdness for a moment to be a bit introspective. This track doesn't reek of sappy sentimentality but comes off fairly honestly--something hard in rock ballads. Concluding with The River at 5:53, Octopus's longest track, GG bring back the varied instrumentation with an interesting melody on violin.

All in all, we have an album under 40 minutes that never gets boring, offers some great lyrical creativity, interesting quirky melodies, varied instrumentation (sax/moog/strings/trumpet/xylophone), strong vocal delivery, varied song dynamics, and an overall cohesiveness that bands today seem to lack in their album structure. This is definitely a must have for everyone.

If you have young kids, they will live this album as much as you.