OCTOPUS

I rented this album from the library about a month ago. Prior to this, I'd given up on Gentle Giant since I'd bought Free Hand in late 2005/early 2006 and couldn't get into it. Fortunately, after reading a fair amount concerning this wonderful band, spotted this album at the public library where I live and decided to pick it up. One very common theme of the reviews of this album is how inaccesible the music is. However, I found the melodies on this disc memorable after one spin! The arrangements and musicianship are wonderful, and overall, I found this to be a great album. I enjoy every song except "Think of Me With Kindness", which I happen to find a bit boring and sappy. "Knots" never fails to amaze, "River" has stunning meter changes and a great guitar solo by Gary Green, etc., etc. Luckily, I now wish to continue pursing the catalogue of Gentle Giant.