OCTOPUS

Octopus was the first Gentle Giant album to be added to my collection and it still remains my favorite, not because of nostalgic reasons but because despite listening to the album around 250 times I kept discovering new things about it. It's really a rollercoaster of moods and structures focusing heavily on medevial elements and experimentation (bordering avant-garde sometimes), it's probably Giant's most daring album when it comes to inspiration. The avant-garde vocal workout "Knots", one of the bands signature songs, is easily the most "far out" piece here and it's odd structure is as memorable as the piece itself. Great stuff! John Weathers is introduced here on drums and works splendidly as a solid backbone on this otherwise complex and highly adventurous music. This was also Phil Shulman's last and you can easily hear his absence on later GG albums.

The strongest cut here have to be "The Advent of Panurge" which is easily in my GG top-three, a very inventive piece that set the standard both for this album and later Gentle Giant albums. It's a very refreshing song that is heavy on the rhythm section but so wonderfully eclectic, adventurous and playful at the same time and will surely provide hundreds of great listening experiences alone. This album is for the adventurous listener, and while you might not like it as much as I do you'll surely enjoy it in some strange way nevertheless.