Octopus (Gentle Giant album)

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Octopus
Octopuscoveruk.jpg
Studio album by
Gentle Giant
Released1 December 1972
RecordedJuly 24 – August 5, 1972
Studio Advision, London
Genre Progressive rock [1] [2]
Length34:09
Label Vertigo (UK)
Columbia (US/Canada)
Producer Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant chronology
Three Friends
(1972)		Octopus
(1972)		 In a Glass House
(1973)
Alternative cover
Octopuscoverus.jpg
US and Canadian release.

Octopus is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1972. It was the band's last album which all the Shulman brothers involved together in the band, as the founding member Phil Shulman left the band after the release, and the first with new drummer John Weathers, who would remain with the band until their dissolution in 1980. Octopus remains a highly regarded example of the progressive rock genre and is generally considered to represent the start of the band's peak period.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Production

Octopus was allegedly named by Phil Shulman's wife Roberta[ citation needed ] as a pun on "octo opus" (eight musical works, reflecting the album's eight tracks). [3] In 2004, Ray Shulman commented "(Octopus) was probably our best album, with the exception, perhaps of Acquiring the Taste . We started with the idea of writing a song about each member of the band. Having a concept in mind was a good starting point for writing. I don't know why, but despite the impact of The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia , almost overnight concept albums were suddenly perceived as rather naff and pretentious".

Musical style and themes

The album maintained Gentle Giant's trademark of broad and challenging integrated styles. One of the highlights was the intricate madrigal-styled vocal workout "Knots". The album's lyrics are generally based on literature and philosophy: "The Advent of Panurge" is inspired by the books of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais; "A Cry for Everyone" is inspired by the work and beliefs of the French writer Albert Camus, while the song "Knots" is inspired by the book Knots by the Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing.

Releases

On 30 October 2015, a Steven Wilson remix was released on CD/Blu-ray via the band's Alucard label. Three tracks (1, 2 & 5) [4] could not be discretely remixed since one multi-track reel was missing. Instead, those three tracks were upmixed to 5.1 surround using the Penteo surround software. The remaining five tracks were remixed to 5.1 by Steven Wilson. [5]

Cover

The UK release by Vertigo featured art by Roger Dean. Dean's logo appears inside the lyrics booklet.

US and Canadian releases were released by Columbia and used a different cover by Charles White. Early versions of this cover were die-cut into a jar shape.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [6]

Later reviews about the album have remained positive. AllMusic have declared that Octopus is "an album that has withstood the test of time a lot better than anyone might have expected." [6]

In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #16 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums". [7] In The 100 Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time, by ProgMagazine, Octopus stands at number 65. [8]

In 2013, progressive death metal band Witherscape covered the track "A Cry for Everyone", and issued it for release on their The Inheritance album. [9]

The 2015 reissue of the album, mixed by Steven Wilson, entered the BBC Rock Chart at No. 34. [10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kerry Minnear and Ray Shulman (music); lyrics jointly written by Derek Shulman and Phil Shulman (according to the 2015 Steven Wilson remix)

Side one
No.TitleMusicLength
1."The Advent of Panurge"Minnear4:41
2."Raconteur Troubadour"Minnear4:01
3."A Cry for Everyone"R. Shulman4:04
4."Knots"Minnear4:11
Side two
No.TitleMusicLength
5."The Boys in the Band"R. Shulman4:34
6."Dog's Life"R. Shulman3:11
7."Think of Me with Kindness"Minnear3:34
8."River"R. Shulman5:53

Personnel

Gentle Giant

Production

'Design’

Charts

Chart (1972)Peak
position
US Billboard 200 [11] 170
Chart (2015)Peak
position
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [12] 34

Release history

RegionDateLabel
United Kingdom1 December 1972 Vertigo Records
United StatesFebruary 1973 Columbia Records

Literature

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References

  1. ↑ "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone . 17 June 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Murphy, Sean (17 November 2015). "The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums". PopMatters. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "Interview: Derek Shulman (Gentle Giant)". www.hit-channel.com. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Octopus (booklet). Gentle Giant. Alucard Publishing Limited. 2015. ALUGG052. Tracks 1, 2 & 5 original mixes remastered by Steven Wilson. Tracks 1, 2 & 5 processed using Penteo stereo to surround upmixer software{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ↑ Smotroff, Mark (9 March 2016). "Eight Immersive Songs: Listening To Gentle Giant's Octopus In 5.1". Audiophile Review. Luxury Publishing Group. Retrieved 29 December 2018. Due to one master multi-track reel gone missing , Steven Wilson could only create a pure 5.1 mix for 5 of the 8 tracks on the album. The other three were extracted using Penteo's software which pulls 5.1 surround elements from the mixed two-channel stereo master tape.
  6. 1 2 Thompson, Dave. "Octopus - Gentle Giant | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  7. ↑ Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, 2005.
  8. ↑ "The 100 Greatest Prog Albums of All Time - PROG Magazine". Cygnus-X1.net. August 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "Dan Swanö Explains CD Enhancement of The Inheritance; Video Streaming". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  10. ↑ Munro, Scott (11 November 2015). "Gentle Giant celebrate chart success - Prog". Prog Team Rock. Archived from the original on 15 December 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  11. ↑ "Gentle Giant Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
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