Octopus (Gentle Giant album)

Octopus
Studio album by Gentle Giant
Released	December 1, 1972
Recorded	July 24 - August 5, 1972, Advision Studios, London
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	34:24
Label	Vertigo (UK) Columbia (U.S.)
Producer	Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant chronology
Three Friends (1972) Octopus (1972) In a Glass House (1973)
Alternative cover
US and Canadian release.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Octopus is an album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1972. It marked a change in drummers from Malcolm Mortimore to John Weathers. The new line-up of the band delivered the Octopus album later in 1972, generally considered to represent the start of the band's peak period. The hardest and most "rocking" Gentle Giant album to date, Octopus was allegedly named by Phil Shulman's wife Roberta as a pun on "octo opus" (eight musical works, reflecting the album's eight tracks).

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". The album maintained Gentle Giant's trademark of broad and challengingly integrated styles. One of the highlights was the intricate madrigal-styled vocal workout "Knots", lyrically inspired by the work of R. D. Laing.

Before embarking on the Octopus tour, the band played a gruelling set of dates supporting Black Sabbath, during which they proved to be very unpopular with the majority of the headlining band's fans. In 2005, Derek Shulman recalled:

"It was perhaps the most ridiculous pairing of groups ever in the history of show business. For the most part we got booed off the stage... At a show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, we went on stage and the Sabbath fans were shouting "get off, we want Sabbath" and we were just getting set to play 'Funny Ways'. We pulled out the cellos and violins, and the crowd starting heckling immediately, but we were gradually starting to get past it, when someone threw a cherry bomb on stage. (Phil Shulman) made sure we all stopped playing and said we needed to get off the stage. As we were leaving the stage, Phil grabbed the mic and said to the crowd "you guys are a bunch of fucking cunts!", and the boo that went up after that was enormous! To this day I'll never forget it! We were sort of vindicated later on, as we thought we were never going to play Los Angeles again after the cherry bomb incident, but later on the Octopus tour we were able to sell out consistently there, so something clicked with the fans."[3]

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".^[2]

Track listing

Side One

1. "The Advent of Panurge" – 4:40
2. "Raconteur, Troubadour" – 3:59
3. "A Cry for Everyone" – 4:02
4. "Knots" – 4:09

Side Two

5. "The Boys in the Band" – 4:32
6. "Dog's Life" – 3:10
7. "Think of Me with Kindness" – 3:33
8. "River" – 5:54

All songs composed by Shulman, Shulman, Shulman and Minnear.

The song "The Advent of Panurge" is inspired by the books of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais.

The song "A Cry for Everyone" on the album is inspired by the work and beliefs of the Algerian-French writer Albert Camus.

The song "Knots" is inspired by the book Knots by the Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing.

Personnel

• Gary Green - Guitars, percussion
• Kerry Minnear - All keyboards, vibraphone, percussion, cello, Moog, lead and backing vocals
• Derek Shulman - Lead vocals, alto saxophone
• Phil Shulman - Saxophones, trumpet, mellophone, lead and backing vocals
• Ray Shulman - Bass, violin, guitar, percussion, vocals
• John Weathers - Drums, percussion, xylophone

Cover

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

North American releases featured a different cover by Charles White. Early versions of this cover were die-cut into a jar shape.

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1972	US Billboard 200	170

Release history

Region	Date	Label
United Kingdom.svg	December 1, 1972	Vertigo Records
United States	February 1973	Columbia Records

References

1. ^ "allmusic ((( Octopus > Overview )))". www.allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r8189. Retrieved 2009-12-05. 
2. ^ Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, 2005.