01	The Advent Of Panurge						04:41
	02	Raconteur Troubadour						04:01
	03	A Cry For Everyone						04:03
	04	Knots						04:11
	05	The Boys In The Band						04:32
	06	Dog's Life						03:11
	07	Think Of Me With Kindness						03:34
	08	River						05:53

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Kerry Minnear: All keyboards, vibraphone, percussion, cello, Moog, lead & backing vocals.
Raymond Shulman: Bass violin, guitar, percussion, vocals.
Gary Green: Guitars, percussion.
Derek Shulman: Lead vocals, alto saxophone.
Philip Shulman: Saxophones, trumpet, mellophone, lead & backing vocals.
John Weathers: drums, percussion, xylophone.

Many thanks to Martin Rushant for laugh coinspin and variable speed oscillator, and Mike Viccars,
Moog Operator.

All titles, (C) by Alucard Music (ASCAP), 1972 - written by Minnear, Shulman, Shulman, and Shulman. Produced by Gentle Giant.
Engineer: Martin Rushant.
Recorded at Advision Studios, London.
Art by Fluid Drive. Cover Concept and Design by John Berg. Illustration: Charles White III
Design: Kenny Kneitel. Lettering: Michael Doret.

Gentle Giant: Octopus

Heather MacKenzie:
This is Gentle Giant's medieval masterpiece. This possesses all the basic prog elements, such as complexity in timing and song structure, varied instruments, and melodic focus. What makes it unique is the radiant medieval mood: exciting instrumental counterpoint, incredible fugue-style vocal harmonies, and otherworldy textures. All elements combine to create intricate, ever changing knot-like melodic patterns. And the songs rock.
Some of GG's greatest songs are here: "The Advent of Panurge", "Raconteur Troubadour", "Knots", and the instrumental "The Boys in the Band". There is even a simple, odd ballad entitled "Think of Me With Kindness". What makes these songs great, in addition to the elements mentioned above, are the memorable, catchy melodies. They make the music sound so simple, and yet it clearly isn't.
There aren't really many bands that I can compare this to - it is so unique. There is a hyper intellectual nervous energy here that drives the music over the top and makes it fun. Octopus should be in every progressive rock collection. If you like this, try the equally great GG albums, Three Friends and Acquiring the Taste.


Octopus (1972)

About the Album
Gentle Giant's fourth album has a harder, more rocking edge, making a striking contrast with their more symphonic third album. No doubt the reason was the introduction of John Weathers on drums. The album still contains a wide variety of sounds and textures, from the rocking power of The Advent Of Panurge to the vocal intricacies of Knots to the beauty of Think Of Me With Kindness.
The title was allegedly invented by Phil Shulman's wife, Roberta. It is short for "Octo Opus," or eight musical works. (Thanks to Robert Jacobson.)

The album was released with a Roger Dean cover in the UK (above), and the "octopus in a jar" cover in the USA (below) by Charles White.

(USA cover)

The band had an octopus balloon as a promotional item.

Musicians
Gary Green - Guitars, percussion

Kerry Minnear - All keyboards, vibraphone, percussion, cello, Moog, lead and backing vocals

Derek Shulman - Lead vocals, alto saxophone

Philip Shulman - Saxophones, trumpet, mellophone, lead and backing vocals

Raymond Shulman - Bass violin, guitar, percussion, vocals (note typographical error, "bass violin")

John Weathers - Drums, percussion, xylophone.

Many thanks to Martin Rushant for laugh coinspin and variable speed oscillator, and Mike Viccars, Moog operator.

NOTE: The "Mike Viccars" credited above is "actually Mike Vickers, guitarist, saxist with the Manfreds, the band who used to back Manfred Mann in the 1960s." (Thanks to Marcel Glen Safier!) Marcel spoke with Mike Vickers and "told him about Martin Smith's passing but he said in fact he didn't really know the guys, he was just called in for the album as he got one of the very early Moogs (well before Manfred in fact) and was into setting up the sounds patches. He also did orchestration and arranged the string part on the Beatles All You Need Is Love with George Martin."

Other liner notes:

All titles composed by Minnear, Shulman, Shulman and Shulman
All titles published 1972 by Alucard Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Gentle Giant
Engineer: Martin Rushant
Mastering Engineer: Cliff Morris
Tape Operator: Geoff Young
Over-all American Supervision: Murray Krugman
Recorded at Advision Studios, London
Cover Concept and Design by John Berg
Art by Fluid Drive
Illustration: Charles White III
Design: Kenny Kneitel
Lettering: Michael Doret

Octopus
The Advent Of Panurge features Pantagruel, the giant first mentioned in Pantagruel's Nativity on Acquiring The Taste.

The nonsense syllables in The Advent Of Panurge describe what happens in the original story about the two giants. Pantagruel meets Panurge by a bridge, and Panurge answers his questions by speaking in every language under the sun... except French. (Thanks to Michael Beauvois.)

During the chorus of Raconteur Troubadour, the violin plays the vocal melody from the verse. It is very strange how they fit together!

Listen closely to the string solo in Raconteur Troubadour. The opening melody is almost the same as the vocal melody on the verse, but the rhythm is changed. (I listened to this piece for eight years without noticing the similarity. Those clever lads.)

The lyrics of Knots come from poetry by psychologist R. D. Laing. His book, Knots, was published in 1970 Pantheon Books, New York, ISBN 0-394-47215-2.

The high-speed drums in Knots are higher-pitched than the drums on the rest of the album. This has lead some Gentle Giant fans to suspect that the Knots drums were actually played slower and then sped up (raising the pitch as an artifact).

The swirling noise at the end of Knots seems to tie itself into a knot in space. It helps to listen with headphones. (Thanks to Keith Hyman.)

In Knots, on one of the early "verses" where they are all singing out of sync, listen to the lowest vocalist. The melody is the basis for the Crimson-ish instrumental section later on in the song. (Thanks to Eric Wohnlich.)

In The Boys In The Band, one of the keyboard parts at 1:38 is the same as the bass part that comes in 21 seconds later. (Thanks to "Cookie.")

A lyric in Think Of Me With Kindness, "when we two parted in tears and silence," is a slightly paraphrased quote from a poem by Lord Byron, When we Two Parted. The original goes: "When we two parted in silence and tears, half-broken-hearted to sever for years, pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss." (Thanks to Norman Hesford.)

In Think Of Me With Kindness, about 50 seconds in, just after "When there's no tomorrow," the music is reminiscent of the "Marlboro Country" riff from the beginning of The Magnificent Seven. (Thanks to Maynard Peterson and others.)

About halfway through the guitar solo in River, you can hear Derek singing along with the guitar for about five seconds. (Thanks to Jon Dharma Murphree.)