Gentle Giant – Octopus (Alucard, 2015)
Octopus, one of the great progressive rock classics of the 1970s has received the masterful treatment of English musician and producer Steve Wilson. The album, originally released in 1972, reappears with a fabulous new mix. Gentle Giant’s music is rich, complex and very beautiful at the same time. You need to listen to this gem with a really good audio system or high quality headphones to experience the marvelous sound.
Gentle Giant in 1972 was at its peak in creativity. Octopus was the band’s fourth album. You’ll find Gentle giant’s signature sound with madrigal vocal counterpoints, complex rhythms and changing time signatures, captivating instrumental and vocal interplay and call and response techniques, rock, jazz, classical and beyond. It’s one of those albums that you can listen to over and over again and you will continue to discover surprising new details. The lyrics were based on novels and philosophers.
This edition consists of 2 discs. Disk 1 features Steven Wilson’s remix of the original album plus a 16 minute live bonus track from 1976. Disc 2 is a Blu-Ray that contains a flat transfer of the original 1972 mix, and instrumental versions of the 5 stereo remixes, all in high resolution.
Octopus had different covers in Europe and North America. The original Roger Dean cover appears in this edition with an attractive booklet that includes lyrics, credits and photos.
The Gentle Giant lineup in Octopus included Kerry Minnear on keyboards, vibraphone, percussion, cello, Moog synthesizer, lead and backing vocals; Raymond Shulman on bass, violin, guitar, percussion and vocals; Gary Green on guitars and percussion; Derek Shulman on lead vocals and alto saxophone; Philip Shulman on saxophone, trumpet, mellophone, lead and backing vocals; and a new drummer, John Weathers on drums, congas and percussion.
Buy Octopus in North America
Buy Octopus in Europe