Music Banter - View Single Post - Review: Gentle Giant, Octopus- 1972
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Old 11-28-2011, 05:35 AM   #11 (permalink)
Unknown Soldier
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Originally Posted by RMR View Post
It does have complex instrumentation and crazy time signatures (a hallmark of progressive rock), but it comes across sounding like they want to be complex, just for the sake of being complex, and they do this at the expense of melody and rhythmic hooks, and for me— regardless of the genre of music— there has to be melody and hooks. Otherwise, the music just doesn’t resonate with me.
I`ve often felt the same way about Gentle Giant as well, despite quite liking them. Below is what they said about their second album Acquiring the Taste which maybe mirrors your criticisms about them.

"...It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of being very unpopular. We have recorded each composition with the one thought - that it should be unique, adventurous and fascinating. It has taken every shred of our combined musical and technical knowledge to achieve this. From the outset we have abandoned all preconceived thoughts of blatant commercialism. Instead we hope to give you something far more substantial and fulfilling. All you need to do is sit back, and acquire the taste."
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