Cities Made of Song, 1972

Cities Made of Song, 1972 - Advent of Panurge by Gentle Giant​

I've already spent several sentences in these posts talking about how great music in this period was, but pound for pound, 1972 has more of my favorite albums than any other year in history. Among others, it's the year that saw "Argus" by Wishbone Ash, Sabbath's "Vol 4", the self-titled "Captain Beyond", Tull's "Thick as a Brick", and one of the very best, "Close to the Edge" by Yes. Must have been something in the water. Talking of water, here's "Octopus".

Poor Gentle Giant so rarely gets talked about. After breaking up in 1980, they never reunited and most of their former members now live out of the public eye. Even though they never packed stadiums like Genesis, I'd argue that Gentle Giant were the far more innovative progressive rock group. For all that they are relatively obscure outside of dedicated rock fans, there's a lot to love about this group. "Quirky" is probably the best descriptor of their kind of music, full of funny interpolations, vocal harmonies, and creative instrumentation.

"Octopus" is definitely my favorite of the lot. Funnily enough, it has nothing to do with marine life; rather the name is a pun on "octo opus", since the album has eight tracks. Roger Dean puts in another iconic piece of album artwork regardless. I just love that scowling cephalopod, the clouds, and the frothing surf. It's all very Sea Devils-y. But that's all just superficial; the real treats are on the record itself. Knots is one of my favorites, a wonderfully schizophrenic little song which seems to be about miscommunication between two people. Raconteur Troubadour is right up there too, the type of song you'd maybe expect to hear while visiting a ren fair on acid. Special mentions also go to the downplayed ode to man's best friend on Dog's Life, and the lovely paean Think of Me with Kindness.

For this post, I decided to highlight the album's first track, Advent of Panurge, because it really has it all: an awesome bassline, call-and-answer singing, and a psychedelic breakdown in the middle. Oh, and it sounds vaguely like Phil Shulman says "exterminate" around the three minute mark. Actually, that's probably just Latin or Old French, because there's an excerpt from a foreign language book right around there. The whole song is based on Gargantua and Pantagruel, a French novel series from the 16th century, which sounds like great fun because it made the religious authorities of the time very angry. And why did Gentle Giant base a song around it? Erm... No clue. Does it matter?

It's said that "art for art's sake is an empty phrase", but I don't think you have to understand anything to enjoy it. My brain kind of switches off when I listen to Gentle Giant, and I enjoy it a lot while doing so. For all their obscurity, I'm far from their only fan, and many of my favorite modern bands (Haken, for example) wear their GG influence proudly. If you're not familiar with this most unique of rock bands, check some of their songs out sometime. Although they've never formally reunited, they did put out a wonderful fan collab of their song Proclamation for quarantine last year, and several of the band members make appearances. Always nice when some quirky thing from yesteryear still has loving fans, isn't it?

Then said he, "Fair Pantagruel / My name is Panurge and I have come from Hell!"​

Before digging into Season Ten, we have a couple of diversions to check out. The Scorchies is first.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 4 April 2021.)