Octopus
The Boat Of Thoughts

Hamburg, year 1976; progressive rock remains hard to kill in German lands, coexisting happily with many other genres and why not, even with the newcomer, "proto punk". A few months ago, a fugitive from Brain Records, a certain Günter Körber, opened a new independent label, Sky Records; recipe for success: lure as many popular German formations of the time from Brain without worrying too much about style, genre affiliation, political deviation, etc.; this was the categorical imperative of Körber. Meanwhile, Sky still needed to gain some experience and daring a little, made contacts with unknown formations whose demo tapes had been rejected years earlier by Brain. This would bring to light minor formations, active for years but snubbed by record companies, some truly interesting like Ramses, Streetmark, Bullfrog, Shaa Khan, and this quintet from Steinheim that has been calling itself Octopus since 1973.

For three years, the band had been playing exclusively live an energetic "hard prog", and at the call of the record contract, the four musicians plus the female singer were not caught unprepared. In fact, just as they entered the recording studio, they softened the tones in favor of a slightly space-inflected progressive rock, aiming to find the right harmony with other very early Sky productions, almost all centered on "space rock". In less than a month, their first album was recorded and ready for pressing; "The Boat of Thoughts" would be released at the beginning of 1977 and unexpectedly received a very favorable response from both the public and critics. The success would push Sky to produce two more superlative albums by Octopus, but let's stay with the first one for now.

All six tracks are fast works of collective virtuosity, showcasing the drumming of Frank Eule and the electric bass of Claus D.Kniemeyer; however, it is the keyboards (especially Hammond organ) of Werner Littau and the guitars (acoustic and electric) of Pit Hensel that truly stand out, not to mention the powerful vocal outbursts of Jennifer Hensel, sister of the guitarist and leader, whose performances have nothing to envy in comparison to the more well-known voices of English or American rock of the time. Hensel sings in English without a German accent; her presence often becomes essential, embellishing compositions that are extremely well-arranged—mainly melodic but always consistently strong. The centrifugal march of "We're Losing Touch" remains one of the lasting elements from Octopus's hard rock period, with a significant interlude that highlights the singer's timbral qualities. Playful yet subordinate, "Kill Your Murderer" presents itself with the classic "verse, chorus, and variations" structure; it's a feminist song filled with thrilling guitar riffs and moments between playful lullabies and gothic reminiscences, with the bass closely tied to the sudden twists of the electric. Moving past and forgiving the only clichéd phase of the album, the song "The Delayable Rise of Glib", the lyrics, mostly romantic as in the best progressive tradition, are set against the aggressiveness of the guitar passages in "The First Flight on the Owl", a piece that, after its long and powerful linear preamble, undergoes deformations due to sudden rhythm changes. The atmosphere becomes more ethereal, space-like, and desolate in the majestic progression of "If You Ask Me" and in the baroque closing suite "The Boat of Thoughts", thanks especially to an increased contribution of keyboards such as Minimoog, electric pianos, and Mellotron layers; in the last two mentioned pieces, the right balance between the various instruments at play and the frantic voice reach peaks that I dare say are dizzying.

A record I highly recommend not only to genre enthusiasts but also to those who appreciate space rock like Eloy and, why not, even to those usually interested in melodic hard rock.