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."

i dunno, i heard it without the benefit of hearing all the hype about it

and as it is, Octopus is still my fave GG

It's not there best record Liked The Power And Glory more. But I do like this one. There a highly under rated band though. Progreeive fans should check this one out

I added a post script to my review, and increased my album rating...

Post Script
I had originally given this album a 2-star rating, based on the reasons I cite in the reivew, but in retrospect, I changed the rating to a 5. Although I still do not really enjoy the album, I can’t deny the inventiveness and innovation that Gentle Giant put into it, and that alone is worth a few extra points.

Awww, you should never give in to peer pressure!

Nah, come on Salami... without peer pressure, none of us would have tried some of the great pleasures of life like smoking, sex, & drugs, among other things. :yeah:

In all seriousness, most of the reviews I post, I have just written recently. I actually wrote this GG review a while ago, and the score seemed a little low compared to some of the more recent reviews that I've posted. I didn't post this review, but I gave Madonna's debut album a 6, and although I do enjoy that album better than "Octopus," my scale seemed a little off, so I bumped it a few points.

I did have a good chuckle when I read that!
Definitely. I think at least Gentle Giant were trying to give you some kind of emotional interaction and were trying to experiment with different styles, and I'm glad you've agreed to an extent.
Although "Octopus" is my second favourite ever prog album after "Fragile", so I'm a little biased!

Revisiting Octopus after reading this review again today, sure its complex prog but it was complex prog before it became pretentious to do so. Gentle Giant are excellent musicians and they really excel on this album, would I say its their finest album..........probably so.