Gentle Giant Octopus' Roger Dean cover: what are the "true" colors?

[ilsecondodasinistra]

Hello everyone,
it happened to me to notice that most of the times the GG's Octopus European cover is displayed like this

octopusGreen.jpg

with a deep green background, pink tentacles, dark green "gentle giant" logo

Then I recently bought the latest repress on LP and I noticed this kind of cover

octopusdark.jpg

with a much darker background, white tentacles, lighter "gentle giant" logo.

Initially I thought that some digital work could have been added to the original cover in order to get this second one. But then I found out that apparently some old copies were pretty much in between the two versions, for instance

octopusdarkold.jpg

so it seems like back in the day there were already lighter and darker copies, but not as dark as current vinyl ones.

Do you happen to know anything about that? How does the original Roger Dean painting look like?

Thank you :-)
MarKco

[interbellum]

In his first book Views Roger Dean used the lighter version (the first you posted).

[interbellum]

When you look at all versions on Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/master/15513...-Giant-Octopus) you'll notice you're right about all those different versions.

[Garyhead]

Here is a print I bought off the man himself at a Nearfest.

IMG_4448.jpg

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

I'm pretty sure that if you look carefully the true colors will come shining through...

[interbellum]

Here is a print I bought off the man himself at a Nearfest.

IMG_4448.jpg

Cool! But it's hard to see the background colours because of the reflecting of the glass.

[starless and bible black]

It's true. The cover for GG's Octopus (with the Roger Dean artwork) not only looks slightly different on various issues of the album, the band's name and the title of the album differ slightly in size and postion on the album's front cover as well.

[Dan Roth]

Dean is selling a ltd ed print of Octopus here: https://www.rogerdean.com/product-pa...-artists-proof

He also recently featured it on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...27.-2207520000

I'd guess that that would be the "original".

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

This is the cover on my old LP. Does anyone know why there's two different covers?

Octo.jpg

[ilsecondodasinistra]

Apparently the first copies (https://www.discogs.com/release/1508...-Giant-Octopus) were also cut in shape of the jar. Pretty fragile, I guess.

[Czyszy]

This is the cover on my old LP. Does anyone know why there's two different covers?

Octo.jpg

Derek Shulman said in some interview that the the record company wanted to keep the "Gentle Giant" character thing for the American market. The back cover does indeed feature the Giant.

The Giant is nowhere to be seen in the UK Roger Dean design.

[interbellum]

Derek Shulman said in some interview that the the record company wanted to keep the "Gentle Giant" character thing for the American market. The back cover does indeed feature the Giant.

The Giant is nowhere to be seen in the UK Roger Dean design.

In the booklet of the 2015-reissue (cd/blu-ray) Derek also mentions that a legal issue emergerd with World Wide Artists, their management at the time. As a result they requested a different cover for North America. When Derek was in San Fransisco during that time he found a little jar with an octopus inside and thought that would be cool so he cave it to the art department of Columbia, their US-label.

[starless and bible black]

Do you happen to know anything about that? How does the original Roger Dean painting look like?Thank you :-)
MarKco

Perhaps the tintings of the cover of Octopus were done to make the title of the album (and the band's name) stand out more on contemporary CD and LP reissues of the album. And I suggest the first UK/Europe edition of Octopus in 1972 represents the original Roger Dean painting for the LP.

[Sunlight Caller]

It’s not unusual for Roger to rework his paintings in different colours and shades, perhaps that’s what this recent edition is?

[Trane]

This is the cover on my old LP. Does anyone know why there's two different covers?

Octo.jpg

This is the North Am version.

I actually prefer this one (with the cut-outs of the lids in the top corners) than the Dean artwork. Of course, I'm probably biased since I owned that version and never saw the Dean version until the CD wernt out - just like I'd never seen the British version artwork of Three Friends.

[starless and bible black]

It’s not unusual for Roger to rework his paintings in different colours and shades, perhaps that’s what this recent edition is?

Could be. I forgot that Roger Dean revised the artwork on Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans for it's deluxe edition in 2016. And there was Yes' Steven Wilson Remixes vinyl box set where he did new versions of the band's album artwork from Fragile thru Relayer.

[Man In The Mountain]

Dean is selling a ltd ed print of Octopus here: https://www.rogerdean.com/product-pa...-artists-proof

That's a different octopus. His eye is half closed, and the markings on body are completely different.

[interbellum]

That's a different octopus. His eye is half closed, and the markings on body are completely different.

Well spotted. I guess this one is closer to the original: https://www.rogerdean.com/paintings?...c-d12ecd3ab187

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

I actually prefer this one (with the cut-outs of the lids in the top corners) than the Dean artwork. Of course, I'm probably biased since I owned that version and never saw the Dean version until the CD wernt out - just like I'd never seen the British version artwork of Three Friends.

Though I imagine it's probably blasphemy to like it over Dean -- I do too, and, yes, I have the cutout edges.

I probably like it better because it's the first Gentle Giant I ever owned (or heard). I liked it immediately, but "Knots" in particular blew my mind.

[Kcrimso]

Octopus is my favourite of all Gentle Giant albums. I wrote a review of it: https://pienemmatpurot.com/review-ge...-octopus-1972/

[Guitarplyrjvb]

I always thought that the Gentle Giant character resembled John Weathers.

[Ten Thumbs]

I've always preferred the North American jar cover. On the back cover there is a diver standing in the jar, and if you scale him at 6 foot tall, then that is a giant octopus in a giant jar. Good artwork on the jar lid and the embossed Octopus lettering.

[Vic2012]

I'm pretty sure that if you look carefully the true colors will come shining through...

Lol. I immediately thought of that song when I read the title.

[Vic2012]

It was the first GG album I bought, around 1999 or 2000. It's the Octopus in the jar cover. I like the Dean cover a lot more, to be honest.

[rael74]

An interesting thread.

You will probably find this anomaly occurs with lots of albums.
Take Relayer for instance. I've seen this in every shade of grey / beige / brown.

For those who are really into the minutiae of album covers and pressing etc,
check out the Parlogram Auctions bloke on Youtube.
He goes into an unparalleled depth of detail regarding Beatles covers.
The part where he discussed the glue they used to stick the cardboard together is especially riveting...