"On Reflection" is a song by the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
band
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...
. It was released on their 1975 album ''
Free Hand
''Free Hand'' is the seventh album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant. It was released in 1975.
It was Gentle Giant's first album with their new label Chrysalis Records in the UK. It is noted for its high production values, and for ...
''.
Composition
"On Reflection" is in the key of B-flat major. It features a four
or five part
Polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
of voices.
Bruce Eder of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
wrote that the song had "
medieval-style a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
vocals", while ''The Great Rock Bible'' described the song as a "
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
er".
Reception
Robert Taylor of AllMusic wrote that "On Reflection" was revolutionary for its time, due to the band's vocal approach. Taylor also wrote that the song was one of prog-rock's defining moments.
uDiscoverMusic also commented on the song positively, writing that the song's opening four-part fugue remains one of Gentle Giant's and the progressive rock genre's defining moments.
Paul Stump in the 2005 book ''Acquiring the Taste'' wrote that the song was an example of the band's "mastery of writing and performing intensly complex contrapuntal music", and that it was an instant hit when they performed live.
Other appearances
A live performance of the song (recorded in 1976) is also included on the 1977 album ''
Playing the Fool''.
References
{{Gentle Giant
1975 songs