On Reflection

"On Reflection" is in the key of B-flat major.{{cite web|url=https://tunebat.com/Info/On-Reflection-Gentle-Giant/4TbqVzFP5BhdRKCXgf1Fza|title=Key & BPM for On Reflection by Gentle Giant - Tunebat|website=tunebat.com|accessdate=22 January 2019}} It features a four_{or five} part Polyphony of voices.

Bruce Eder of AllMusic wrote that the song had "medieval-style a cappella vocals",{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/playing-the-fool-the-official-live-mw0000201185|title=Playing the Fool: The Official Live - Gentle Giant - Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=AllMusic|accessdate=22 January 2019}} while The Great Rock Bible described the song as a "folk rocker".{{cite web|url=http://thegreatrockbible.com/portfolio-item/gentle-giant-biography/|title=GENTLE GIANT biography|publisher=|accessdate=22 January 2019}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/free-hand-mw0000097330|title=Free Hand - Gentle Giant - Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=AllMusic|accessdate=22 January 2019}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/rediscover-free-hand/|title=reDiscover Gentle Giant's Gripping Seventh Album, 'Free Hand'|first=Paul|last=Bowler|date=9 July 2018|publisher=|accessdate=22 January 2019}}

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 intensely complex contrapuntal music", and that it was an instant hit when they performed live.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vrF7IklgSU8C&q=gentle+giant+on+reflection&pg=PA178|title=Gentle Giant: Acquiring the Taste|first=Paul|last=Stump|date=23 April 2005|publisher=SAF Publishing Ltd|isbn=9780946719617|accessdate=22 January 2019|via=Google Books}}

A live performance of the song (recorded in 1976) is also included on the 1977 album Playing the Fool.

• Gary Green – electric guitar, descant recorder, co-lead vocals
• Kerry Minnear – piano, Hammond organ, Minimoog, harpsichord, celesta, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, timpani, harp, cello, lead vocals
• Derek Shulman – lead vocals
• Ray Shulman – bass, viola, co-lead vocals
• John Weathers – drums, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, cymbal, percussion

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Category:1975 songs