Acquiring The Taste - GENTLE GIANT***

Pantagruel's Nativity/Edge Of Twilight/The House The Street The Room/Acquiring The Taste/Wreck/The Moon Id Down/Black Cat/Plain Truth

Acquiring The Taste was the second album release from the British progressive band Gentle Giant. It was considered to be more experimental than its predecessor, bordering on the avant-garde.

“Gentle Giant were one of the more significant progressive rock debuts of the early- 70s, but it was Acquiring The Taste that catapulted them into the upper echelon of progressive rock giants. This is the album that fully realizes the wild potential of the band's unapologetically unconventional approach. Atonal vocal melodies and quirky instrumental breaks fit directly alongside relatively immediate hard rock guitar jams, but even in its most accessible moments the arrangements are overflowing with nonstandard instrumentation.”

“Starting with this album the band took the plunge into their own unique musical world and took us to new sonic frontiers of which I am a grateful fan. This direction was taken mainly due to their extensive training and interest in classical music. This inspiration matched with an ambition is the reason Gentle Giant remain one of the most progressive of progressives.”

“The band has a good groove, which shines along the whole way through from the beginning to the end, but at times the material does feel a bit uninspired, though that luckily occurs only on a few occasions. Still this album manages to hold me in its grip, basically due to talented musicians having fun, and as the listener you really don't have a clue what's to follow. Very fusion and rock inspired.”

“Sporting three lead vocalists at this point, and playing an aggregate of more than thirty musical instruments in studio and on stage, Gentle Giant wedded classical to rock, madrigals to blues, and simple sweet ballads to near heavy metal and complex time signatures. Theirs was a music that demanded sophisticated musical taste.”

“Sounding unlike almost anything of it's time, this was unique in its approach, with some very non-commercial material that borders on the avant-garde, but is far more appealing. It features a well rounded sound and is consistently good throughout.”

“One can commend this music for any aspect; extremely refined vocals, a wide variety of styles and influences, complex instrumentation combined in such an intelligent way that it's probably impossible to get bored with these sounds.”