ACQUIRING THE TASTE

I'm having a difficult time rating this album because I came to it after listening to everything else that GG did(up to Free Hand). Comparing Acquiring The Taste to the records that followed makes it look pretty bad. The band tried way too hard to be unique and avant-garde and most of the record sounds contrived. I'm all for meter and key changes, but when they happen so haphazardly and mechanically, I tend to cringe.

This record lacks LIFE(SOUL if you prefer). It is well-thought out, on a technical level, but nowhere did the band think of including passages that would touch the heart.

Progressive music is incomplete if it fails to stir BOTH the mind and the heart. This record only touches the former. If you are a Vulcan then this may be your cup of tea and will provide hours of listening pleasure as you dissect all of the nuances of the weaving in and out of the instrumentation.

On the positive side this record is much more progressive than The Giant's debut release; if that is really important to you.

Perhaps if I'd listened to this one before having listened to all of the ones that followed it I'd be able to give it a higher rating. But 2.5 STARS is as high as I'll go, rounding off to THREE STARS(and that's a BIG STRETCH).

If you haven't listened to GG yet and are thinking about taking the Giant plunge I'd suggest you start chronologically through their catalog. You may enjoy the first two albums all the more if you do it that way. BUT, be forewarned: if you start with anything after the first two(up to Free Hand) then these may seem pretty bad by comparison.

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