ACQUIRING THE TASTE

Gentle Giant's second album is a solid confirmation of the qualities displayed on their debut. The band added a whole layer of sonic sophistication to the already high compositional standard they had achieved.

Especially the weird ambience appeals to me. Gentle Giant build very haunting and creepy atmospheres, using uncanny harmonic lead vocals and unusual tonalities. Edge of Twilight is a great example and dwarfs recent imitations such as last year's Maudlin of The Well album Part The Second. Not much groundbreaking about that one if you hear Gentle Giant next to it.

But there's a 'but'. There's something about this music that leaves a studied and slightly artificial taste in my mouth; it never feels spontaneous or emotive like other eclectic prog icons such as King Crimson and VDGG do. I think the accent is too much on musicianship, composition, harmony and formal perfection. All of those are perfectly valid angles to create superb prog, but for me the result lacks the passion and spontaneous creativity to make it come alive.

Certainly 4 stars as far as I'm concerned. Superb, unique and mesmerizing music, but no heart.