ACQUIRING THE TASTE

I think this is the first GG album I owned. I bought it second hand just in case it was bad. I'd heard a bit about them but did not know what to expect. In a nutshell just because a band deliberately goes out with the premise that "...It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of being very unpopular. We have recorded each composition with the one thought - that it should be unique, adventurous and fascinating..." doesn't mean that it is/was any good. And to me it wasn't good, I felt it was in the "bad" category and am glad I bought it second hand. Not a good start in my appreciation of GG.

There are moments but as a whole "Acquiring the Taste" sounded and still sounds (to me at least) an attempt to be elite at the expense of musicality and harmony and it grates on me. I still do not listen to it much. I have a soft spot for "The Moon is Down" and can sit through and hum along to "Plain Truth", which is the least experimental of all the tracks on "Acquiring The Taste". The rest I can take or leave.

I can appreciate the band's quest for a unique sound but if it's no good, it's no good. Things were to change markedly however in their next half a dozen or so releases.

I still haven't acquired the taste nearly 40 years after its release. An untastey 2 stars from BarryGlibbster.

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