ACQUIRING THE TASTE

This is one of my favorite albums by Gentle Giant (the other favorites being almost every one they've made). This is different from the others, because it is way more symphonic, dark and a more studio experimental album. The songs are more quiet. Each member played a lot of different instruments on the same songs. If you're a Gentle Giant fan you probably know that all members play a lot of different instruments. Gary Green played some strange instruments on Black Cat (donkey's jawbone and cat calls) They didn't play many of the songs on this album live.

The albums opens with a masterpiece, Pantagruel's Nativity. It starts quiet, with high- pitched vocals and mellotron. Then the song gains power with a guitar riff. Then the choral section comes in. Gentle Giant did a lot of great vocal arrangements. Then Kerry Minnear's vibraphone solo comes, and then a guitar solo from Gary Green, who actually is a fantastic guitar player.

Then comes Edge Of Twilight which is a horror-like song. Very good and thorough arrangement. Great reverb effects and there's a reverse effect on the snare drum.

The House, The Street, The Room is also a great song. It has a very fun section right before the guitar solo. Many different instruments almost playing solo on top of each other. Then the guitar solo which is one of Gary's best solo's in my opinion

The title track is very short. It's an instrumental featuring only Kerry Minnear playing the moog. Great little piece, not dark as the rest of the album.

Wreck has a very catchy main riff and verse, and the song then segues into a baroque-inspired section.

The Moon Is Down is probably the most beautiful song Gentle Giant ever recorded. It opens with a saxophone intro by Derek & Phil Shulman. Then Kerry's first Harpsichord chord comes and the song begins. There is a lot of cool tempo-changes in this song.

Black Cat

This is the weak track in my opinion, but it has a very fun middle section with strange time signatures and instrumentation.

Plain Truth

In this song they showcase Ray's violin skills! I think there's even some Cry Baby involved with the violin intro.

This album is highly recommended, and different from the rest of Gentle Giant's repertoire. Gentle Giant is probably the best prog band ever!