[dorio]

Submission courtesy of grandrebelmaster

Band: Gentle Giant
Album: Acquiring the Taste



Vertigo 1971

Derek Shulman - alto sax, clavichord, cowbell, lead vocals
Phil Shulman - alto and tenor sax, clarinet, trumpet, claves, piano, maracas, lead vocals
Ray Shulman - bass guitar, violin, viola, electric violin, organ bass pedals, nylon string guitar, vocals, skulls, tambourine
Gary Green - six string guitar, twelve string guitar, donkey's jawbone, cat calls, vocals
Kerry Minnear - lead vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, Mellotron, Moog synthesizer, celeste, clavichord, harpsichord, tambourine, maracas, vibraphone, timpani
Martin Smith - drums, tambourine, gong, side drum
-featuring-
Paul Kosh - organ, trumpet
Tony Visconti - recorder, bass drum, triangle

1. Pantagruel's Nativity
2. Edge of Twilight
3. The House, the Street, the Room
4. Acquiring the Taste
5. Wreck
6. The Moon is Down
7. Black Cat
8. Plain Truth

Gentle Giant is a band that gets two extreme opinions out of most people. They are certainly very talented musicians, and take the idea of making complex rock music to its most extreme. This causes some people to love them, and some to hate them. I personally think that most of the time they make very good music, with a tendency to go overboard at times on complexity. And as for this album, I promise it's better than its cover.

The album starts off with Pantagruel's Nativity, one of my favorite songs on the album. It opens with a synth line that invokes thoughts of the sun rising. Kerry Minnear's soft, high voice contributes vocals and the song settles into various solos over a horn riff. Edge of Twilight is a shorter song featuring more of Minnear's vocals. The House, the Street, the Room is a heavier song and has Derek Shulman on lead vocals instead. At times his voice can get very grating, but he does okay on this song. The song's middle section is jazzy, with a lot of piano and saxophone, until Green comes in with a blistering guitar solo. One of the most interesting songs on this album though is Wreck. I hear it often criticized as too simple and monotonous, a lame attempt to be heavy. (These same people later complain that Gentle Giant has a habit of being too prissy and gentile at times. I wish they'd make up their mind.) Personally, I absolutely love Wreck. It's got the the lyrics of a pirate song, and a Black Sabbath-like riff you can almost headbang to. If this doesn't prove that Gentle Giant can rock with the best of them whenever they want to, I don't know what does. Black Cat is where they all get out the instruments that are non-standard to rock music and jam away, with a very dark, slinky feel to it. Plain Truth is another heavier, more straightforward song, with the electric guitar and violin layed on thick.

This is a very good album, and would probably make a decent starting place for people looking to get into Gentle Giant. While they would eventually put out better, this is Gentle Giant at their heaviest and darkest. Out of their prog output, this is also considered by many their most mainstream (if you can call it that.)

[dorio]

Strange album strange music and great musicians indeed. That was like going further than prog it was pushing it beyond the limits (if there were). Those guys knew what they were doing I guess and one thing is sure this one was better than their debut: the album really rocks... Elements of hard rock and gregorian chants (...) mix freely and well throughout this album. It's a symphony.


I wouldn't listen to that very often but when I do I enjoy It. I think they really had guts to produce such music in 1971 with all the incredible stuff that was circulating back then (...) Gentle Giant was so very different even from the other prog rock bands. Their music wasn't meant to be appreciated just on a quick listen or two. Like you said it was complex music.

[grandrebelmaster]

Yeah, this stuff isn't easily accessible, but for me, it was worth the repeated listens to get used to them. This is a good album from them, but I think that "In A Glass House" and "Free Hand" were better.

[dorio]

In A Glass House is more "Rock" and less "Prog" I think even tho it had it's sweet moments of weirdness and had more surprises than Acquiring the Taste. Free Hand was a short album by Gentle Giant standards. And i'd say some songs are like a cross betwen Queen and Supertramp and it's not as rock as In a Glass House but catchy. In'terview is also a good one very interesting concept (...) you should review that.one too Edifus. Have you heard Playing the Fool? Cauz that's the one I try to find they're interesting live also...(hear Runaway experience and in IAGH live)

[Siege of Troy]

My mom LOVES Gentle Giant, but I just can't get into them... I don't know why, because they are very talented musicians.

[grandrebelmaster]

My mom LOVES Gentle Giant, but I just can't get into them... I don't know why, because they are very talented musicians.

What you're experiencing is fairly normal, actually. Like Dorio said, they were pretty weird guys and they played a lot of weird stuff. This music isn't easily accessible to a lot of people. It took me a few listens to really appreciate them, and I've still got to be in the right mood for this stuff. But when I'm in the mood for some deep, complex music, Gentle Giant is what I reach for.