ACQUIRING THE TASTE

Here begins an impressive streak of reliable progressive albums by Gentle Giant, the masters of concise songwriting and performance. The arrangements are not yet as intricate as they will come to be on future albums and still feature a lot of open space, yet these spacy intervals can be said to be one of the strengths of "Acquiring the Taste" - the second track ("Edge of Twilight") in particular is bathed in reverberation and the track is no less cohesive for it.

All the signature sounds of GG are on offer here - musical pretenses towards both classical and medieval folk, (in the case of "The House, The Street, The Room", both appearing in the same song) harmonious and often stepping, round-style vocals, the use of unconventional instruments not usually associated with rock music (in particular, the melody played on timpani during "Edge of Twilight" is this reviewer's favourite part of the album) and general evidence of musical skill far above their contemporaries.

The joy of Gentle Giant is that you can recommend them as a starting point into the nebulous world of progressive rock to fans of wildly differing genres of music. They may not be as twee or as instantly catchy as the more urgently symphonic bands but it's this subtlety that makes them appeal to real music lovers. Spread the love!