ACQUIRING THE TASTE

"Acquiring the Taste" was my first taste (pardon the pun) from Gentle Giant, and that was almost two years ago. And since then, I have kept coming back to it with a certain degree of earnestness each time. Often eclipsed by Gentle Giant's later works (such as "Octopus", "In a Glass House", and the like), one may quick to shrug it off as just a decent album made by a band that was still searching for their own, unique sound. But really, it's more than that.

Now, "Acquiring the Taste" is not a masterpiece either, at least in my book. There are still some qualities that prevent the album from the 5 star rating, even a rating of 4 stars. It sounds unbalanced and inconsistent, with the first two songs starting things off very well but then steadily heading towards a decline with "The House, The Street, The Room" and the instrumental "Acquiring the Taste". These two lack the punch that "Pantagruel's Nativity" and "Edge of Twilight" have, but they are still pretty neat songs.

The second half of the album picks up steam but does not quite get to the level of the first two songs. The best songs from this half are "The Moon is Down" and "Black Cat", with their eerie, yet pleasant atmospheres. "Wreck" features a great chorus to sing along to and "Plain Truth" ends the album on an admirable note, with its almost country-sounding feel.

"Acquiring the Taste" may not be worthy of the fourth star in my opinion, but it has served as a good enough album to discover more of Gentle Giant's exciting discography, which I do not regret in the slightest. Not exactly essential, but one should definitely check it out at least once.

1. "Pantagruel's Nativity" - 8.5/10

2. "Edge of Twilight" - 8.5/10

3. "The House, The Street, The Room" - 7.5/10

4. "Acquiring the Taste" - 6.5/10

5. "Wreck" - 7.5/10

6. "The Moon is Down" - 8/10

7. "Black Cat" - 8/10

8. "Plain Truth" - 7.5/10

62/8 = 77.5% = 3(+) stars