ACQUIRING THE TASTE

I was about to begin this review by saying, "One of their best albums..." when I realized how useless of a statement that would be -- ALL of their core albums are "one of their best albums!" So, I guess I mean to say, this is "really really" one of their best albums. A quantum leap from their debut, which is also great, Acquiring The Taste is immediately Gentle Giant in full flavor. The vocal work throughout is astounding: their later "jigsaw puzzle" approach has not yet flowered, so instead we get... harmonies! Sometimes beautiful, sometimes disturbing and discordant, the band experiments with effects and chords to deliver a vocal album like no other, without even mentioning the insanely experimental music itself. And speaking of the music itself, it is out of a dream. Haunting, chilled, often subtly dark... little of their "hyperactive musicality" that would rear its head later can be found here. Even when it does (such as in "The House, The Street, The Room"), it is a subdued hyperactivity, melding subtly into the mesh of sounds and never clobbering you over the head like, say, "Cogs In Cogs" (from The Power and The Glory). That said, there's a reason why this album is many fans' favorite. With the radical evolution into mad musical scientists lurking a few releases down the road, I am forever grateful that we also have this much different side of Gentle Giant to endlessly delight in.