Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Gentle Giant
Label: Vertigo Records
Released: 1971
Length: 39:26
Rating: 4.5/5
Most of the music by the legendary prog rock heavyweights Gentle Giant was surely never made for just anybody’s taste, let alone a narrow one. There were usually only two ways out for someone hearing them for the first time: you either became a forever-loyal follower of the radically innovative musical escapades of Pantagruel, Gargantua, Panurge and the rest of the inseparable, farcical companions in the lyrical imagery of the indestructible Shulman brothers & co., or you swore you’d rather never hear them again. Otherwise you might have risked the “tragedy” of losing your dance-loving partner and your intellectually minded buddies in Status Quo T-shirts. Either way, you had to make peace with the general unpopularity of one of the most innovative and influential rock bands of all time, who reshaped the boundaries of popular music forever at the price of a low commercial profile (even compared to some of their prog rock peers).
On “Acquiring The Taste”, their second album, Gentle Giant pretty much ditched all the hard rock, blues rock and soul elements you could find on their self-titled debut, which didn’t yet fully reflect their recognizable sound. Unlike its predecessor, “Acquring The Taste” was already far more experimental and polished, packed with the dissonant rhythmic shapes the band became known for. It also had noticeably better instrumental synergy among the members. Across the individual tracks, mostly marked by high complexity, variety and constantly shifting moods, they brought in an even bigger dose of symphonic elements, folk (loads of interesting baroque arrangements) and even jazz rock fusion (rich string and woodwind sections), and fused it all into something completely unique. You could say it’s on this very album that they nailed that trademark, utterly specific sound that stayed with them through almost their entire career, and whose rhythm often recalls the swaying of their main “mascot”. The main “culprits” were usually the countless polymetric rhythms, the extensive use of playful percussion led by the vibraphone, the witty, often dissonant multi-part vocals, the pastoral-tinged baroque arrangements, and the wide-ranging, inventive use of woodwinds and strings. While the Shulman Bros took care of the latter, and with them that frequent whiff of some medieval pageant, the eternal innovators, keyboardist Kerry Minnear and guitarist Gary Green (who, by the way, even used a donkey’s jawbone as an instrument on some tracks!), complemented each other brilliantly with their completely different musical foundations (classical and blues, in this case). Minnear also often stepped up as a singer, though the band’s main vocalist always remained the charismatic Derek Shulman.
The individual tracks on the album reflect the incredible creative and technical abilities of a band with outstanding experimental and adventurous appetites, whose musical taste never locked onto any specific elements but kept leaping over genre borders. Although dissonant motifs and scattered rhythms dominate most of the songs, you’ll also find plenty of majestic symphonic arrangements and enchanting pastoral or jazzy melodies. The opener, “Pantagruel’s Nativity”, kicks off a lyrical quasi-concept about the adventures of the cheeky giants Pantagruel and his father Gargantua, originally the heroes of the tales of the legendary French writer Rabelais, which were revolutionary and socially critical for their time. The band would return to this theme later in their career on “The Advent Of Panurge” (Octopus, 1972). Lyrically, it deals with the moment of Pantagruel’s birth and the postpartum death of his mother Badebec. To stage this melodramatic moment, Gentle Giant created an excellent, varied composition that introduces all their characteristic elements: rich, slightly dissonant multi-part vocal harmonies (with Minnear’s soprano up front here), blues-spiced guitar passages, dramatic symphonic arrangements on woodwinds and strings, a pinch of jazz through inventive use of electric piano and percussion, and nonstop rhythmic leaps. No doubt about it, this superb, highly atmospheric track remains one of their most recognizable classics.
Mysterious and laced with a dark mood fit for some horror flick, “Edge Of Twilight” is another treat that was remarkably innovative for its time, with varied instrumental palettes following one after another. Its standout feature is the hugely dramatic use of percussion, gongs included, courtesy of then-drummer Martin Smith. “The Mouse, The Street, The Room” is that slightly schizoid creation that once again very successfully hops over genre limits, and it’s where Derek’s somewhat paranoid vocal first shows up on the album. On one side you get the almost playful acoustic subtlety of percussion, woodwinds, strings and keyboards, on the other, dirty, snarling hard rock riffs and the penetrating line of Ray’s bass. Next comes the witty title instrumental “Acquring The Taste”, with cheeky keyboard sounds led by the mini-Moog, which works as a kind of overture to “Wreck”. The latter, apart from the excellent symphonic arrangements on Mellotron and the closing folk passages on clarinet, is an almost purely hard rock track with some of the punchiest guitar riffs in their history and a slightly “drunken” multi-part chorus, where Derek and Kerry trade off the lead vocal.
On the highly experimental “The Moon Is Down”, which doesn’t lack dramatic acoustic passages and waves of Mellotron either, Derek and his brother Phil take over the vocals. Here Kerry also offers some seriously juicy harmonica passages, while the time signatures keep shifting constantly. “Black Cat” is one of the most interesting and witty pieces on the album, and certainly the most melodic one too. It floats along in a wonderfully refined way between folk, symphonic music and jazz rock fusion. The symphonic arrangements are finger-licking good, and it’s always fun to hear how the great innovator Gary Green managed to recreate a cat’s meowing through a guitar effect. The closer, “Plain Truth”, at more than seven minutes the longest piece on the album, is full of farcical elements. Surprisingly, it’s also the most down-to-earth composition on the record, with quite a few energetic hard/blues rock guitar passages and a very solid vocal performance from Derek. In the middle there’s a longer instrumental section with an exceptionally witty guitar solo that still inspires all of Green’s admirers today. At the same time, this very solid track keeps a melodic structure throughout, making it one of their generally more accessible pieces.
Even after all these years, it remains an undeniable fact that this remarkable band, known not only for outstanding instrumental chops but also for a bewitching humor with a good dose of self-irony, created some of the most exciting, unique and innovative works in the story of progressive rock. “Acquring The Taste”, with its telling name, was no exception. In the album’s liner notes, the band loudly and clearly stated the essential goal of their music, one they stuck to almost to the end of their career: to expand the boundaries of popular music at the risk of extreme unpopularity. Every composition on this album was made with one purpose: to sound as unique, adventurous and exciting as possible. The outstanding compositional and instrumental talents of all six musicians were poured in to the max, and you can feel it throughout the album from start to finish. Almost all the members were multi-instrumentalists, and even in those days, when incredible musical innovators and virtuosos were practically swarming, they shone as some of the most technically gifted and well-balanced rock musicians around. Maybe that’s the main reason they worked so successfully through their career as a harmonious, equal collective without any major conflicts. Their effort and ambition were richly rewarded on “Acquring The Taste”, and this excellent album became a kind of sonic standard, a foundation for their later, better-known and more ambitious work. The making of outstanding albums that still tickle the taste buds of music gourmets around the world could begin, once you’d acquired the right experimental taste for these tireless prog rock buffoons.
Lineup
Derek Shulman – alto saxophone, cowbell, vocals
Phil Shulman – alto & tenor saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, piano, vocals
Ray Shulman – bass guitar, violin, viola, electric violin, Spanish guitar, tambourine, twelve-string guitar, pedal-bass organ, skulls, vocals
Gary Green – six-string guitar, twelve-string guitar, twelve-string wah-wah guitar, donkey jawbone, cat sounds, voice
Kerry Minnear – electric piano, organ, Mellotron, vibraphone, Moog, piano, timpani, harmonica, vocals
Martin Smith – drums, tambourine, gongs, snare drum
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Paul Cosh – trumpet, organ
Tony Visconti – recording, bass drum, triangle
Chris Thomas – Moog programming
Production
Tony Visconti
Track list
1. Pantagruel’s Nativity (6:50)
2. Edge of Twilight (3:47)
3. The House, The Street, The Room (6:01)
4. Acquiring the Taste (1:36)
5. Wreck (4:36)
6. The Moon Is Down (4:45)
7. Black Cat (3:51)
8. Plain Truth (7:36)
