01	Pantagruel's Nativity						06:53
	02	Edge Of Twilight						03:51
	03	The House, The Street, The Room						06:05
	04	Acquiring The Taste						01:39
	05	Wreck						04:40
	06	The Moon Is Down						04:48
	07	Black Cat						03:54
	08	Plain Truth						07:36

Acquiring the Taste (1971)

Vertigo/Polygram 842-917 2 (US/UK)
(also released with the title _Motive_)

About the Album

Gentle Giant's second album was a departure from the blues and soul influences found on their debut: more experimental, more dissonant, and even more diverse instrumentation. From the liner notes:
"Acquiring the taste is the second phase of sensory pleasure. If you've gorged yourself on our first album, then relish the finer flavours (we hope) of this, our second offering.
"It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary music at the risk of being very unpopular. we have recorded each composition with the one thought - that it should be unique, adventurous and fascinating. It has taken every shred of our combined musical and technical knowledge to achieve this.

"From the outset we have abandoned all preconceived thoughts on blatant commercialism. Instead we hope to give you something far more substantial and fulfilling. All you need to do is sit back, and acquire the taste."

This album was also released in the Motive series by Mercury, but only the word "Motive" appears on the cover, so it looks like the album title.

Musicians
Gary Green - 6 string guitar, 12 string guitar, 12 string wah-wah guitar, donkey's jawbone, cat calls, voice

Kerry Minnear - electric piano, organ, mellotron, vibraphone, Moog, piano, celeste, clavichord, harpsichord, tympani, maracas, lead vocals

Derek Shulman - alto sax, clavichord, cowbell, lead vocals

Phil Shulman - alto & tenor sax, clarinet, trumpet, piano, claves, maracas, lead vocals

Ray Shulman - bass, violin, viola, electric violin, Spanish guitar, tambourine, 12 string guitar, organ bass pedals, skulls, vocals

Martin Smith - drums, tambourine, gongs, side drum

Assisted by Paul Cosh (trumpet, organ) and Tony Visconti (recorder, bass drum, triangle).

(Dan's note: other members of the band played recorder too, though this is not listed on the album cover.)

Other liner notes:

We are deeply indebted to:
Martin Rushent, Big A and Garybaldi at Advision Studios
Bill Price at A.I.R. Studios
Chris Thomas - Moog Programmer
Paul Cosh - Ace Trumpeter and Good Viber
Park - Amplifiers that don't give up

Produced by Tony Visconti

(Arranged by Gentle Giant)

All pieces written by: Shulman, Shulman, Shulman and Minnear
All selections published by Dick James Music, Inc. (BMI)



Acquiring the taste is the second phase of sensory pleasure. If you've
gorged yourself on our first album, then relish the finer flavours (we
hope) of this, our second offering.

It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary music at the risk
of being very unpopular. we have recorded each composition with the one
thought - that it should be unique, adventurous and fascinating. It has
taken every shred of our combined musical and technical knowledge to
achieve this.

From the outset we have abandoned all preconceived thoughts on blatant
commercialism. Instead we hope to give you something far more substantial
and fulfilling. All you need to do is sit back, and acquire the taste.


Derek Shulman, lead and backing vocals, alto sax, clavichord, cow bell;
Ray Shulman, bass, vocals, Spanish guitar, 12 string guitar, violin,
electric violin, viola, tambourine, bass pedals, organ, skulls; Phil
Shulman, tenor sax, alto sax, trumpet, clarinet, piano, claves, maracas,
lead and backing vocals; Kerry Minnear, organ, mellotron, vibraphone,
moog, electric piano, harpsichord, cello, tympani, xylophone, piano,
celeste, clavichord, tambourine, maracas, lead and backing vocals; Gary
Green, 6 and 12 string guitars, bass, 12 string Wah-Wah guitar, donkey's
jawbone and cat calls; Martin Smith, drums, gong, tambourine, side drum.
With Tony Visconti, recorders, bass drum and triangle; Paul Cosh,
trumpet, organ. Produced by Tony Visconti.



Acquiring The Taste

The story told in Pantagruel's Nativity comes from French mythology and is taken from the book Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. Same for The Advent Of Panurge on Octopus. Check out The Pantagruelion for full info on these French giants.

The chromatic vocal harmonies in the chorus of Pantagruel's Nativity are thoroughly analyzed in Proclamation issue number 4.

Edge Of Twilight begins with the words "The moon is down": the title of track 6, The Moon Is Down. (Thanks to Jerry McCarthy.) Likewise, The Moon Is Down contains the phrase "edge of twilight."

Listen to Schoenberg's "Heimfahrt" (Homeward Journey) from Pierrot Lunaire. You'll notice a melody that Gentle Giant used for their song Edge Of Twilight. (Thanks to Jeff Clement.)

The first four notes of Edge Of Twilight are the same as those of "God Save the Queen," which Gentle Giant used to perform as The Queen. It is unknown whether this was intentional or coincidental. (Thanks to David McCalman.)

The guitar solo in The House, The Street, The Room is played over a whole tone scale. (Thanks to Michael Beauvois.)

The main theme from The Moon Is Down, played on saxophones, contains a quote from Medea by the classical composer Samuel Barber. (Thanks to Jeremy Lakatos.)

The title of The Moon Is Down is found in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act II, Scene 1, Line 2. (Thanks to Jason Rubin.) In addition, John Steinbeck had a book of the same name, and according to E. Shaun Russell, "upon reading the lyrics (and having read the book a few years back) there is a distinct possibility that the song was named after Steinbeck's book rather than Shakespeare's line."

The voice ordering food from Wimpeys is Gary Green.








Gentle Giant - Acquiring The Taste

Member: progfellow

This is somewhat of an obscure album in Gentle Giant's already obscure catalog. Their second album, it is leaps and bounds above their first in terms of ingenuity and complexity. Although the pieces are each very precise and fine-tuned, there is a very experimental quality to it. The liner notes state their mission, from which I quote the second of three paragraphs:

"It is our goal to expand the frontiers of contemporary music at the risk of being very unpopular. We have recorded each compostion with the one thought- that it should be unique, adventurous and fascinating. It has taken every shred of our combined musical and technical knowledge to acheive this."

They acheived this goal beautifully.

A number of the songs are somber without being dark or depressing, evoking the mood of a starlit and earily quiet nighttime in a sleeping village. And if you like assorted instrumentation in your music you'll hear it all here- violin, cello, saxophone, glockenspiel, timpani, recorders, trumpet, vibes among others, not to mention the standard rock instruments.

Due to many of the above mentioned qualities some love this album and put it at or near the top of the GG catalog, while others, including some serious GG fans, don't really care for it or even like it. Although I could do without the plodding last song on the album and dislike the cover quite a bit, it still is great enough that it sometimes rises above The Power and the Glory as my favorite GG album. Sometimes.