.jpeg "The Road of Bones by IQ")
Acquiring the Taste album by the great Gentle Giant, from 1971.
The lyrics and music are by Derek Shulman, Phil Shulman, Ray Shulman, and Kerry Minnear.
Now a classic, released after their impressive self-titled debut album, with an iconic and provocative cover and complex yet captivating compositions, counterpoints and counterpoints, unusual tempos and dissonances, splendid arrangements featuring new ideas, expressed with great refinement.
- "Pantagruel's Nativity" is a piece of extreme elegance, with a beautiful melody, a great lead guitar and vibraphone, and wind instruments that complement it beautifully.
- "Edge of Twilight" is full of tension and mystery, very dark.
- "The House, the Street, the Room" is also a great melody, with beautiful bass and vocals, and especially the guitar solo.
- Acquiring The Taste is a short interlude that introduces "Wreck," my favorite track on the album, with exceptional violin, mellotron, and clavinet. It's a piece steeped in Renaissance chamber music, very catchy, beautiful!
- "The Moon is Down" with its melancholic mood and "Black Cat" with its magnificent jazz-style strings, sweet during the vocals, dissonant during the instrumentals.
- "Plain Truth" with its bluesy atmospheres, in their own way, closes the album splendidly. A beautiful composition.
All the performances are simply extraordinary.
An essential album, a masterpiece of progressive rock.
Tracklist
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)
Running Time: 39:02
Line-Up
- Gary Green - 6- and 12-string electric guitars (1), 12-string wah-wah guitar (7), mandolin and bass (3), donkey jaw and cat calls (7), vocals (8)
- Kerry Minnear - piano and electric piano, Hammond organ (1-3), Mellotron (1, 5, 6), vibraphone (1, 7), xylophone (2, 3), Minimoog (1-5), celesta (3), clavichord (3), harpsichord (2, 5, 6), timpani (2), maracas and tambourine (7), cello (2, 3, 7), arrangement for string quartet (7), lead vocals (1, 2) and backing vocals
- Derek Shulman - alto saxophone (1, 6), clavichord and cowbell (3), lead vocals (3, 5, 6) and backing vocals
- Phil Shulman - alto (6) and tenor (1, 6) saxophones, clarinet (2, 3), trumpet (1, 3), piano (3), claves, maracas, lead vocals (5, 7) and backing vocals
- Ray Shulman - bass, violin and electric guitar (8), violin, viola (7), Spanish guitar (2, 3) and 12-string guitar (6), organ, bass pedals (6), Tambourine, skulls, backing vocals
- Martin Smith - drums, tambourine (1), gong and side drum (2)
With:
- Tony Visconti - tenor, soprano, and soprano recorders (3.5), bass drum and triangle (7), producer
- Paul Cosh - trumpet and organ (3)
- Chris Thomas - Moog programmer (1-5)
