3

3 continues the super-energetic symphonic progressive rock sound that Focus utilized in the past, except they made more of it. This was my first Focus album, and it made a very good impression on me. All the musicianship is very tight, and the music a lot of the time sounds playful and whimsical without sounding stupid.

"Round Goes the Gossip" serves as a nice introduction and immediately shows the energetic side of the band at full force, while later also showing the slightly goofy side of the band with its bizarre group vocals and hypnotizing guitar motif. Eventually, we're treated to hyper-jazz-fusion mode.

"Love Remembered" is largely a flute and acoustic guitar duet with some light percussion and bass. Very soothing. "Sylvia" is fantastic rocker with some great usage of organ sounds and Camel-like guitar solo lines. This is one of the tracks that always seemed like a stand out to me. "Carnival Fugue" starts as a jazzy piano solo, but develops into a funky-classical-jazz rock energy hodgepodge that is very fun to listen to, although I never really considered this to stand out at all on its own. The title track is another Camel inspired tune that is really melodic and soothing with pleasant guitar solo almost all the way through the entire length.

"Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!" is a lengthy blues and jazz inspired jam with a few lounge music touches. Definitely one of the best songs for chillin' out to. This features incredibly tight musicianship, of course. "Anonymous Two, Pt, 1 & Conclusion" is another super strong jam but this time utilizes more flute playing . It starts energetic, but the midsection gives way to a more subdued bass dominated car-chase funk passage. It picks up again, featuring a rough guitar solo and maintains itself as jam-tastic. "Elspeth of Nottingham" is simply a beautiful medieval lute inspired tune that serves as a great cool down from the previous two jams of complete furiosity. "House of the King" is a very Jethro Tull inspired flute dominated jig with plenty of blues and folk influence.

I've always felt that Focus garnered great crossover appeal for Jethro Tull fans into the realm of symphonic prog. This album is fantastic, as are most of Focus' other releases. Highly recommended.