THREE FRIENDS

The first concept album by Gentle Giant takes as its subject matter the idea of three people; as school children, they play together and are the best of friends, but once they grow up their lives take very different courses.

From a purely storytelling perspective, the album is let down very slightly by the fact that the group don't really have that much to say about these three friends; a six-minute prologue and a seven-minute song about the kids at school is around twice as much time as really needed to be dedicated to the introductory phase of the concept (though Schooldays does have some fantastic harmonies). However, musically speaking the album is as much of a treat as any other early Gentle Giant release.

The plodding, heavy Working All Day had been one of my least favourite Gentle Giant tracks, but over time I've found myself getting more fond of the song, particularly when it comes to Kerry Minnear's dirty-ass organ solo on it. Generally, early CD releases seem to have suffered from a less-than-stellar mix; recent remasters (such as the one on the Unburied Treasure boxed set) really help you note the subtleties of the music here. Plus Peel the Paint and Mister Class and Quality? are two of Gentle Giant's outright best songs.