THREE FRIENDS

It's been documented that THREE FRIENDS is the first thematically charged Gentle Giant (there's at least two more to come), and from my perspective, it is the closest Gentle Giant ever got to pure symphonic prog. Call it the proggiest Gentle Giant album; the triumphant ending certainly makes a case for the symphonic aspect.

The piece that has the best chance at making prog fans rave and drool would have to be the opening ''Prologue''; mostly instrumental, soundly structured without getting too carried away with melodies and the fantastic build-up in the middle with the synth lines, it's almost pure gold. ''School Days'' has more vocal finesse, but so many of the phrases just fit the music well. The rest of the album not already described is louder aside from the country influenced ''Mister Class and Quality'' (think Kerry Livgren really took a lot of influence from this one?).

It's overall a solid album with many highlights and only one disappointment in that the sound of THREE FRIENDS really isn't strong or vibrant. Compared to later efforts, THREE FRIENDS sounds like a mere demo. One audio tech problem isn't too obstructing, but the fact that Gentle Giant's best two albums are right around the corner makes me a little passive in my rating.