THREE FRIENDS

This may be my favorite Gentle Giant studio album. As others have noted, the songs are not quite a relentlessly complex as on some of their other masterpieces....but for me, that's a good thing. And they still flex their musical muscles. Take the track Peel The Paint, which begins with a Renaissance feel, complete with melodic string accompaniment, then at 2:22 morphs into a dark and quasi-metallic section with a grinding riff and aggressive vocals. Very few bands could ever pull off such a complete transformation in one song.

I also absolutely love the first part of Prologue, built on a very cool riff that almost seems like something Yes's Steve Howe would've come up with for one of his masterful solos.

Working All Day is one of the examples of the simpler songs, but it has wonderful lyrics, a great groove, and some very nice musical sections with lots of tasty organ-soloing and brass accompaniment.

Throughout, Malcolm Mortimore shines on the drums, with a crisp attack and those exquisite jazzy fills that remind me of Bruford and some of the Canterbury drummers. Kerry Minnear, as always, graces the album with beautiful keyboards (lots of organ and moog) and there are many sections of the complex vocal interplay that GG fans love so much.