THREE FRIENDS

I love Gentle Giant, they are the first prog band that I ever heard. My dad is a huge fan of this band and is the one who shared them with me, and I will be forever grateful. To my ears, Gentle Giant has it all, from beautiful melodies to complex arrangements and brilliant musicianship. Three Friends is a very special album, because to me it is the first great Gentle Giant album and starts their impressive run of brilliance that lasts until Interview. It is a concept album that is very straightforward. Three Friends grew up together, but have since parted ways and have become very different people. Each friend gets a song on the album, and they are all brilliant, and I love how each one is unique in its own way. The weakest of the three is "Working All Day", which is a pretty standard rocking track for Gentle Giant standards.

"Peel The Paint" is perhaps my favorite because it moves from a light Kerry Minnear sung ballad to an out and out rocker with the voice of Derek Shulman. There is also a wild guitar solo that is really fun listening. "Mister Class and Quality" is underrated. It is a great piece, with some wonderful jazziness and groove to it. These tracks are surrounded by the wonderful opening of "Prologue" that really sets the stage for the album and has the vocal interplay that the band would become known for. "School Days" is one of my favorite Gentle Giant tracks that features some more great vocal harmonies and interplay and is a very nostalgic track. The ending of "Three Friends" is very lush and ends the album in grand fashion. All in all this is a wonderful album that isn't quite a masterpiece as some of the following albums are. But, this album does give me fond memories of discovering one of my favorite bands of all time and the band still sounds fresh on this recording and gives one of their more honest performances. I recommend this album highly.