Three Friends

For their third album, Gentle Giant made their first definitive foray into the realm of the concept album, and as such, it's one of the bands most coherent and satisfying records. As the title suggests, Three Friends does indeed revolve around the lives of three childhood friends. All of the Giant's cleverness one had "acquired a taste" for from the previous records are present, but direct and rock steady, the six compositions here reflect a bluesy (if not ballsy) performance. The rollicking "Prologue" opens, its main theme punctuated to great effect with a fat saw-tooth Moog line. In contrast, the atonal interplay between vibes and guitar on the ensuing "School Days" is probably the odd-man out on the record. Effortlessly afloat, it yields only to the gorgeous piano and Mellotron of the middle section. Accordingly "Working All Day" gets a little dirty; the band add a horn section over the laid back rhythm, and the heavy break down features a great organ solo from Kerry Minnear. The second side slowly ambles before exploding into the Giant rocking riff of "Peel The Paint", finally digressing into a mess of drums and echo guitar (not that I'm complaining). The band bounces right back with the snappy "Mister Class and Quality". Underneath Minnear's hard-driven organ, the track seamlessly glides into the symphonic refrain of "Three Friends". Malcolm Mortimore had joined on drums for the album and ensuing European tour supporting Jethro Tull, however, his time in the band was cut short due to a motorcycle accident. Further tour commitments forced the band to quickly find a replacement, but what a replacement they found: John Weathers would weather the band's fortunes until their bitter end. The album was the first of two released on Columbia in the US.