THREE FRIENDS

To me this is where GG found the right formula; experimental but they discovered melody. Their previous offering "Acquiring the Taste" was devised at the expense of melody, too out there and grating IMHO. Three Friends was and is a fantastic prog album.

It was their first concept album and the opening (mostly) instrumental "Prologue" is superb (there are a few almost half spoken/half singing lines which are choir-like but the intricate music is the thing that grabs you) . I had never heard anything like this before. It was catchy but futuristic and to me doesn't sound dated in the twenty tens.

The thing that doesn't make Three Friends a 5 star album are the next 2 tracks; "Schooldays" and "Working All Day". The former is just not memorable, the latter has its good musical moments but the song associated with the music is very average.

The last 3 numbers are all 5 star raters: "Peel The Paint", "Mister Class and Quality" (best track IMHO) and the sublime finale "Three Friends" (again mostly) instrumental almost make this a 5 star album...maybe 4.3333.

The start of a run of brilliant GG albums.

"Three friends" has a friend in Barry. 4.3333 stars from me.

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