Three Friends

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Three Friends
Studio album by Gentle Giant
Released	1972
Recorded	December 1971, Advision Studios & Command Studios, London
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	35:19
Label	Vertigo Columbia (US/Canada)
Producer	Gentle Giant
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Piero Scaruffi link Sea of Tranquility link The Daily Vault (A) link
Gentle Giant chronology
Acquiring the Taste (1971) Three Friends (1972) Octopus (1972)

Three Friends (1972) is an album by the British progressive rock band Gentle Giant. The group's third album was also their first American release to chart, peaking at #197 on the Billboard 200. It marked a change in drummers from Martin Smith to Malcolm Mortimore.

It is Gentle Giant's first concept album, dealing with three childhood friends whose lives take them very different places. It was also their first self-produced album. The two former albums were produced by David Bowie and T.Rex producer Tony Visconti.

Gary Green's guitar solo on "Peel the Paint" uses an echoplex belonging to Mike Ratledge that Green's brother Jeff, a roadie with Ratledge's band Soft Machine, had borrowed.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Prologue" – 6:13
2. "Schooldays" – 7:37
3. "Working All Day" – 5:12
4. "Peel the Paint" – 7:31
5. "Mister Class and Quality?" – 3:23
6. "Three Friends" – 5:26

All songs written by Gentle Giant (Shulman, Shulman, Shulman, Minnear)

[edit] Line-up

• Kerry Minnear - Keyboards, Vibraphone, Percussion, Moog, Vocals
• Ray Shulman - Basses, Violin, 12 String Guitar, Vocals
• Gary Green - Guitars, Percussion
• Derek Shulman - Vocals
• Malcolm Mortimore - Drums
• Philip Shulman - Saxophones and Vocals
• Boy's voice on "Schooldays" - Calvin Shulman

• Engineer - Martin Rushkent
• Produced by 'Gentle Giant'
• Sleeve Design - Rick Breach
• Publisher - Excellency Music

[edit] Miscellanea

For the US release of the album, the cover was the same as that of the band's début album Gentle Giant.

v • d • e Gentle Giant Derek Shulman · Ray Shulman · Gary Green · Kerry Minnear · John Weathers Phil Shulman · Martin Smith · Malcolm Mortimore Discography Studio Albums Gentle Giant · Acquiring the Taste · Three Friends · Octopus · In a Glass House · The Power and the Glory · Free Hand · Interview · Playing the Fool · The Missing Piece · Giant for a Day · Civilian Other Releases In Concert-BBC Radio 1 · Out of the Woods · Under Construction · Scraping the Barrel · Giant on the Box · GG at the GG