Gryphon - Red Queen To Gryphon Three

So… why not a krumhorn in prog rock?

Gryphon began as an Elizabethan/ Medieval trio, but expanded to a five-piece in the 70s to include rock influences. This chess-game concept album runs to four extended tracks, with Opening Move setting the tone well: contrasting sections where rock statements are interspersed between more lyrical passages that let the group’s earlier influences in. 

Apparently they weren’t always organised and tended toward the spontaneous, but the result here is of a well thought-out group of intelligent musicians who value melody, light and shade in their arrangements. While a lot of progrock pummelled you into submission, this 1974 album is rightly seen as the band’s best work, and will pleasantly surprise both folk and rock fans looking for a wide variety of influences, tempos and instrumentation.

Talking Elephant | TECD 112

Reviewed by Kingsley Abbott
<< Back to Issue 340