MIDNIGHT MUSHRUMPS

Gryphon's breakthrough album has a reputation built mainly on the side-long title track, and that's probably fair; it's an excellent piece which mingles the band's medieval stylings with progressive rock along the lines of the more acoustic bits of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. The second side is a bit less interesting, with only Ethelion attaining the same standards as the title track, though the traditional folk runthrough of The Ploughboy's Dream is entertaining enough. The praise for the title track would inspire Gryphon to go all-instrumental and produce an album-long suite, which would come to fruition on Red Queen to Gryphon Three, but here they're still in transition. Worth it if you like their medieval-prog approach, but try Red Queen first.