GET OUT OF MY FATHER'S CAR!

As pretty much the only 70s shining example of Medieval chamber prog, GRYPHON stunned the world with its self-titled debut release in 1973 which crazily crafted a bizarre mix of English folk music with medieval and Renaissance music spruced up with the energy of rock. After a couple of progressive folk albums the band enjoyed extensive touring opportunities with bands like Yes, Steeleye Span and even the Mahavishnu Orchestra. All that exposure to the more progressive forms of rock rubbed GRYPHON in all the right ways and the band was influenced heavily as heard on the band's most lauded prog folk and rock release "Red Queen To Gryphon Three" but just as soon as the band ascended the ranks so too did it fall after a couple of less magnificent following albums.

After the dismal response of 1977's "Treason" GRYPHON called it a day and was pretty much written off as a flash in the pan from the early 70s but in 2018 the three original members Graeme Taylor (guitars), Brian Guilland (bassoon, crumhorn, sax) and Dave Oberle (drums) stunned the prog world by releasing its first album 41 years later with the critically acclaimed "Reinvention" which served as a summary of the band's five album career that straddled the mid-1970s. While many may have thought this might be a one-off project, GRYPHON returns in 2020 to prove that not only would that be a false assumption but that it didn't require another four decades to gestate another batch of material to unleash on the prog world and much like the legendary mythological creature that was known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions seems to have uncovered a wealth of new inspiration.

Yeah GRYPHON is back but with a different lineup and a completely different style unlike anything they have tackled in the past (well for the most part). This is a much leaner lineup with not only the three original members but the return of Andrew Findon on flute, piccolo, soprano crumhorn, soprano sax and the clarinet. New to the family is Rob Levy on bass and Clare Taylor on violin and keyboards. At first glance of the band's seventh album GET OUT OF MY FATHER'S CAR! one is struck with an abrupt WTF reaction as the album cover deviates from the band's cover art depicting mythological scenarios and instead sports what resembles some kind of poster art that might have been seen during the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. Oh no! This is gonna suck! (my first thought). Well, you can never judge a book by its cover so after all is said and done i have to say that it's not as bad as i was fearing however this one is unfortunately a few steps down from "Reinvention" not only in its inconsistency but in its deviation from the crazy prog folk charm of what makes GRYPHON so unique (well, for the most part).

The title track gets off to a funky festive start as it sounds like Earth, Wind and Fire have joined the band for a funk fueled romp that includes some deviations into some extremely proggy territory. Oh yeah, now we're talking! While unlike anything GRYPHON has crafted before, the intricate tradeoff of all the various instruments on board fortified with crazy time signature and even genre skipping is actually quite beautifully done but after a couple of minutes of instrumental wankery, the band adds some funny lyrics which breaks immediately takes the album into a silly nary a care mood. After that rollicking roster of unorthodoxy, the album takes on a more serious mood with the following "A Bit Of Music By Me" which sounds more like classic Gryphon at its peak with beautiful folk motifs laced with the sultry sounds of woodwinds and of course that classic crumhorn!

After another prog folk winner in the form of "Percy the Defective Perspective Detective" the album showcases another stylistic shift with the Celtic folk ballad style of "Christiana's Song" which unfortunately derails the fun made all the more so by several songs of this style punctuating the jocular festivities and prog folk dynamism. "Suite For 68" starts off as an oom-pa-pa polka waltz but finds resolution in a sombre crumhorn fueled folk melody. "The Brief History Of A Bassoon" brings back the humor with Dave Obele providing vocals singing about being a tree! "Krum Dancing" is also mined from GRYPHON's distant past with meideval and Renaissance flavors teased out into prog folk splendor. "Normal Wisdom from the Swamp. (A Sonic Tonic)" follows suit but in the end, there are just too many gosh darned sappy Celtic ballads on this one! The closing "Parting Shot" ends up sounding more like an Irish James Taylor than anything remotely GRYPHON.

Ultimately GET OUT OF MY FATHER'S CAR comes off as a bunch of aging hippies blowing off steam rather than an attempt to craft a serious progressive folk album in the vein of the 70s output or even the lauded comeback "Reinvention." The playful and oft ludicrous humor is actually quite refreshing in a genre that is renowned for taking itself too seriously but the album is bogged down by several earnest tracks that dwell too much on traditional Celtic folk sounds. In the end GRYPHON should've just made a really funny comedy album in the spirit of the title because those are the tracks that work the best here. Tracks like "Christiana's Song," "A Stranger Kiss" and "Forth Sahara" for example just seem like an insipid tribute to Clannad or some other long lost folkies from the late 60s. A good enough album for sure but inconsistent and a step down from the beautiful "Reinvention." Hopefully this was just a fluke and the band has a few zingers left in them.